Rennsteig-Weg HRW 11

Before we start the hike, we recommend visiting the fortified church in the old town center, which is well worth seeing and was probably built as a tower mound surrounded by water as a refuge and storage facility.

We walk in the settlement area by the train station to the watershed obelisk (work of art inside the traffic circle) on the B 85. We cross the main road in a straight line and walk along the Frankenwaldhochstraße for around 150 m (the original Rennsteig is only on our route here, white "R") before turning right into the forest.

We continue there until we cross the Alte Heeresstraße together with the markings of the alternative Rennsteig (blue "R") through well-tended forest sections in a wide arc near the "Drei Brüder". The cross itself stands 200 m further south along the path and commemorates three members of a Protestant family who are said to have been killed here in 1634 while fleeing from the Catholic Kronachers who were persecuting them.

The next destination is the fairytale meadow at the site of the Waldhaus Waidmannsheil fire, the founding site of the Rennsteigverein, which we reach on pleasant forest paths. Only a short stretch of path separates us from the "Red Tower", a painted tree stump to which young Rennsteigers (and previously railroad construction workers) were once sent from the Waldhaus with a 13-pound key to climb.

We continue along the high trail, which is shrouded in legend, until we reach the Ludwigsstädter Weg in the Habacht forest area. We turn right in the parking bay and walk along a comfortable path, then continue on a fairly flat forest path. Small fields, beautiful forest meadows and an abandoned slate quarry and occasional views of Ebersdorf and the surrounding countryside provide a pleasant change of pace. As we leave the forest at the radio mast, there is a wonderful view of Ludwigsstadt and the Wetzstein (792 m) with the Altvaterturm tower dominating the landscape.

We continue along the farm track, leaving it straight ahead at the first house. We continue along a pleasant, natural path and finally reach the town together with the Burgenweg via the railroad line. If we turn right right at the start of the town (with the Burgenweg), we reach the market square with the fountain designed by Ewald Müller.

From the idyllic (upper) market square with the market fountain depicting the history of the town, we continue straight ahead together with the Burgenweg, cross the main road (B 85), walk across a small park and along a little-used cul-de-sac with wonderful views of the Sommerberg opposite and the valley landscape to the end of Ottendorf. Shortly before this, the Burgenweg left us to the right in Ottendorf.

We walk straight on beyond the end of the village for about 500 m and then turn right into the forest on pleasant forest paths, first a little steeper past the Schmierkas-Alm and then more leisurely uphill to an intermediate height, where we meet the Burgenweg again. Both hiking trails lead us on comfortable paths further uphill in the forest into the open countryside. Here you have a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside and the slate town of Lehesten.

We walk straight ahead on a dirt track through fields, with the mighty wind turbine on the Lauenhainer Höhe in front of us and finally on a farm track to Lauenhain with its late medieval (Protestant) filial church of St. Franziska, which is well worth seeing.We follow the cul-de-sac to the left to the windmill on the hill that dominates the landscape and enjoy one of the most beautiful views of our Franconian Forest home at the top of the hill. There is a very wide, fantastic panoramic view over the Franconian Forest and the ridges of the Thuringian Forest.

Further down, we can see the course of an old road in the meadow on the right before we reach the Rennsteig before the parking lot at the Ziegelhütte. We follow the footpath and cycle path together with the Rennsteig to the right, past the hamlet of Ziegelhütte. We cross the road (Reichenbach-Lauenhain) at the traffic circle and continue along the footpath until we come across the gypsy beech tree planted in 1958 on a forest road. It stands on the site of a once mighty beech tree that fell victim to a storm in 1958. A plaque carved here by Ewald Müller commemorates the year 1530, when Dr. Martin Luther traveled here from Judenbach to nearby Lehesten to preach.

Now it's not far back to Steinbach am Wald and to the two bridge stones on either side of the railroad line, designed by academic sculptor Heinrich Schreiber, which were intended to remind us of the bond between Bavaria and Thuringia during the period of German division despite the separation and still do today.