The mill route through the Wallhalbtal

It is recommended to explore this path of mill romance in two stages. Always follow the marking with the "mill wheel" on the signposts along the hiking route, and you will safely reach your destination.

The starting point of the mill route can be Landstuhl or Thaleischweiler-Fröschin, where there is a train station for arrival. Of course, you can also start in Wallhalben or at the Kneispermühle and return to your overnight spot by bus.

Those who choose the train station in Thaleischweiler-Fröschin as a starting point will walk through part of the village to enjoy a beautiful view of the Schwarzbachtal from the village hill. After about four kilometers, they reach the Faustermühle (1) in the Wallhalbtal. In 1705, the miller Nikolaus Faust from Rieschweiler rebuilt the mill at the very place where a mill had already operated since 1601.

On the left of the brook, which meanders through the valley meadow, it goes leisurely towards the Rosselmühle. It is the jewel of the mill route because you can still admire the old wooden mill wheel at the grinding mill there. No flour has been milled there for several years. The miller couple Adolf and Angela Luxembourger gave up the increasingly rare profession of miller after over eighty years of life. Yes, the times are almost over when millers, surrounded by silver flour dust, practiced their laborious craft.

The brook with its wetland zones, smaller floodplain forests, and reed islands has prompted nature lovers to designate this valley as a protected landscape area. Captivated by this impression, the view opens before the hiker to the Kneispermühle (2), which was mentioned in 1440 as a lord's mill. A visit to the Kneispermühle remains unforgettable because those who enjoy Palatinate hospitality with Riesling or wheat beer in the beer garden under mighty chestnut and linden trees wish they could end their first stage right then. Of course, the mill village Wallhalben is also a suitable place for a break, where the lovingly renovated Landgrafen-Mühle is a pleasant place to relax.

If you listen closely, you will hear various bird calls: the call of the black woodpecker, the golden oriole, and the chirping of reed warbler, blackcap warbler, wagtail, dipper, and long-tailed tit. The Wallhalben mill is widely known for its sourdough mill bread. In the valley of the Stuhlbach at the junction to the old parish Labach stands the Knopper mill of the mill owner Heinrich Müller. It is the last building of the extinct village Niederlabach.

After the Knopper mill (3), the hiking route leads through a light forest area to the Scharrmühle and then changes to the other side of the valley. A sandy path winds through the forest and later into the valley meadow towards Mittelbrunn. Before the village in the valley are the buildings of the Mittelbrunn mill (4). An information board at the mill explains the historical data of the former grinding mill to the hiker. In the valley area, the path winds past the village, where a bakery with fine pastries and a good cup of coffee invites you. Soon the wanderer reaches the forest of Landstuhl. Here, he feels drawn up to the castle ruins of the important medieval knight.

Franz was a promoter of the Reformation and provided escort to the monk Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms. Landstuhl is the endpoint or starting point of the hike through a valley landscape where the clattering of mill wheels was the recognition melody for centuries. Once, 18 mill wheels turned in the Wallhalbtal, as researched by the local historian and schoolmaster Ernst Schick.