Heunischenburg-Weg HRW 9

Once you have mastered the ascent on the forest road to the heights before the idyllically situated hamlet of Häusles with its (not open all day) restaurant, the path is, with one exception, only flat on field and forest paths (a short section is gravel) on the heights, mainly in the open with beautiful views of the surrounding countryside. Only from Heunischenburg Castle do we return to the forest, when we walk downhill for a long time on a forest path along a narrow forest valley to Kaltenbrunn. In the last section, the pine forests and the large ponds in the unspoilt valley landscape provide a pleasant change. At the top in Gehülz, the town of Kronach with its unconquered fortress and the Franconian Forest with a vast sea of forests and the islands of clearings on the plateaus present themselves to the visitor as far as the Döbraberg.

The highlights of the hike are the moated castle and the upper castle in Mitwitz and the partially reconstructed Heunischenburg, the oldest known stone fortification north of the Alps.

a) From Mitwitz via Häusles, Gehülz (Ellmershaus), Bürg to Heunischenburg 9.6 km

We walk from the moated castle to the town hall and church square and hike up the Jakobsweg, past the church, upper castle and castle park to the forest. In the park, which is not open to the public, you can admire the trees, some of which are centuries old (oaks, lime trees, including American Douglas firs), a sandstone statue (18th century), the lime tree traffic circle with the stone table, the chapel and the tomb of the last Baron von Würtzburg, who died in the First World War in 1916.

We then follow various paths in the forest steadily uphill to the heights. Passing the historic bridle path, we reach a wide spider's web at the top of an open area - according to tradition, the "Staanerna Männla". Whatever stone objects once stood there have long since disappeared. The only thing that is certain is that in days gone by, the Mitwitz nobility, looked after by their servants, used to occasionally celebrate on this square. The ladies and gentlemen reached their destination on horseback via the aforementioned bridle path.

We leave the "Staanerna Männla", turn left and reach the hamlet of Häusles on a comfortable path through the forest and finally on a meadow path to the left across a pasture through two gates and enjoy the beautiful view of Häusles and the Franconian Forest heights in the background. Nearby: the Schwedenloch, a marshy area where a Swedish horseman is said to have drowned during the Thirty Years' War. In Häusles, we are also reminded of the legend of "Wolf die Mad".

The hiking trail continues straight ahead, past mighty beeches and oaks, across a meadow to the forest. There, the path climbs for a long time and quite steeply in places until we reach the summit via the Oberer Roter Bühl (486 m). At the top, we continue along a beautiful path until we reach a gravel forest path. It leads us to a more pleasant path on the heights.

When a house in Ellmershaus, a district of the former municipality of Gehülz, appears on the left, there is a beautiful view: Heunischenburg Castle on the opposite slope, Mitwitz with its surrounding countryside to the left and Thuringian territory beyond. Since 1988 (400th anniversary celebrations), a new Zoll lime tree has replaced its legendary predecessor. Until the middle of the 19th century, it was a customs station between the domains of the von Redwitz and von Würtzburg dynasties. The customs fountain (with the date 1588 on the sandstone vault) was once important for the drinking water supply of Gehülz, a boon for hikers and carters between Rodach and Steinachgrund.

We continue along a footpath and come to a local road, which leads us straight ahead to the left to the former district of Brand. The path leads past the church to the main road Kronach-Mitwitz. Shortly before, we can enjoy a magnificent view over the 1000-year-old town of Kronach across the entire Franconian Forest heights up to the Döbraberg.

Together with the Burgenweg - which has accompanied us since the church - we cross the B 303 and continue along a field path through the meadows with very beautiful views and soon come to the "Obere Bürg" single track, keeping to the left, and continue in the open to the forest. Shortly downhill, we reach a meadow path, which we follow to the left downhill along the edge of the meadow to the single "Untere Bürg". Now it is not far to Heunischenburg Castle.

b) From Heunischenburg Castle via Kaltenbrunn and Bächlein to Mitwitz 9.1 km

At the start of this monument, we walk uphill to the right and along historical ground on a path that soon turns sharply left and then right into a beautiful hillside path. This leads us steadily downhill through beautiful mixed forest to the narrow forest valley of the Öfelsgraben and further downhill to the road (Burgstall-Kaltenbrunn). Here we enjoy the view: of the valley landscape, Burgstall and the wooded heights, later back to Häusles on the ridge. To avoid the road, we soon walk in a curve through the pine forest back to the road and on to Kaltenbrunn, where we come across the E 3+6.

At the beautiful rest area at the fire station, we turn right across the main road and follow a footpath back along a village road out of town to the forest. We follow the easy, sandy path, keeping to the left, with the two main hiking trails (E 3+6; Burgenweg). They accompany us on sandy ground through the pine forest and over a small hill on a dirt path in the open to Bächlein.

We walk to the left, past the Waldhotel, on a comfortable footpath in the open and in the forest until we reach a forest path. We continue along it to the left until we reach a spur. Here we turn right and walk through a varied landscape. We walk along the unspoilt valley floor with large fish ponds to the Breitensee lake at the beginning of Mitwitz. The local road of the same name leads us to the town center and on to the moated castle, back to our starting point. The castle is also home to the Upper Franconia Ecological Education Center.