Hikes in Gablingen

On beautiful and peaceful paths through the Achsheimer Hart During this hike, we repeatedly come across circular depressions in the forest. These funnel pits likely originated from iron ore mining in the Middle Ages. Between Achsheim, Aystetten, and Straßberg alone, there are 8,000 such depressions! Some say that even the Celts extracted iron by simple surface mining here in prehistoric times.

Hike from Gersthofen to Meitingen mostly along the Romantic Road

​The starting and ending point of our loop hike is the Pfafferberg 1 hiking parking lot, located on the road connecting Affaltern and Lützelburg. The hiking trail signs—which are no longer entirely legible—point in the right direction: We follow the paved road southward. About 200 m past the “30 km/h” road signs, at the end of a former clearing, we turn right (sign: “Staatsforstbetrieb frei”).  The gravel path leads downhill. At a T-intersection near a hunting blind, we turn right and continue slightly downhill. At the Y-intersection, we keep to the left. From Mondorf, the sound of a rooster crowing drifts over to us. At the next intersection, we turn right and, at the edge of the forest, reach a junction with signpost 2. We are now in the Schlaue Valley. The sign “Lützelburg 4.7 km” shows us the way. We hike along the finely graveled path toward it. After a right-hand curve, we turn sharply left (signpost toward Gablingen and Heretsried). We walk briskly through a rather monotonous spruce forest to Lake Eglesee 3; once the lake comes into view, we follow the bike path markings to the left, which leads us to the information board about the Burgstall ruins on the Kirchberg. Eglesee is located in what was once a marshland area. It was used as a fish pond until the end of the last century; now it is intended to revert to a natural biotope. You can walk around Eglesee on a footpath. Kirchberg Castle is said to have once stood on the hill spur above the lake—please read the information board. From the information board, we follow the forest path eastward through the Bachtal valley for a short distance. At the first intersection, the bike path signs point to the left—but we take the path on the right uphill. On the flatter terrain, we keep to the left and soon emerge from the forest. We catch sight of Lützelburg with the tower of St. George’s parish church and the former water tower 4, toward which we walk: first along the edge of the forest, then left onto a paved road.  Near the Lützelburg town sign, we find an information board about the former clay pit 5 located behind it, which is designated as an FFH protected area and, unfortunately, may not be entered regularly even by nature lovers. Anyone who wants to experience the view from the Heidkopf (521 m) to the southeast 6, must first walk into the village and turn right onto Hafnerstraße. After passing the last houses, at the left-hand curve in the road, we then turn right and head up to the “summit,” which is more of a flat ridge. The view still stretches far across the countryside. We stroll back into the village along the familiar path and turn right until we reach the right-of-way sign. Across the street, we see the cemeterycemetery chapel 7. We walk along the cemetery wall to the left and note the Fatima Chapel on the other side of the street. At the corner of the cemetery wall, we turn right onto a footpath, cross a residential street, and, at house number 20, descend along another footpath to the sports fields.   We walk past the sports fields and the “Theaterheim” sports restaurant (a Greek restaurant; a place to stop for a bite to eat if desired; there’s also a café in town). Now we keep to the left onto Muttershofener Straße and, just past the town sign, take the dirt road in front of a small spruce grove. It curves left into the forest, where we come to the hidden St. Mary’s Chapel 8. At the chapel, we take the path on the left and, after descending into the valley, come to a slightly wider trail, which we follow close to the meadow. Before a fenced-in property at the edge of the forest, we keep to the right and continue along the edge of the forest. We emerge at a hiking parking lot and follow the sign to the Naturfreundehaus St. Klaus 9. You can stay overnight there; on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, you can sometimes buy drinks and snacks.  From the Naturfreundehaus, we continue along the gravel path and turn left at a T-intersection (red and green trail markers). We walk downhill and, in the valley, reach intersection 1 with Tour 27–j, recognizable by the red and green markings. From there, we turn left onto the meadow. There are more trail signs by the stream: We take the wide path toward Biberbach and Feigenhofen (red and green signs) and follow it to junction 2 with Tour 27–k. This junction isn’t easy to spot: There’s a row of larch trees near a lumber yard, and the familiar trail markers are also present. While on Tour 27 we’d continue straight ahead—that is, follow the trail signs—we’llwe now turn left and hike gradually uphill in a northwesterly direction. We ignore a marked trail branching off to the left. At the highest point, we head steeply downhill and then uphill again for a short distance to a T-intersection on the left. Here, we turn left and hurry back to the Pfafferberg 1 hiking parking lot.

From Achsheim to Adelsried through the western forests.

