FrankenwaldSteigla Achatzmühlen-Weg

Silent listening – Where does the gentle buzzing of the forest bees come from? Where is the deer standing, quietly cracking the branch? Hear the sound of silence, enjoy the peace and quiet! Hiking in the Franconian Forest is a contrast to the flood of stimuli. New worlds of sound open up to your ears - and natural tranquillity overcomes everyday life!

At every turn in this region, you will encounter signs of centuries of antiquity: mighty sandstone martens, three or four-metre-high wooden crosses and an entire Way of the Cross. It's no wonder, as more than 5,000 people make a pilgrimage to the papal basilica of Marienweiher every year, one of the oldest Marian pilgrimage churches in Germany. But just a few steps outside the village, there is hardly any sign of this rush. On our „Achatzmühlen-Weg“ you can enjoy the tranquil silence on pleasantly alternating forest and meadow paths. You may hear a mysterious whisper from the past from time to time: the ancient buildings here were not only used for prayers! On your way, you will cross the legendary Mordgraben, where the murderer of a young baron once mysteriously died the day after the crime, and the sight of the dilapidated Achatzmühle will also make your mind wander: it was built in 1602 as the Rothenbühler Mühle and takes its name from the later owner Achatz Hübner. Today, only a few old oak trees and the wayside chapel built in 1922 in an idyllic landscape are reminders of the once busy mill business.

... And one more thing: if you have a thought and want to get rid of it, it is certainly in good hands in the inconspicuous letterbox near Hermes. The inscription „Bank Secrets“ is taken very seriously, at least here!

Trail description

A wealth of highlights and amenities make this circular hiking trail a particularly beautiful hiking experience on the edge of the Franconian Forest along always pleasant routes. Once we have hiked from Hermes to Marienweiher, the first highlight we reach is the oldest and most famous pilgrimage church in the diocese of Bamberg.

We start our hike in the central parking lot below the pilgrimage church in Marienweiher. We first cross the main road and follow the lane up to the basilica.

The basilica (1718-1721) and the Franciscan monastery were built by Prince-Bishop Lothar Franz von Schönborn. The Marienweiher Basilica is one of the oldest Marian pilgrimage churches in Germany.

We walk past the Mother of God Grotto across the beautiful forecourt, enter through the gate and immediately take the paved path to the right, past the cemetery and sports field. When we see the Zechteich pond on the left through the trees, we take a sharp left turn before the sports center on a path downhill to the Zechteich pond (1 km) and its very well-kept shore area. The hike continues along the shore and further up the valley along the western, unspoilt edge of the Groüen Koserbach stream. Soon we cross the large Koserbach stream to the right and walk through the meadows uphill to the hill and then along a field path to Steinbach. Immediately on the other side of the district road, we marvel at a 4 m high, mighty wooden cross. The carved corpus was probably made around the year 1800.

At the town sign for Gundlitz, we turn right twice and walk along a country lane with a beautiful view of the valley floor of the Großen Koserbache and the basilica and pilgrimage site of Marienweiher straight ahead to the Kemnath cross, which has existed since 1836. At the edge of the forest it shows the five wounds of Christ at the crossroads. If we walk straight ahead in the forest down into the valley of the Großen Koser, the Schmitts-Kreuz, a granite column with a (broken) cast-iron cross erected in 1945, stands in the sparse high forest on the left.

Shortly before the stream to the left, about 200 m on the left side of the valley, we come to the Mordgraben, which is shrouded in mystery. According to legend, the son of a forest worker shot a young baron and his son here. The next day, the gunman was found hanging from a tree.

We soon come to the Aanzig (single) of Cottenau, which was inhabited and farmed until the 1960s. We continue to the Einzel Einöde and then turn right into the valley to the idyllic hamlet of (Alte) Schmölz, which dates back to a copper smelter. We leave the Alte Schmelz and turn half right between the two houses onto a field path. We walk in the forest over a small hill and cross the valley of the Schallerbach stream to the chapel built in 1922 by the Schübel family at the already disappeared Achatzmühle, which was built in 1602/03. When Achatz Hübner took it over, it was given its current name.

After the chapel, we take a sharp left onto the natural dirt track and walk along the edge of the idyllic Schallerbach valley, which is dotted with several large ponds, past the meadows and fields until we reach Hermes, which was first mentioned in 1405 and belonged to the Bamberg monastery at the time. We leave Hermes in a north-westerly direction and approach our starting point of Marienweiher again, keeping left at the next crossroads.