Saale-Weg R 15

Before the hike, we take a look around the village. First, we visit the Schlossberg with the sparse remains of the castle, which was blown up in 1948 and first mentioned in documents in 1232. From the bastion, 75 m above the Saale valley, there is a magnificent view of the valley landscape with the panoramic road, Blankenstein, the Gupfen (612 m) and the outskirts of Eisenbühl, the Sieglitzberg (733 m) with the transmission mast and the Wolfstein opposite. The view from the "Hochzeitskorb", which we reach behind the town hall, is just as impressive.

We start our hike at the church and walk down the main road quite steeply towards the Saale valley. At a right-hand bend in the main road, we turn left at the Saale-Orla Trail sign (red triangle) and walk downhill to the end of the village. On a field path we come up to the heights (view of Kemlas, Unterkemlas) and to the forest. There we come across the Kolonnenweg, a relic of the inner-German border.

We walk along the path, which was once so important for "border security", over the heights to Pottiga, which is widely known for its funfair and beautiful market fountain. The originally Sorbian settlement was first mentioned in a document in 1325.

We walk downhill in the village and follow the "black" (pavement) farm track (views!) - which turns right and after a few meters turns left - downhill into the Saale valley. At the edge of the forest at the edge of the valley, we turn right and follow the colonnade path along the Green Belt in the direction of Blumenaumühle, which we could already see shortly downhill in the Saalegrund on the Franconian side.

Our hike along a section of the Green Belt is very varied. This former death strip, which stretches from the nearby border triangle near Hinterprex to the Baltic Sea, is 1393 km long and on average 75 m wide. The roadway, consisting of thick concrete slabs, is already more or less overgrown and only partially retains its original appearance.

At the former Flinschen paper factory, we come across the access road to this industrial ruin and the start of the horse-drawn railroad, a tourist attraction. Our circular walk is not over yet. We walk up the road and come back to the point where our circular route comes full circle. We return to our starting point in the center of Blankenberg by following the local road uphill.</p