​Our tour begins at Biberbach 1, at the intersection of Rathausstraße and Raiffeisenstraße. The parking lot at the intersection was renovated in the summer of 2022; it will likely be available again on the day of your hike. Alternatively, you can park your car on either of these two streets. We follow the hiking trail signs toward Achsheim and Gersthofen, cross the Biberbach on a pedestrian bridge, and keep to the right toward the main street (Marktplatz). There, we turn left and head uphill, then turn right onto Kupfergasse (bike path to Welden and Feigenhofen). We head left toward a green metal fence and come upon the Mariengrotte 2. Between the daycare center on the left and the cemetery on the right, we head uphill andtake the footpath at the elementary school leading to the stately Baroque church of St. James and Lawrence and the Holy Cross 3. The “Herrgöttle von Biberbach”—a Romanesque wooden crucifix dating from around 1220—has been venerated since the 16th century, and a lively pilgrimage to it developed starting in the 17th century. After taking a look inside the church, we follow the “St. James Pilgrimage Trail” out of the village. At the next intersection, we turn right onto the walking and biking path alongside the road to Eisenbrechtshofen. A pretty wayside chapel stands just before the edge of the village. In the village, we pass the turnoff to Meitingen and Zollsiedlung on our left and walk down Schmiedgrabenstraße toward the Schmutter River, where an information sign 4 about Eisenbrechtshofen is located near a weir.   For about 2.5 km, we follow the farm road along the Schmutter River southward. At an allotment garden, the path veers away from the river and leads past a barn toward a birch tree. There, we keep to the left on the paved road and walk to the right-of-way sign, where we turn right. We walk through Achsheim: past the maypole at the Maierhof (farm store open Fridays and Saturdays), turn right onto Friedhofstraße, and then left onto Kirchstraße. This brings us to St. Peter and Paul Church 5. From the church, we walk to Ortsstraße and turn right at the bus stop. At the children’s playground, we turn left and walk toward a wayside cross 6. There, we take the right-hand path of the three that continue onward—at the power pole, we spot the first green hiking trail marker. We follow similar markers into the forest. At a Y-intersection 7, a red marker appears—here we must keep to the left, which isn’t immediately obvious. Soon we can take a break at the St. Nicholas Forest Chapel 8. It stands at the highest point of our hike. To continue the tour, we don’t take the marked trail to the left, but rather the path to the right, which has no trail markers. We stay in the forest, always following the widest path that leads downhill. Almost at the edge of the forest, we come to junction 1 with Tour 28 – 9, where we encounter green and red trail markers. We head out onto the meadow, where there are trail signs by the stream, and take the marked trail toward Biberbach and Feigenhofen until we reach intersection 2 with Trail 28–j. This intersection isn’t easy to spot: There’s a row of larch trees next to a lumber yard, and the familiar trail markers are also present. Route 28 heads left—we follow the signs straight ahead. Soon we pass a few wooded plots, leave the forest in a left-hand curve, and follow the red hiking trail markers. We hike in a straight line northeast toward the center of Feigenhofen k, below the Church of St. Peter and Paul. There, we follow the red hiking trail markers again and cross the county road at the stop sign. There is a nature park information board next to the memorial stone for land consolidation. At this point, we turn right—the signs point toward Albertshofen and Biberbach. For quite some time, we walk through the flat Biberbach Valley, following part of the “Biberbach Adventure Trail” (https://biberbach.de/biberbach-erlebnispfad/). Every now and then, benches invite us to take a break.  As we pass through Albertshofen, we follow the red hiking trail markers—Biberbach remains signposted. At the edge of Abertshofen, we take the bike path next to the road, which pedestrians are also allowed to use. Then we have to walk carefully along the road until we emerge at Biberbach’s town hall square. Tip: Just before the square, there’s delicious farm-fresh ice cream on the right! Finally, we cross Rathausplatz and follow Jahnstraße to Albrecht-Dürer-Straße. Through the traffic-calmed zone, we reach Rathausstraße, turn right, and arrive at the starting point of our tour. If you have some time left at the end, you should drive to Markt Castle and take a closer look at the historic complex known as the “Fuggerschloss.” It’s located about 2 km north of Biberbach.

Aussichtsreiche Wanderung von Leitershofen nach Achsheim über Aystetten und Rettenbergen am 1. Februar 2025

Vom kleinen Achsheim gehts durch die Wälder zum Perterhof, wo man schön einkehren kann und dann wieder in einer Runde zurück.

Schöne, abwechslungsreiche Wandung mit viel Auf und Ab. Erwähnenswert vor Allem ein wunderschönes Waldstück. Relativ wenig geschotterte Wege und nur ein langweiliger Abschnitt.

Wallfahrt von Achsheim nach Violau

Wanderung von Achsheim nach Violau