Via Adrina

Six years after Hermann the Cheruscan had crushed the Romans in the Teutoburg Forest, the invaders launched a counter-attack under the general Germanicus and inflicted a heavy defeat on the Chats in the Adrana area. This is what the Roman writer Tacitus reports. Then Adrana became a little quiet. A record is only found a good 800 years later, but then speaks of the Adrina and by that means the river known today as the Eder, which rises on the heights between Netphener Johannland and the Wittgensteiner Kammer.

A good 1,200 years later, the name Adrina regains its shine with the opening of the Via Adrina hiking trail, which was voted the third most beautiful circular hiking trail in Germany at the TourNatur trade fair in 2009. The Via Adrina explores the river loops in the upper reaches of the Eder in a big eight. The circular hike is one of the hiking highlights on the left and right of the Rothaarsteig in Siegerland-Wittgenstein and has been awarded the German hiking seal as a premium hiking trail.

The starting point of the Via Adrina is the Eder Bridge in Arfeld. From here it goes up a narrow forest path to reach a viewing platform that offers a first panoramic view of the Edertal. The Via Adrina then circles the small Hainbachtal and reaches the Mühlbachtal, where there are even larger populations of the red Wittgensteiner Höhenvieh, a historical cattle species.

Along the edge of the forest and garnished with many beautiful views, the Via Adrina reaches the Heide biotope. Now it goes on adventurous nature trails through the unspoilt forest until we have closed the first half of the eight. You could now hike back to Arfeld here, but the Via Adrina has a second arch ready that leads in the direction of Schwarzenau.

In Schwarzenau, it is worth making a detour to the Schwarzenau Castle park on the Via Adrina. It then continues up to the upper Hüttental just below the summit of the Hahnschuß mountain (601m), where another viewing platform is available.

Now it's back to Arfeld. Here the Via Adrina makes one last dangling north-west towards the Honert (562m), where the Via Adrina meets the Wittgensteiner Schieferpfad. Together with him it goes in serpentines finally back into the Edertal to the starting point of the tour.