FrankenwaldSteigla Franzosen-Weg

Listening to silence - Where does the gentle buzzing of the forest bees come from? Where is the deer standing that made the branch crack softly? Listen to the sound of silence, enjoy the peace and quiet! Hiking in the Franconian Forest is a contrast to the sensory overload. New worlds of sound open up to the ear - and natural silence drowns out everyday life!

As if straight out of a textbook, our "Franzosen-Weg" presents you with the typical Franconian Forest landscape triad of wooded slopes, cleared plateaus with impressive views and narrow, water-bearing valleys. The gentle flow of the Schorgast accompanies you at the beginning and end of our hike! You observe the course of the stream from above, which also feeds the heated outdoor pool.

Following the Schorgast, you cross the Weißenbach shortly before its mouth. There is no village to walk through, only nature to be heard. You might find yourself pondering the silent hike: Why is the path named after the French? According to stories, French prisoners of war built the path through the forest and it has been named in their memory ever since.

Wegbeschreibung

We hike from the starting point at the central parking lot below the town hall to the market square. In front of the time-honored bridge monument from 1711, the "Wernersbruck", we turn right along the bank of the Schorgast and come to the historic parish barn from 1721.
We walk along the Winterleite along the slope to the swimming pool. Here we have a wonderful view down to the Wirsberg summer pool with Franconia's longest water slide (117 meters). We then follow the FrankenwaldSteigla downhill and cross the Schorgast. After approx. 200 meters we come to the former district quarry. Here you can take a short break at the seating area.
An information board provides information about the fact that in the romantic Schorgasttal valley, where today hikers and cyclists are fascinated by the tranquillity and charming natural beauty, deafening noise, dust and smelly lorries used to dominate the scene. The district of Kulmbach operated the quarry until the middle of 1960 in order to extract gravel material for the construction and repair of district roads
at low cost. In addition, other road construction sites were also supplied with quarry stones from Wirsberg.
After the quarry was closed down, the Schorgasttal valley, which is protected by the landscape, became a quiet place that thousands of day-trippers and vacation guests enjoy year after year.
We then walk past the wetland biotope with the guest lime tree and the shelter hut to the Weißenbächlein stream.
Here we turn left and walk up a narrow, natural forest path on the right bank of this stream. We are greeted by a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside with the wind turbines on the heights near Falls and the Ochsenkopf in the background. The field path meets the road (Marktschorgast - Gundlitz) near Ziegenburg.
We take the road to the left, turn left again after a few meters onto the field path and hike with a beautiful view of the charming valley landscape of the Weißenbächlein in a right-hand bend through the meadow to the forest.

The hiking trail leads us slightly downhill on a forest path to the alder-lined course of the stream. Once we have crossed the valley floor, we continue straight uphill. As the altitude increases, the view back becomes more and more impressive. Passing cultivated fields, we reach the outskirts of Weißenbach. It is worth making a short detour to the mountain village with its idyllic village pond, which has won awards in village beautification competitions. Those who visit the village center must then walk the few meters back to the village exit. We follow the directions towards Wirsberg/Schorgasttal and after a few steps turn left onto the field path towards Wirsberg/Schorgasttal.

There we pass the bench with the statue of "Johann". We continue along the meadow path
towards the forest in the direction of Schorgasttal. On the way, we enjoy the impressive view of the high Fichtelgebirge mountains with Ochsenkopf and Schneeberg. We walk slightly downhill along the edge of the forest and in the forest and reach a forest path. We take this to the right and turn left after a short distance. The steep descent leads to the hiking trail above the Schorgasttal quarry. On this hillside path, we turn right and follow the "Franzosenweg" along the Sommerleite.

At the end, the high path leads back into the valley, where we then cross the Schorgast on the left and walk on the right along the riverside path to the Markgrafenkirche St. Johannis. We return to our starting point at the central parking lot via the market square.</p