Odenwald-Bergsträßer loop

The Odenwald-Bergstrasse Loop is a certified circular tour run by the Odenwald Association. It is clearly marked with the "Green 2 in an upwardly open green circle on a white background" as a trail marker. The start is at Borstein. You reach it by driving along the B47 from Bensheim to Lautertal-Reichenbach and turning from Balkhäusenerstraße onto Borsteinstraße in the town center. It's a very narrow road, and after about 900 meters, there's a bay on the left where a few cars can park. Shortly after, you'll come to the forest inn "Am Borstein," which also has parking spaces for guests, but is closed on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays – today was Monday. From there, it starts. It goes uphill through a sparse forest to the OWK memorial and the Devil's Stone. After that, you reach the Peace Park. Each of the stones bears a saying. You should take your time for this. After about 5 km, you reach the Fürstenlager (Prince's Camp), which was originally planned as a spa complex but later became the summer residence of the princes of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Now it descends to Auerbach. There are numerous beautiful houses to admire here. From Bachgasse, the tour leads right into Weidgasse and uphill via Weinbergstraße into Burggasse. Now it gets sporty: a serpentine path climbs steeply with gradients of up to 16%. In places, the trail follows very narrow paths, the exits of which are easy to miss from the wider paths. After 3 km, we reached the ruins of Auerbach Castle, which we already knew from another tour (The Melibokus and its Castles). Unfortunately, the castle tavern is only open on weekends, and the kiosk is temporarily closed. Therefore, we always rely on "Die Rückenmühle" (Back Mill), which is always open when we go hiking. After another kilometer through beautiful forest and meadows, we found a hut for a picnic. ``` That was a good thing, because after a short descent, after crossing the L3103 (km 12.6) near Balkhausen, the trail climbs again to km 14.6 and an elevation of 439 m above sea level. The rest of the route is relaxing. It was a nice mix of leisurely hikes and sporty sections, alternating between forest passages and open landscapes with numerous sights.

Today, in perfect hiking weather, we went from Borstein near Lautertal-Reichenbach to Auerbach Castle and back via Fürstenlager. Great tour 👍, but not that easy 😁.

Start: Auerbach Registration: L2 green on white (plus detour via the sea of rocks via the L1) Paths: High proportion of forest paths, in parts small pieces of dirt road. Ideal for hot days. Tour suggestion from Bergstraße Odenwald: https://www.bergstrasse-odenwald.de/detail/id=5f1541250e3c1c0fedd15a22 Start in Auerbach, the round clockwise so that the prince camp is at the end. Ideal for ending the tour. As always, the entire route is well signposted. After about 8.5 km behind Auerbach Castle, I decided to take a detour to the Felsenmeer and briefly followed the signs for L1. It's worth the detour. The entire route is almost completely in the forest, ideal on a hot day as you are constantly in the shade. There are enough resting places, also very beautiful places (Auerbach Castle, smaller springs, ponds, Jerusalem Friedensmal, hermitage).

Great tour, Auerbach Castle is definitely worth a visit. Ruins are well preserved and the view is very nice. Unfortunately the restaurant was closed today. Then we went to the sea of rocks, it was always impressive what kind of stones there were. And the kiosk above the sea was also open. 🥳 Finally, we crossed the prince's camp. Very nice and definitely nice to sit outside there in the summer.

“The early bird catches the worm” is a well-known saying. After the one-hour drive we reached our starting point: Bensheim-Auerbach. Today @Florian B and I are also walking together - only this time on the Hessian Bergstrasse into the Odenwald. The path initially leads through the princely camp and goes directly into forest and meadow. Light fog, coupled with brief moments in which the sun peeks out from behind the clouds, presents a beautiful autumnal landscape. Our path takes us past the Friedensmal, a stone circle, until we cross the "European long-distance hiking trail 8 - E8" at a large intersection. This leads from Ireland, Great Britain, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Serbia to Bulgaria. Its total length is approximately 7500km. A few kilometers further we see the sea of rocks. Since it is too slippery for a climbing tour, we take the easier, but slightly longer route. Here we also cross a European long-distance hiking trail - this time the E1. This has its origins in Norway and leads via Denmark, Germany, Switzerland to Italy. Total length 8000km. After this strenuous climb we deserved a warm meal. We followed the path over the Felsberg towards Balkhausen. The weather changed from fog to beautiful sunshine as soon as we left the forest - picturesquely beautiful! Below the Melibokus the path meandered along the mountain to Auerbach Castle. But see for yourself... ;)

Thank you for the lovely day @Brigitte , @🚲 Gabi 🚲 and @Klaus S. 😍

Lautertal again ☺️, but this time in the Odenwald... Many thanks to @🥾 Noreen 📸 for planning and organization 🤝🏻.

https://www.bergstrasse-odenwald.de/detail/id=5f1541250e3c1c0fedd15a22