Alter Pilgerweg [Nordrunde]

Stage 1: Parking lot Haxtergrund - Hamborn Castle: 5.5 km
From the parking lot at Bistro Waldklang, we first take the asphalt main path. Here we see an information board about the Old Pilgrims' Trail. We turn left and bypass the barrier at the forest school. We then turn right and pass the wooden bridge over the (mostly dry) Ellerbach with the banner of the Old Pilgrims' Trail. At the edge of the forest, at the insect hotel, we keep left and then continue along the gravel path on the right-hand edge of the Ellerbach valley. We follow the asphalt path to the right and head towards the edge of the forest. There we keep left. After the left-hand bend, the asphalt ends and we continue on the slightly ascending gravel path. At a refuge, we keep straight ahead. We continue slightly downhill on a grassy path. We continue along the asphalt path to the left and after a few meters reach the "Stern" crossroads with a picture of the Virgin Mary.
We take the first path on the right and follow the Ellerbach stream for around 300 meters through the valley. At the left-hand bend, we turn right and climb uphill on a gravel path. After about 500 meters, we keep left. Now we can enjoy beautiful views over the Haxtergrund. At the edge of the forest, we turn right. Shortly afterwards, our path becomes asphalted. We walk past the fruit farm and the perennial nursery at Hamborn Castle and reach the crossroads. We cross this. We then keep left and walk along a fairly wide path through the forest. After 400 meters we turn left onto the so-called "Dornröschenweg". We follow this beautiful natural path for about 800 meters. At two houses, we come to an asphalt path and continue to the right. We take a path to the right of house no. 97, which leads us downhill to the asphalt road. There we turn left. After 200 meters, we keep right and climb up the stairs on the slope. At the top, we continue to the right. We can see the castle on the left. After 200 meters we reach a T-junction where we keep left. We see the Cafè Alte Schule on the left and the health food store on the right.
 
2nd stage: Hamborn Castle - Chapel "Zur Hilligen Seele": 2.6 km
We follow the road for about 200 meters, then turn right behind the small wooded area. Keep straight on at the next fork in the road. We walk straight across the junction and continue on a gravel path. The schoolyard is on the right, the school garden on the left. Our path is lined with fruit trees. Now we see the nursery on the right and the farm ahead on the left. At the end of the path, we turn right. At the first crossroads we keep straight on, at the second we turn left into the relatively narrow "Kapellenweg". On the right, we can see the water reservoir built in 1957.
The path runs in a straight line through the beech forest. We cross the asphalted Husener Weg and continue straight ahead past a farm on the Kapellenweg, which can be muddy in some places after rainfall.
At "Karlsplatz" we come to an asphalted farm track. After a detour to the Hillige Seele chapel, which is well worth seeing, we continue along this path to the left.
 
3rd stage: Chapel "Zur Hilligen Seele" - Haxtergrund parking lot: 4.9 km
After about 300 meters, we see the "Annabild" from 1956 on the left. A little further on, at the fork in the path, we keep left and walk down into the valley through a beautiful chestnut avenue. At the end, turn right. After 300 meters, an asphalt path joins us from the right. Here we turn left and climb up the slope on a natural path. We eventually come to a forest path, which we follow to the right.
At the crossroads near a refuge, we turn left, but after just 50 meters we turn right. Immediately afterwards, we come to a fork. We take the path on the right, which runs along the edge of the forest. In a dip, we follow the 90-degree left-hand bend. At the end, turn right. We leave this path about 50 meters before a barrier to the left and walk down into the valley and back to the starting point.