FrankenwaldSteig Etappe 1: Bad Steben - Nordhalben

Lively hustle and bustle and mystical history accompany you on the way from Bad Steben to Nordhalben. Stroll through the spa gardens, enjoy the view of the Green Belt and the Thuringian Forest and learn some historical facts along the way: The first stage of the FrankenwaldSteig offers all of this.

The first stage begins near the town hall on the main street in Bad Steben. From the train station, the starting point can be reached via a short 250 m walk along Bahnhofstraße with theFrankenwaldSteigla Flaserkalksteig in a northerly direction.right at the start of our hike, we pass the AlteWehrkirche St. Walburga or can visit the neighboringLutherkirche. We follow the main road for about 200 m in a westerly direction and then turn left at the Humboldt House into Badstraße. We soon reach the state spa building designed by Leo von Klenze and the historic columned wall hall in the Bad Steben spa gardens, where there is also a drinking hall for refreshments with Bad Steben healing water. Turning left there, we reach the Alte Langenbacher Straße. The old avenue above Bad Steben offers wonderful views of the Franconian Forest on the left and the Thuringian Muschwitz Valley on the right.

Behind the Langenbach cemetery, we turn left onto a narrow path and enter the village. There, we leave the first two junctions and follow the Alte Schulstraße to the right, before turning left into Blumenstraße shortly afterwards.at the next junction, we keep right again and finally reach Dürrenwaider Straße, which we follow to the left again. Just 130 m further on, we leave this road and follow the FrankenwaldSteigla12-Apostel-Weg in a westerly direction and head towards the 12 apostles on near-natural field paths. The origin of this row of stones is a mystery. While some claim that it is an observatory from the Neolithic period, others believe it to be a medieval boundary marker, but whether this mystery will ever be solved remains to be seen.

We now head in a north-westerly direction and walk through a varied landscape of fields, small woods and ponds until we reach the junction to Hermesgrün in Obere Mühlleiten, where we keep left.

The Frankenwaldverein hiking home in Hermesgrün, just 200 m from the FrankenwaldSteig, offers accommodation for up to 40 people. The contact address for bookings can be found here. The hiking lodge is an ideal place for a short break. Seating areas are available all year round and the toilets are also open for hikers at all times. If we do not visit the hiking home, our hike continues straight ahead at the crossroads and we leave the small village via a field path in the direction of Heinersberg. About 350 m after reaching the edge of the forest, we cross the road and meet the Heinersberger Weg (RT 34) at theAschgrund, which accompanies us for a while.

We meet the road again, but we leave it on the left to walk around Heinersberg along the edge of the forest. The next FrankenwaldSteigla, DerKirchgänger, joins our route from the left. After 850 m, both trails take a path into the forest, only to turn left again a short time later. Once again, we see the local road - it only serves as a guide. Instead, we take a steep path into the valley and reach the Nordhalben "Grund" above the Evangelical Jubilate Church. Here we can already recognize the Schwamma on the opposite side of the valley, a large wooden toadstool, which our hike will pass later.

The district of Grund is not only impressive because of its little church built into the hillside. To get to it, we have to turn right in front of the church and keep right again along the 200 m long detour. The Dreiherrenstein once separated the Bishopric of Bamberg, the Margraviate of Bayreuth and the Principality of Reuss j. L. (younger line) - and today Thuringia from Bavaria. On the way back from the detour, we stay in the valley and meet up with our FrankenwaldSteig trail again on the route of the Heinersberger Weg (RT 34).

Staying on the FrankenwaldSteig trail, we walk past the church and see Nordhalben railroad station on the left. TheRodachtalbahn, a rail bus that runs between Steinwiesen and Nordhalben, stops here on Sundays and public holidays from May to October. From the valley, we follow the somewhat wider through-town route until we cross the state road at the tunnel and climb the castle hill of Nordhalben via narrow paths. Benches invite you to linger under the "Schwamma" and enjoy the relaxed view of the Rodachtal valley you have just crossed. After circling the mountain peak and the cross, we take the narrow path to Nordhalben, keeping to the right after the Marienkapelle chapel and walking along the Kapellenweg to the "Wanderbares Deutschland" starting point, where the first stage ends.

The nearby lace-making school building, now the Nordhalben Lace Museum, which houses the international lace collection and the historical local museum with border documentation, is well worth a visit. Accommodation and refreshments are available in the town center.