Fronbauernweg

At the lower local end of Teuschnitz, we turn left into Nebelgasse to the left and take the Burgenweg up the Galgenberg on a field and forest path through fields and woods. At the top, we continue our hike with beautiful views of Wickendorf, the Teuschnitztal and the Umland, finally continue straight ahead without the Burgenweg until you reach the road, which leads to the single Rauschenberg and Rauschenhof. We only turn left briefly, then take a dirt track that leads us to the forest. We now enter a wide forest, which we cross on pleasant forest paths, until we finally descend hiking and reach the Finkenmühle leading to the Stichstraße. When we go downhill, we're right at the Germany's Excursion restaurant (2008) closed Finkenmühle in the Talgrund of the Kremnitz. The former Floßbach has its source near Reichenbach and flows through an idyllic valley landscape, takes up the waters of the Dober and joins south of Wilhelmsthal at the Fehnenschneidmühle with the Grümpel to the Kronach. We cross the valley after the mill and follow the naturnahen Forstweg uphill through well-tended Hochwald to the heights. There, our hiking trail crosses a forest road at a beautiful cross and continues straight ahead, initially on a natural forest path, finally on a hunting trail, initially through young forest stands, then again through Hochwald downhill into the charming Talgrund of the Dober. We cross it on a raft footbridge and walk diagonally to the right across the valley with a view of the Effelter mill at the bottom right of the valley. From Waldrand, we follow a Wirtschaftsweg, a few meters with the European Wanderweg 3+6, steadily uphill in the forest to the beautiful Kirchdorf Effelter on the Hochfläche. In Effelter, the original form of the Rundangerdorf from the late 13th century is still preserved. Otto Knopf writes: The formerly uniform displaced, mostly one-storey residential barn buildings of the 18th/19th century with the gable end facing the elliptically laid out village green. The former common land (Allmende) is still recognizable, even if it has been developed with a church, a cemetery, a pond and some houses without the original parcel of land. The strips of land behind the farmsteads are heading towards the forest. We walk straight ahead along the main road to the other end of the village and, with a view of a beautiful rocky outcrop and the wooded slope of the young Grümpel valley opposite, continue to the Waldrand just before the Grümpelgrund. This is where the Talgrund feeder road (Fronbauern-Weg) coming from Hubertushöhe joins the trail.

{Feeder route from Hubertushöhe (easy 4.7 km):

Where the Fronbauernweg turns off to the right before the quiet, well-tended valley of the Grümpel, we can hike straight ahead on the feeder trail, cross the open valley of the former Floßbach stream and the stream itself on a footbridge, walk briefly on a path to a forest path and with it to a forest path. We follow this moderately uphill, with views of the Frankenwaldbach stream, a raft pond and the increasingly narrow and unspoilt valley. We continue to hike slightly uphill through the tranquillity of the vast woodland. On the way, we come across the Schanzenbinderweg coming from Birnbaum. Together with it, the hiking route continues on a level path to the road (Hubertushöhe-Birnbaum). We follow it for about 500 meters to the left to the former forester's lodge and today's Hubertushöhe inn. There is also a large parking lot here.

