Paradies-Weg OS 26

Let's get straight to the point: this circular hiking trail was a hive of activity in days gone by. This is because the entire route was once a connecting path that residents used almost daily - to school, to church, to go shopping, to visit or to take care of official business. These paths were taken for granted by people, mostly on foot, in their daily lives.

We start our circular hike at the hiking board at Raiffeisenplatz in Marlesreuth and walk opposite on the Schauensteiner Weg out of town to Schauenstein. Before the last houses, there is an opportunity to reach the hiking home of the local FWV group on the left. Once we have left the church village behind us and are walking slightly downhill through the meadows with a beautiful view, the Marlesreuth "Bächla" accompanies us on the left within sight and soon the Döbrabach stream joins us on the right, which we cross on a bridge before the forest.

On the left at the bottom of the valley, we see several ponds, and on the right in the forest the protective pond of the former Stegmühle, or Grundmühle, as it is also popularly known.

We hike slightly uphill along the road in the forest, but then leave the Schauensteiner Weg for a short detour to the Stegmühle on the left. On a near-natural forest path close to the valley, we soon come to the site of the mill, which was demolished in 1948 and whose mill wheel was only powered by the waters of the Döbrabach stream; the "Bächla" had flowed into it shortly before.

With a wonderful view of the valley and the alder-lined stream, we follow the path along the edge of the forest to Waldeck. There we turn right and walk slightly uphill along a pleasant forest path until we reach our Schauenstein path again. It leads us in the forest to the left, continuing slightly uphill to a clearing island with the name "Aschbach". The name is said to come from the ash-like rock lying in the bed of the former ditch.

After leaving the forest, we walk uphill on a field path to the Haidengrün-Uschertsgrün road through the meadow, the view of a multi-layered landscape becomes increasingly open and wider.

We only walk very briefly to the left on the road, but immediately turn right again. Here at Waldeck, we are surprised by an impressive view of the surrounding countryside as far as the Fichtelgebirge. Now we continue straight ahead along the edge of the forest. When we reach the Webersteig trail in the forest, the "Hut" lies ahead of us, a section of forest where farmers are said to have taken their livestock and possessions to safety from the war hordes during the Thirty Years' War.

We take the Webersteig trail to the left through the forest, then follow a field path through the open fields slightly downhill to the start of the village of Uschertsgrün. There we follow the local roads to the fire extinguishing pond, then turn right and walk to the end of the village. After a short stretch, we turn sharply left and walk downhill on a path to the Selbitzbrücke bridge and continue right to the road at the end of Uscherstgrün at the foot of the Hag.

The trail now climbs very steeply up the Hag to the edge of the town near the parking lot with the hiking sign on the road to Selbitz. Here there are links to the Schauenstein trail network.

But we turn right immediately and first follow the local road, then the "Bahnhofssteig" (station path) quite steeply downhill to the former railroad station and shortly further on to Talstraße. On the way, we pass through the park-like "Hoher Stein" with the rock formation "Wachenden Jungfrau" (on the left you can see the "Schlafender Riesen"). Between the church and the castle, we recognize the "private entrance" to the church reserved for the noble lords of the castle. We also pass the former court house (also known as the "Goldschmiedhaus") and see the vicarage nearby, which is said to be the oldest inhabited house in the district of Hof. The market square is also worth seeing.

Immediately after the former train station, we reach Talstraße, where we follow the footpath and cycle path only briefly to the right before turning right over to Hagenmühle. This footpath and cycle path offers the opportunity to shorten the circular route (without Schauenstein) by around one kilometer.

From here, our hiking route leads along the Haidengrüner Weg to the "Paradies", a once often assumed connection between these two places and Schauenstein. Passing the mill, we reach the opposite side of the valley via the Selbitz and its valley. There we immediately turn right, walk up the slope path, then along the edge of the forest into the forest.

If we follow the forest path for a while, we come across the "Stockhöhenweg" (OS 25), which will accompany us to Haueisen. We hike slightly uphill in the forest within sight of the Thronbachtal nature reserve. When our path joins the valley floor, we walk across the valley past the "Greimeslachn" and the "Schwarzspechtkiefer" pine trees to the forest. Background information about this section of the trail can be found on the Stockhöhenweg (OS 25).

We continue along the pleasant forest path slightly uphill, mostly through sparse woodland, until the hiking route leads us back into the open Thronbach valley. There we cross the valley and the stream past a pond on the "Haueisner Brückla", an old stone slab bridge. We hike - with a view of the unspoilt upper valley floor of the nature reserve, Haidengrün and the nearby "Paradies" - past the fisherman's hut, a little later past an apiary and up into the forest until we reach the Webersteig trail again.

Take it to the left through the forest, then walk through the "Haueisner Gründla", continue straight across the field (if necessary, bypass the ploughed field) and then on a path in a straight main direction to Haueisen, into the "Paradies" with its dozen or so houses.

The aforementioned Martin Glotz once lived in the second house, very close to the hiking trail. The first meeting of believers in this house laid the foundation for the Pentecost meeting, the "Kirchentag im Frankenwald". Perhaps it was also an occasion to compare Haueisen with paradise (perhaps meant ironically?).

At this "historic" house, we walk uphill to the right until we reach the road (Haidengrün-Uscherstgrün). This is the path that the residents of Haueisen used to take to school, for shopping and for personal visits and errands in Marlesreuth. We cross the road and immediately turn left in the forest and continue walking until our path at the edge of the forest leads straight ahead into the forest.

The actual path straight ahead down the valley is currently not passable. We therefore turn left and after about 100 meters reach another forest path that leads us downhill into the valley of the Döbrabach stream. We cross the valley and walk along a field path on the other side, first in the forest, then steadily uphill in the open countryside to the outskirts of Marlesreuth. Keeping to the right on local roads, we soon reach our starting point again at the hiking sign at Raiffeisenplatz.

A visit to the hand-weaving museum in the village is highly recommended. Knowledgeable people present the life and work of hand weavers in the historic building and take us back in time to the bygone era of our "Handweber-Frankenwald". The church with its richly decorated baroque altar from 1747, wooden coffered ceiling from 1717 and ornate decoration is also well worth a visit.