FrankenwaldSteigla Wasserschloss-Runde

Listening to silence - Where does the gentle buzzing of the forest bees come from? Where is the deer that made the branch crack softly? Listen to the sound of silence, enjoy the peace and quiet! Hiking in the Franconian Forest is a contrast to the sensory overload. New worlds of sound open up to the ear - and natural silence drowns out everyday life!

A Renaissance castle surrounded by water! For us, this sight radiates a pleasant sense of calm - even for the builders of old, it was reassuring to know that water all around made their residence more defensible! But no more thoughts of that: today we can enjoy the peaceful aura of the moated castle in peace. The infinitely gentle rippling as the smallest waves touch the masonry. A delicate gurgle when a fish snaps at a dragonfly...

Our "surge tank tour" takes you into another world of silent sounds: most of the time, the hike follows secluded paths in the forest. Trees rub against each other with a creak, a woodpecker hammers in the dead wood, the wind blows through the canopy... In Häusles, you can enjoy a magnificent view that rewards you for the effort of the only major ascent on the trail! And here too, a new silence experience awaits you: it is fascinating how silently the fallow deer herd moves. Really silent? Listen very carefully...

Trail description

We start our circular hike named after the Mitwitz moated castle, the landmark of Mitwitz first mentioned in 1266. We follow the avenue along the castle moat, turn left and cross the Föritz on a narrow bridge. We walk straight ahead through Bubsgäßchen, past the Mitwitz youth hostel, until we reach the main road at the town hall, the former "Zum wilden Mann" inn. We follow the main road to the left past the Häublein inn and the "Zum steinernen Löwen" inn until we turn left onto Breitenseeweg.

We follow this until we reach the 5-hectare Breitensee lake, where we also turn left and walk through the avenue along the lakeshore to the small bridge over the "Alte Föritz".

After the bridge, we keep right and reach a pond, before which we turn left. We soon reach the Keilstöckteiche ponds and use the dam between the two bodies of water to change sides of the valley. At the next junction, we turn left and soon reach Bächlein. The Waldhotel there invites you to stop for a bite to eat, the hiking trail leads to the right at the Waldhotel onto a field path.

First along the edge of the forest, then after turning right into the forest, the path leads us to Kaltenbrunn on the Müßweg. Before we reach the junction with the main road, we turn right and cross the state road 2708 at a crosswalk. Be careful, at this point crossing traffic is limited to 80 kilometers per hour! Next to the Kaltenbrunn fire station, where we turn left, there is a fountain where we can enjoy a refreshing drink. After a few meters we leave the European long-distance hiking trail no. 3 and no. 6 and after a right turn also Kaltenbrunn in the direction of Burgstall and after about 200 meters turn right into a dirt road. At this point, we also leave the company of the HRW 9 and Burgenweg hiking trails, which turn left into the forest.

We follow the path between fields and bushes until we enter a dense forest again after about 500 meters. After about 10 minutes of walking in the forest, during which we turn right once, we meet up with two acquaintances again at a tiller post - the two circular hiking trails KC 33 and KC 34, which will now accompany us for a while. We leave the tiller to the left to reach the B303 main road after a few minutes, which we cross carefully as the speed of crossing traffic is not restricted here.

Our three hiking trails run parallel to the main road past the Schwarzer Teich pond for around 300 meters before following the edge of the forest to the left. The forest path leads us up the Fuchsberg until we leave the accompanying circular hiking trail KC 33 to the right at a crossroads, but are instead accompanied by KC 31 (Häusles Weg) to the left in the direction of Häusles. We climb up through the forest and reach a gate in a beech forest, which we close again behind us. We leave the forest and see a fenced fallow deer enclosure on the left that extends into the valley and the Häusles buildings with the "Schäferstuben" restaurant in front of us. From the terrace of the "Schäferstuben" you have a wonderful view over the forest, the valley and the goings-on in the fallow deer enclosure.

We head west through an estate, uphill on a meadow path until we enter the forest after a hollow path. There we turn right and pass about 500 meters of young forest until we reach the "Staanerna Männla" spider trail at the top. Here we turn right towards Mitwitz. From now on, it is all downhill on pleasant paths, mostly in a straight main direction. When we have walked for a while after a left turn, we turn sharply to the right. Now a natural, narrow forest path leads us further downhill. When we see the sign for the "Stone Lion" just before the road, we should take the short detour.

In a natural grotto in a rock face, an almost life-size stone lion cannot be overlooked. The monument, erected in 1907, commemorates Baroness Annie von Würtzburg, née Lyons (lion). The distinguished family had a lion in their coat of arms and her father was commander-in-chief of the English fleet. Back on the path, we descend the wooden steps and walk across the parking lot and the road, turn left on a footpath to a local road and after a few meters back to our starting point at the large parking lot at the moated castle. On the way, we can see the mouth of the Föritz into the Steinach and the castle pond shortly beforehand.