Via Sancti Martini section Kraichtal

Martinus Way through the Bruchsal deanery
Stage I: Kraichtal-Landshausen – Heidelsheim (about 17.5 km)
Section: Kraichtal-Landshausen - Kraichtal-Gochsheim (about 7.5 km)

Coming from Rohrbach on the cycle path, we reach the edge of Kraichtal-Landshausen by industrial buildings. (At this point, our path meets the return path from the Martin's Church.) We turn right into Forststraße, which we follow straight ahead to Menzinger Straße. At the school building, we turn left through the village until after the curve we turn left into St. Martinstraße, where we reach the small charming St. Martin's Church.

After visiting the church, we turn left, go downhill through Martinstraße past the kindergarten, briefly keep right, then turn left into Klaushecke street and after a few meters right into the footpath, which leads along the brook past the farmhouse and gardens to the sports ground. There we reach Forststraße again and take a right onto the cycle path towards Metterlingshof/tent café, which we reach past Talhof after about 200 m. The tent café is open on weekends from May 1 to October 3 in the afternoons. We continue straight downhill on the cycle path.

[Alternative: Before Metterlingshof, we leave the cycle path to the right and follow the agricultural path (hiking trail of the Odenwald Club) along orchards and vineyards up to the hilltop, where we first turn left, then right. In the valley in front of us are already the first roofs of the Kraichtal district Kraichtal-Menzingen. The path leads us to an old elevated water reservoir with a viewing platform. Downstairs under chestnut trees with benches, we come to a small path with steps that lead us down amid gardens to the edge of the village. Here we turn right and immediately left downhill into the village center. At Schwanenburg, the new castle of the Counts of Menzingen, we cross the main road and continue on Obere Schloßstraße, a partly very original village street with half-timbered houses and idyllic farms and gardens. Changing to Untere Schloßstraße, we come straight to an old village fountain. Turning right leads to an estate where the ruins of the old water castle of the Counts of Menzingen are located, destroyed in a air raid in 1945. The ruin itself is not accessible but can be viewed from the estate. Back on Untere Schloßstraße, the cycle path leads straight to the train station, shortly before we turn right towards the Catholic church St. Anna and the Protestant church. We reach the train station and further right into Frühlingsstraße, which gently slopes up into an agricultural path. At the fork, we keep slightly right towards Metterlingshof through the hollow path leading downhill into the valley. At the junction of the cycle path near the seating area, we meet the main path again.]

The cycle path leads us from Metterlingshof about 2 km straight ahead, at the next crossing turn right, immediately left (where we meet the alternative path) and soon right again along the forest edge and a small brook. Along the tracks of the Kraichtal railway, we continue through the Waldmühle area to the country road and shortly afterwards left parallel to the traffic road. We cross the street towards Bahnbrücken train stop and stay on the cycle path about 3 km downhill along the railway line and the brook to the crossing at the railway barrier on the outskirts of Gochsheim.

Turning left, our pilgrimage path follows the foot and cycle path along Untere Bergstraße into the village center by the Krone guesthouse.

[Alternative: Just before the railway crossing, we turn sharply left towards the cemetery. Here we take the second right turn into the hollow way signed Rundwanderweg Kraichtal-Gochsheim, which takes us to a height with meadows and fruit trees, offering a beautiful view of the old village core of Kraichtal-Gochsheim with the Martinskirche as the centerpiece on the hill. At the end of the path after a sheep pasture, a grassy path leads right between two vineyards to a narrow staircase that descends steeply to the village street. Surefootedness is required here. When reaching the bottom, we walk right along the road to the village center by the Zur Krone guesthouse, where we meet the main path again.]

Turning right there, we immediately pass the narrow passage after the bridge over the brook by the flood level indicators. We leisurely follow the brook on the city wall path past gardens, behind old barns and the partly restored former city wall to the rebuilt shooting tower. In front of us we see the panorama of Gochsheim Castle of the Counts of Eberstein.

The narrow path turns right and winds between gardens over a bridge up to the village street, where we walk left for a short stretch to the dry walls below the castle. The steep staircase “Schafraingärten,” which requires some stamina, takes us up 93 steps to the castle courtyard and to the Protestant church St. Martin.

Section: Kraichtal-Gochsheim – Kraichtal-Münzesheim (about 3.5 km)
At the church, we reach the main road that goes downhill to the right. Passing the old town hall with the town hall fountain, we get to the large community center, an impressive half-timbered house with the Gräfin-von-Eberstein fountain at the front. Turning left, we take Stadtbahnweg (Gartenstraße) past the bakery and confectionery museum downhill into the valley, where we turn left at Wilhelmstraße crossing by the Volksbank and at the next corner turn right into Berthold-Bott-Straße, which leads straight through the industrial area out of town onto the cycle path along the Kraichtal railway. Straight ahead after about 3 km we reach the first houses of Kraichtal-Münzesheim; shortly afterwards, we turn right over the railway crossing onto the footpath to the therapy center. After the bridge, we cross the country road towards the sports ground and immediately turn left in front of the sports field onto a meadow path.

Here we should not miss a visit to the Japanese garden of the therapy center. To do this, after crossing the street, we continue straight along the sports ground and then turn right onto the therapy center grounds and into the garden. We return the same way to the starting point at the sports ground.

Again along the brook, we head towards Kraichtal-Münzesheim, passing a left at the bridge over the unprotected railway crossing. After a few meters, we go right through Ulmenstraße and over the bridge left to the town hall, where we can already see the Protestant St. Martin's Church ahead. On the right are the Protestant deaconry and the Kraichtal senior center. We turn into Pfarrgasse and reach the church. At the side door of the church, we see a depiction of Saint Martin sharing his cloak.

Section Kraichtal-Münzesheim – Heidelsheim (about 6.5 km)
Circling the church square in Kraichtal-Münzesheim, we see beautifully restored half-timbered houses and another building of the Kraichtal deaconry senior center and return to Rathausstraße. There we turn right to the roundabout on the main road through town, which we cross at the pedestrian crossing and continue left along the main street towards Bruchsal-Unteröwisheim. At the next pedestrian crossing, we then turn left into Obere Hofstatt street towards school – sports hall (right to the Catholic church St. Andreas). Straight ahead at the town limits, we take the agricultural path out into the fields and pass the elevated water reservoir, continuing about 3 km straight to the forest.

It is always worthwhile to look back at the village and the hills of the Kraichgau here.

In the forest, always following the wider main path, we reach a reed-covered pond on the right at the junction. Here we go briefly right and then continue following the Kraichgau wine trail (blue W) on a wide soft forest path until we reach the "forest telephone." To the right, the wild boar path leads us to an insect house at Saatschulhütte and along a hedge to a tall fir group. At the next fork, we keep straight ahead and at the next crossing leave the forest to the left, reaching the Heidelsheim Altenberg with the vineyards. Turning right, first along the forest edge and then along gardens on the wine educational trail, we continue and soon have a wonderful view of the formerly free imperial town Heidelsheim, today a district of Bruchsal. At the end of the vineyards, the asphalted path bends left, then after a few meters right again and leads down into the valley. Above the tennis facility, we keep left towards the village edge and there turn right into Altenbergstraße. After a short distance, before the railway bridge, we turn left into Frankenweg and go straight on the footpath between railway tracks and residential houses to an underpass bringing us to the other side of the railway tracks. There, we go left over the old station grounds and reach the main road through town. Continuing right, we come to the Schafsbrunnen and turn left into Wettgasse, lined with old houses. On the left is the Katzenturm, and soon we reach the Protestant church Heidelsheim, in the rear part of which is the Martin Chapel.