Top 13 Gorges around Bad Münder am Deister

Good footwear and sure-footedness are required, especially when it is damp... But the journey is worth it.

It was the year 1284. As every year, there had been a series of festive days with boisterous activity in Hamelin around St. John's Day. Moving out and moving, especially of young people and children, were the order of the day. In the darkness, the St. John's fires blazed up on the heights of the surrounding mountains. Stimulated by the festivities of the preceding St. John's Day, a large group of children made their way to Ith, just under two miles away, on June 26th in the most beautiful summer weather. Massive and rugged, the massif of the Fahnenstein juts out into the plain on the northern Ith. According to ancient custom, a midsummer bonfire was burned at its height every year, and the youth of Hamelin wanted to be there. With happy playing and singing, we left Hamelin's Easter Gate. A minstrel, a piper, led the long procession of 130 children. The Cobbenberg, as this Ithhöhe is called in the oldest documents, was reached in good time towards evening. At the foot of the Fahnenstein, halfway up the Cobbenberg, lies the eerie devil's kitchen, a formerly swampy rock basin in the middle of steep cliffs. Tradition has it that this place was an old Germanic place of worship and sacrifice. The devil's kitchen at the foot of the flag stone now particularly attracted the leader of the children. Like all members of his guild, he was still excluded from the church and therefore stuck to the old beliefs. The devil's kitchen was dangerous terrain, due to the swamp basin and the steep cliffs from which large blocks had detached over time and today have completely filled the swamp hole. Mysterious mists rose from the bottom, will-o'-the-wisps floated to and fro. As dusk fell, the children feared spooks and ghosts. As if by magic, they pressed forward. As the foremost sank into the swamp, panic set in, and instead of realizing the danger and turning back, those who stayed behind became utterly shy. Partly driven by superstitions, partly in an effort to save their comrades, they pressed forward and thus to perdition. So the sump of the devil's kitchen on the slope of the Cobbenberg, just under two miles east of Hamelin, became the grave of the 130 Hamelin children. https://www.mystic-culture.de/kultplatz/ith/teufelskueche/rattenfaengersage.html

Is one of 12 destinations in the "Deister Wanderpass", with which you can collect a stamp at each station. As a reward, the Deister hiking pin beckons at the end. The forest restaurant Teufelsbrücke is the stamp office no. 10.

The saga of how the Devil's Bridge got its name in the Deister: According to the old story, a hunter was hunting there and killed a magnificent stag. Unfortunately, a raging brook separated him and his prey. He couldn't get to the stag he had killed and cursed so roughly that the devil showed himself. The latter offered him a deal: the devil would build a bridge over the brook, but he would take the hunter with him into his kingdom if he should mention his name again. The hunter agreed, eager for his prey. The devil then formed a bridge over the stream so that the hunter could cross the stream and get his prey. He carried the stag to the castle in Rodenberg. Some time passed. At some point the hunter boasted about his story in the village pub in Rodenberg and said he had cheated the devil. Then the earth opened up. The horned man appeared and dragged the hunter down with him into hell. The hunter was never seen again. But the Devil's Bridge has had her name since that night. Source: https://www.sn-online.de/Schaumburg/Rodenberg/Rodenberg/Ein-grauenvoll-Pakt-im-Deister

Home cooking, snacks, cold drinks, coffee and cake, ice cream. The small playground next door should be checked again to ensure that the children cannot injure themselves on the rough surface of the slide.

At www.ith-sagen.de you can listen to the legends of the Teufelsküche in a podcast. We like that.

impressive rocks and steep stairs

Refuge for animals and plants! Here is something else from the network: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%B6hlengebiet_im_Kleinen_Deister