Pilgrim Path St. Marien, Wassenberg

You start at the church St. Mariä-Himmelfahrt in the upper town of Wassenberg and cycle along the street "Am Stadtrain" heading east. This continues straight onto the footpath "Brabanter Straße" and after a short distance becomes a normal local street again, where you follow the right turn.

At the roundabout of "Erkelenzer Straße" you continue straight into "Klosterstraße" and turn left into "Hochfeldstraße", following it to the second junction with "Danziger Straße", into which you turn right and follow it to the Crucifixion Group Myhl, "Am Schwanderberg".

The path leads back over "Danziger-" and "Hochfeldstraße", from which you turn left into the street "Am Sandberg". Always downhill you follow this path to the street "Auf dem Bruch", which you take left, then use the next path right. On the south side of the youth center you see a stone cross. You cross "St. Johannes Straße", turn right and stand in front of the church St. Johannes.

Back the same way, slightly uphill following "Am Schwanderberg", take the first path left towards the forest. Using the shady forest path you reach the street "An der Windmühle" in Wassenberg. You pass the entrance to Wingertsmühle and take the next small path "Am Wingertsberg" right. Cycling slightly downhill, you come to "Parkstraße", turning left into it. Shortly before the Gondelweiher (please dismount here!) you go down several steps to the right, and the path leads you parallel to the pond, then along the old town wall to a small passage, through which you go left. You go left and then right again along the small path facing Kirchstraße, along St. Georg.

Around the Provost Church St. Georg you see two figures Madonna with Child, the Mission Cross, old grave crosses, the grave monument of Pastor Graab, the grave monument Rossié and the Immunity Arch.

You cross "Kirchstraße" on the pedestrian crossing, and the pilgrim path leads you straight into the small path that transitions into "Synagogengasse". Turning left, this alley leads to "Roermonder Straße". Behind the wall lies the Memorial Site of the Destroyed Synagogue. You turn left into "Roermonder Straße". Unobtrusively located here on the left side is the Protestant Court Church and on the right the Rosstorplatz.

Straight ahead you continue over "Graf-Gerhard-Straße" where a Capuchin monastery existed until 1802. A memorial plaque in the Kreissparkasse parking lot commemorates the monks and their activity in Wassenberg. On the wall of the house "Graf-Gerhard-Straße 34" there is a cross. Turning right, you enter "Patersgraben" and continue straight into the street "Am Gasthausbach". Turning right into "Breiter Weg" leads you to "Heinsberger Straße". Here left and after a few meters right into "Limburger Straße" you reach "Weilerstraße", into which you turn right. This leads, crossing L117, to Orsbeck. In the town you turn left into "Auf dem Weiler", cross the street "Grüner Weg" and go straight into the farm road until "Neusser Weg" in Luchtenberg. Here slightly left and shortly thereafter right into "Am Dieck", which you follow to "Ratheimer Straße". Here you find the Luchtenberg Cross. You cross "Ratheimer Straße" and continue on "Rurweg" down to the river.

To reach the path along the river, you have to turn briefly left and then right again after some time. The next farm road to the right leads past the Holy Cross Chapel back to Orsbeck, where you turn left into "Luchtenberger Straße". At house number 17 you see a cross shrine. Continue to the street "An St. Martinus". Here slightly left and you circle the church St. Martinus. Here you can discover the cross, the priest's grave, the war memorial, and the equestrian statue of Saint Martinus at the church entrance. Turning left into "Alt Orsbeck" and following this after turning right, you reach "Pletschmühlenstraße", into which you cycle left. Crossing "Heinsberger Straße", the path continues straight over "Pletschmühlenstraße". At the end of Orsbeck at the fork stands the Eckerkreuz. Here you take the street leading left towards Ohe/Forst. In Ohe stands a cross, to which an annual procession still leads today. In Forst you reach Rurtalstraße / K34 - where a prayer chapel stands - which you follow a short way to the right, then turn left into a farm road that leads along Ophoven lakes to "Eulenbuscher Straße" in the same-name village.

At the street triangle stands the Wegekreuz Eulenbusch. Here you keep left and cycle into "Mahrstraße" where near the end lies the Krafelder Wegekreuz. Continuing straight, the route leads to the fork "Krafelder Straße" / connecting street to Ophoven. Turning left you head towards Ophoven and pass a Wegekreuz near Kringshof. At the entrance to Ophoven lies a beautiful lily pond cared for by the local community.

The route continues through this village via "Agathastraße" to a Wegekreuz, then left into "Lindenstraße" and right into "Marienstraße", on the left side of which stands the Pilgrimage Church St. Mariä Himmelfahrt. You follow this street past a Wegekreuz at the junction with "Agathastraße" and a prayer chapel at the junction with "Professor-Esser-Straße" to Steinkirchen. In this village – as the name suggests – is one of the oldest stone churches of the region with a small rest area including a Wegekreuz by the street. Of interest may also be the many old gravestones and 9 Stations of the Cross around the church. A few meters behind the church, turn left at a fork into the smaller "Martinusstraße" (note: the wider street to Effeld has the same name). At the T-junction turn left again and shortly thereafter right into a field path. The next farm road on the right you use, passing Rurhof towards Effeld. In the village, it leads at a Wegekreuz into Schlossstraße, which you follow – past Schloss Effeld (here stands the Schlosskreuz in the rear part of the driveway as well as a wayside shrine by the street) – to "Kreuzstraße". You see the tower of the Herz-Jesu Church and turn right into "Kreuzstraße". At the corner stands an old small house with a holy figure in a bay window.

You follow "Kreuzstraße" past the church and the memorial to Martinusplatz. Here turn left and you reach the Marienkapellchen at the corner "Dorfstraße" / "Paulusbruch". You follow "Paulusbruch" (at the fork with "Heckenstraße" take the right path) to the farm road named "Zur Wolfskaul". Here lies Haus Neuerburg. Turning left, you cycle to the forest edge and then right towards Dohr. The path partly runs through a beautiful deciduous forest and meets a connecting road behind Dohr at a T-junction.

Turning left, you follow this to the junction of a path to Elsum Castle where a stone Wegekreuz stands. After a few meters, keep left at the fork and then turn right at the next path to reach a field path lined with pollard willows.

Crossing L117, you enter "Ossenbrucher Weg" and turn right at the first field path towards Rosenthal (opposite "Oberer Weg"). On arriving in the small village, keep right and go along "Zollstraße", on which is a stone Wegekreuz, until "Rosenthal Straße" where you turn right and continue.

You follow this, crossing "Ossenbrucher Weg" and enter Birgelen, passing a Wegekreuz at the junction of "Brückenstraße". You already see the church tower but turn left into "Mittlerer Weg" and straight ahead at the mini roundabout into "Mühlenstraße" – or you can visit the church St. Lambertus. At the former main entrance of this church hangs the tower cross of the old mountain church.

At the T-junction, briefly right and then left again into "Pützchensweg". At the next T-junction, half-left past "Am Hoverberg" where a wooden cross stands, then keep right at the fork (all paths here are called "Pützchensweg").

Initially past buildings, shortly afterwards you cycle through the forest towards Birgelener Pützchen. On the left, you find Stations of the Cross. Shortly after the Birgelener Pützen there is another fork and you take the left path, which leads you to "Bergstraße" in Wassenberg. Here you turn right and follow it until you turn left before the Protestant Church into "An der Kreuzkirche" street, which bends left into "Birkenweg". At the T-junction you go right across "Auf der Heide" street until you reach the B221 / "Gladbacher Straße". Here you already see the church St. Mariä-Himmelfahrt, where you started.