The former quarry is now a geotope worth seeing with an impressive basalt wall.
The Bacher Lay, formerly a quarry for Westerwald basalt, is now a 45 ha nature reserve between Bad Marienberg and Nisterau. The Black Nister flows through the Bacher Lay. The name Bacher Lay comes from the formerly independent village of Bach. Lay means quarry. The basalt deposit extends between Bad Marienberg and the Eichenstruth district and the towns of Stockhausen, Pfuhl and Bach (today Nisterau).
Mechanical mining created an almost vertical basalt stone wall here, which in severe winters becomes an imposing ice wall due to the dripping water.
In 1996 the Bacher Lay was declared a nature reserve. On the standing and flowing waters with flat and steep banks, dry grasslands, high perennial fields and a habitat for rare animal and plant species are formed. If you walk through the Bacher Lay with your eyes open, you will encounter a multitude of bird species, amphibians, reptiles and orchids. It is only a 2 km walk from the town centre of Bad Marienberg (ring road towards Nisterau) to Bacher Lay, which is well worth seeing.
Contact and directions
Zwischen Bad Marienberg und Nisterau
56470 Bad Marienberg
