Wildenburg-Weg – Odenwald und Neckartal

We started at the "Odenwaldstraße" car park in Donebach. A great tour through the idyllic mill village of Ünglert towards Wildenburg. The castle ruins are also very worth seeing. The only thing that didn't play along today was the weather. Unfortunately, the rain got heavier and heavier and we slowly but surely got soaked. What a brilliant tour it must be in great weather if we enjoyed it so much even in the rain. You just can't have everything :-).

My daughter was extremely homesick yesterday and desperately wanted to get back to my house. So we decided I'd pick her up at noon today. To make good use of the time until then, I thought: Why not go on a hike, which is conveniently located about halfway there? I set off at 8 a.m. from the free parking lot in tranquil Donebach. The route took me through Ünglert, to the impressive ruins of Wildenburg Castle, and on to Preunschen, before returning to Donebach. Highlights of the tour included a historic castle, the oldest farmhouse in the Odenwald in Preunschen, and the picturesque Mud Valley. Well, if I had looked more closely beforehand, I would have noticed that the first 8 kilometers consisted mainly of asphalt – a paradise for street shoes, but not for hiking boots. At least the route to Wildenburg Castle offered varied views. The return journey from the castle finally suited my taste: pure nature! By the way, my feet are still tired from the mammoth hike I recently completed. Yesterday, I also hiked 11 kilometers with my son—probably not the best way to recover. But hey, breaks are for beginners, right? 😉 Despite the high proportion of asphalt, I found the scenery charming and the tour overall successful. In the afternoon, after picking up my daughter, we went to the bouncy castle park—a veritable fortress of inflatable fun that's currently stopping in our town. I wish you all a relaxing evening and a great week! 💁‍♂️

Family excursion in the Odenwald. Junior wanted to go to Wildenburg again after 14 years 🤷‍♀️😎

So, it was planned for a long time, finally implemented today for two. With {0} and open eyes 👀 for sooooooooooooo many motifs on the DO 2 hiking trail, the weather today was also perfect. Packed 🥨 and 🍎 were consumed after km 9 at the Wildenberg castle ruins 😉 Cave explored thanks to 2 other hikers 👻 Should someone say there is nothing going on in the Odenwald 🫶 📸 😍

A great and varied tour on which there was a lot to see ... (Starting point is the small Wildenburg hiking car park). Following the smart path for a while (which we crossed again and again later - https://smart-pfad.de/) we set out for Wildenburg (https://hesbacher.de/wildenburg/) ... Personally, I love old castles, palaces and ruins and I always find it a shame that their (preservation) value was recognized far too late ... There is a wooden platform within sight of the ruin ... one of the stations on the smart path, where there is a lot to learn about the different types of wood, tree roots and also pine cones (not only interesting for children) ... Only about 15 minutes' walk away (the route runs along several sunflower fields in full bloom) you can visit the Watterbacher Haus forest museum http://museen.de/waldmuseum-kirchzell.html (Open Saturday and Sunday ...) Below the museum there is also a very nicely crafted memorial stone to St. Francis, donated by the sculptor E. Kriesch ... really beautiful craftsmanship ... From Preunschen we really wanted to go to the Riesenmühle ... The way there ran partly directly along the border between the Grand Duchy of Baden and the Kingdom of Bavaria through the middle of the forest ... there we were able to observe the hustle and bustle at a total of 3 large anthills at relatively short intervals ... unfortunately you can see a lot today too seldom - anthills have felt a rarity these days ... Through Donebach, past the Scholze Chapel in Ünglert (https://www.mudau.de/Leben-in-Mudau/Kirchen-Soziales/Flurkapellen) and other Smart Pad stations, we went to the Riesenmühle ... Somehow the motto "after Christmas is before Christmas" applies there - there were still Christmas decorative objects to be found everywhere :-) If you are still in the mood for more "curiosities", you should definitely pass the Odenwälder Trabi sofa ... lovingly and partly nostalgically designed and definitely worth seeing ... Somehow, Komoot only counts the time you were in motion - in fact we were on the road for about 6 hours for this tour ... ))