We can also turn right without this detour and continue for a long time on a slope path along the direct Fronbauernweg, mostly through old spruce stands, interspersed with deciduous trees and individual fir trees, surrounded on both sides by steep forest slopes, on a natural forest path and finally on a path to the left steeply downhill to the Obere Grümpelmühle and in the valley on the road to the Untere Grümpelmühle. We walk straight on past the Untere Grümpelmühle on the valley road and after just under 200 m turn right onto the gravel path that leads to the individual farmsteads no. 32 33 (signposted) of Grümpel. We walk between the farmsteads on the right on a forest path in long serpentines steadily upwards to the open heights. The views become wider and more impressive as we gain height. We soon come to Mühlenbergweg at the fire station after Hesselbach, situated 576 m above sea level between Dober and Grümpel. A sandstone marmot 300 m down the road towards Lahm: two siblings from Grümpel were found here in 1764, frozen to death in a snowdrift on their way to school; 400 m west of the village a sandstone pillar (early 19th century): Commemorates the death of a farmer's wife by a cow gone wild. We walk along the main road to the left through the pretty village and take Bühlstraße to the left uphill to the hilltop. A detour to the left to the Schneihanneskapelle chapel is worthwhile. It was built in the 1950s by the owner of Schneihanneshof, Appel G., in gratitude for his return home from World War II. The wanderweg, however, turns off to the right onto a road to Böhla-Platz (the municipality's fairground) with a magnificent view over the wooded heights of the Franconian Forest to the Döbraberg, Presseck, the viewing tower at Birnbaum and the surrounding villages. We continue along the ridge path with beautiful views and soon reach the mighty, 10-metre-high High Cross on the 568-metre-high Eichsberg, which is illuminated at night, just before the start of Wilhelmsthal. From a certain spot, the view extends as far as the Veste Coburg on a clear day. Right next door, we can pause briefly for a quiet prayer in the Marienkapelle chapel built (and maintained) by the Peter family in 1998, before passing the kindergarten and arriving at the parish church of St. Josef. The completely renovated church is worth a visit for the overall atmosphere, the modern colored windows in the new choir and the new Metzler organ. After visiting the church, we walk along the narrow, steeply descending village road, accompanied by the Stations of the Cross along the way, and only now realize how steep and long the built-up slope is and how the houses cling to the mountainside like swallows' nests. The view from the church of the steep, wooded slopes of the deeply incised valleys (Steinberg in the background) and the houses of Wilhelmsthal is uniquely beautiful. Once we reach the bottom, we realize how exhausting it must be to go to church on Sundays from down here and how difficult it is for larger supply vehicles to make deliveries, especially in snowy winters! In the direction of Kronach, we leave the road to the left where the railing ends at Grümpel. From here, it is worth taking another look back at the uniquely beautiful Wilhelmsthal on the mountainside. Here we cross the Grümpel and the valley to the left to Ortsende. At the edge of the forest at the end of the village, we walk parallel to the road, soon turn sharp left and follow the forest path through the wide, secluded forest area steadily uphill to the first house of the sheep farm. Walk along the road to the other houses in the hamlet and on to the forest. There we walk on the plateau on a roadway straight ahead through a wide forested area to the scattered settlement of (upper) Roßlach. At the pretty chapel, we enjoy the beautiful view across to the hamlet of Ludwigsland on the hill and the vast wooded areas. We cross the district road (right to Eichenbühl, Steinberg), keep left on the hill and walk through fields and meadows in the direction of Kotschersgrund/Remschlitz until we reach a dirt track coming from there. We follow it in the open with beautiful views to the right and finally pass the Hartplatz to the beginning of Friesen. Worth seeing is the venerable Catholic parish church of St. Georg with its new building elements; the first church was first mentioned in 1434. Friesen was once not only an important rafting village, but also a historically important place. The Upper Castle (No. 29), the Lower Castle (vicarage, No. 4) and the Middle Castle (only recognizable in the cellar of house No. 39) bear witness to this. At the Wicklein inn, we turn right past the church, which is well worth seeing, to the center of the parish village and the parking lot. From there, we turn left past the Desera inn and reach our markings again in Hohe Wart street. We walk past the Wicklein inn to the left and follow the local road until we reach the road coming from Remschlitz near the end of the village. This road takes us to a road spider just before the town center, where we turn left and walk uphill on the Hohe Wart local road to the Ortsende. A pleasant field and meadow path leads us in a left turn to a field path in a hollow, which takes us uphill to the right in open fields to the height and stump of the Rennesberg lime tree natural monument and the two wayside shrines on the Friesen-Unterrodach road. The lime tree was a victim of storm Kyrill in January 2007. A wayside shrine reminds us that it was here that the farmers, who had been badly afflicted by the fief, are said to have slain a disliked overseer. At the end of our hike, we enjoy the wide, beautiful views of the Kreuzberg and the valley of the Kronach.