Sagenweg (Legend Trail) in Altmühltal Nature Park

5 days off, which I'll use for hiking. Today I walked the legend trail near Wemding. I have to say that I somehow expected more in terms of the name. The tour starts well to the pilgrimage church and through corn fields and apple trees with a view. As soon as you get into the forest it gets rather boring because you only go through the forest. There were two information boards on the topic of "legends", that's it. After Doosweiher there are strange signs, there should have been an arrow pointing towards the road, I got lost there at first because it was unclear. The circuit is fine for easy walking, there isn't much worth seeing. You also pass the forest lake, but there is an entrance fee as I quickly saw. 🌳

Today we tackled an official "Geopark Ries hiking trail". The Sagenweg in Wemding was the destination. An entertaining and interesting tour that we would happily recommend👌

After the "Seven Hills" this time we went along the Legends Trail along the eastern edge of the Nördlinger Ries. The starting point is Wemding, a surprisingly pretty little town with a well-preserved old town centre. The circular route is a little over 14 km long and you should calculate a good 3 1/2 hours of pure walking time. The path itself is well marked throughout and mainly follows wide forest and field paths. Highlights are the Basilica Maria Brünnlein and the center of Wemding. Furthermore, the limestone and suevite quarries, where some geological features are explained. The small forest chapel is cozy and the Hessenbühel vantage point above Amerbach is beautiful. The "Zur Wallfahrt" inn is a good place to stop (closed on Mondays and Tuesdays). There are also one or two rest stops around the market square in Wemding.

Today was a leisurely walk with a good view of the Ries crater. All good hiking trails, mostly through forest areas.

It's a really beautiful path... I loved the fog 🥰 it was just beautiful

Today's tour should take us to the Swabian-Franconian border area. We were repeatedly referred to the pilgrimage basilica Maria Brünnlein near Wemding. When we were planning the tour, we came across the Wemding Legends Trail - the tour includes, among other things, the Maria Brünnlein pilgrimage church. So this should be our route for today. The starting point should have been the Johannisweiher - actually 🙄. Due to technical conditions, however, we had to move the starting point 🤷‍♂️ 🙈. We started via the Entengäßchen in the old town of Wemding with its very well-preserved old houses. We visited the hospital church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and, after the old market square, the town church of St. Emmeram before we reached the actual starting point at the Johannisweiher 🚶‍♂️. We followed the further path to the beautiful view 🌄, from where we had another beautiful view of Wemding and St. Emmeram. Our path continued to lead us to the forest lake. In this section, the local recreation area is particularly clear. This section offers forest bathing, an art trail and a fitness trail, so there is something for everyone. After circumnavigating the forest lake, our path continued across the gently rolling Ries area to the forest chapel. Unfortunately, this was just being restored, so we only saw the small baroque chapel without the figures. We continued past an abandoned suevite quarry to one of our absolute highlights - the beaver area that stretches over several hundred meters. The legend of "Huaterle" is nice to read. At the end of the biotope is the Doosweiher, a historic place where water was obtained in the past. Further on, past the Saulachweiher, it went through the forest in the direction of Amerbach, which is not very spectacular. Coming out of the forest, the landscape opens up and reveals a wonderful panorama of the Ries 👀🌄. On the bench by the Mariengrotte there is a small sign that shows the places in the distance. It is remarkable how clearly the Daniel - Nördlingens church - stands out in the distance, if not to say outstanding 😲. Passing Amerbach, on a small hill you come to a cross with a small bench, from where you can once again enjoy the view of the Ries. From here you can already see the church tower of the Maria Brünnlein pilgrimage basilica. On the way to the basilica there is a deer enclosure 🦌, with a bit of luck you can watch them up close. The Maria Brünnlein pilgrimage church is the big highlight of today's round and it wasn't so courted for nothing 👀😲😍. When we visited, we were inevitably reminded of the Wieskirch(e) in Steingaden - a real little gem. It is not for nothing that it is one of the most visited pilgrimage churches in Bavaria and should definitely be seen. After we had seen enough, we followed the Oettinger Straße back to Wemding. There are various stone statues along the way and thus form a kind of art mile. The way back to the car then led along the city wall again. Our conclusion today: A successful round through Wemding and the Donau-Ries. The paths are varied and easy to walk. The signposting is exemplary, you have the feeling that a signpost comes every 70 - 100m - great. Only the stations are a bit few and far between, so you could have done more. Our highlights were Wemding itself with the two churches Spitalkirche Marianativity and St. Emmeram, the biotope beaver area with the Doosweiher at the end and of course the outshining pilgrimage basilica Maria Brünnlein - a real gem and rightly advertised from all sides 🤗😍.

Tour on the legend trail. Very well signposted (in both directions).

It is a very beautiful hiking trail that is suitable for everyone. The challenge could be the first climb: Lots of steps 😅 It was nice to listen to nature along the way. In the otherwise quiet, the birdsong, the woodpeckers at work, the sound of the water here and there, liverworts appearing again and again and the bright sun... In this weather, I couldn't walk past the ice cream parlor either 😋☕️🍦 ...and in the end I deviated from the actual tour and hiked a detour along the wall. Otherwise, I met some nice people along the way. One of them is training for the Mammutmarsch in Stuttgart 💪