Circular hiking route “Wünschendorf hiking offers”

25.53 km long
Round trip
Difficulty: medium
Condition: medium
Great panorama
Hiking
  • 7:08 h
  • 25.53 km
  • 377 m
  • 377 m
  • 202 m
  • 368 m
  • 166 m
  • Start: Wooden bridge Wünschendorf
  • Destination: Wooden bridge Wünschendorf
This circular hiking route connects the beauties of the river landscape with the historic cultural landscape of Wünschendorf, Cronschwitz, and Weida – the cradle of the Vogtland.

Highlights of the hike include the wooden bridge and the parish church of St. Veit, Mildenfurth monastery, the hike along the White Elster River, the Clodra mill, and the town of Weida. In addition, there are small country hotels, inns, guesthouses, a campsite, and several holiday apartments along the route to enjoy a pleasant short holiday here.

The Gramannel of Wünschendorf

In Wünschendorf, it is said, many years ago there lived a pious and hardworking little mother in a small house at the Röhrenstuhl. All day she sat at her place behind the small window and spun wool. She left it only to prepare and eat her meager midday meal, then soon returned to her work. Her supplies were soon used up and her wooden floor was almost empty, so one day she hurried to the back Schlüsselberg to bring in a supply of dry wood for the winter. As she walked there with the heavy load on her back along the narrow edge of the community path, an old leather backpack lay near the cow pen not far from the Kühlkorbfichte, which she took home even though it was quite heavy. After carefully stacking her dry branches in the corner of the small yard, she gently untied the little backpack, and to her horror a small gray little man, a Gramannel, jumped out, who hurried behind the stove and begged pitifully to be allowed to stay there during the night. The little mother hesitantly agreed but often looked fearfully at that corner during her work and locked her door when going to bed. Early the next morning she got up and searched for the little man but he was nowhere to be found. Then her eye accidentally fell on the spinning wheel, and with horror and joy she saw that the spindle, which was empty yesterday, was now fully spun. The next morning, the empty spindle was again full of the finest yarn, and so it went on for a while. The little mother hid her joy and kept silent. But since her secret slipped out in the barred confessional in the old St. Veit’s church, the spindle remained empty.

Waypoints

Start
Start
Wooden bridge Wünschendorf
© Archiv TVV/S. Theilig | CC-BY-SA
Pfarrkirche St. Veit Wünschendorf
Church
© Archiv TVV/S. Theilig | CC-BY-SA

Good to know

Pavements

Street
Asphalt
Gravel
Trail
Path

Best to visit

suitable
Depends on weather

Directions

The path from Wünschendorf station to the over 200-year-old covered wooden bridge (approx. 72 m) is well marked and signposted. Here a short hike (1.1) begins by crossing the wooden bridge and then following the marking (blue bar) to the right. Across a footbridge over the Weida, at its mouth to the White Elster, you come to Mildenfurth Monastery and further along a steadily ascending path to Zossen. Soon the B 92 is reached, which you follow to the right for 200 m before carefully crossing it to reach a field path to Wolfsgefährte.

Here change to the marking (yellow bar) on the right and hike through the village to Meilitz. There, behind the Elster bridge (with green bar), you turn right on the Elster cycle path back to Wünschendorf.

The covered wooden bridge is also the starting point of a medium-length hike (1.2), following the Thuringian path (blue dot) left behind the bridge. Via stairs it goes to the oldest church in Thuringian Vogtland, the St. Veit Church. Through the district of Cronschwitz, further upwards through the Bendelgrund, you reach the “Silberblick” and on the Clodraleite you reach about 4 km via the junction at Töpferberg (green bar) to the right to Clodra.

Past the fortified church you walk through the village and on field paths, crossing the B 175 and B 92 on the way (!), you hike down through Teichwitz to Weida. Here on Quellenstraße you must change right to the marking (red bar) to pass the Widen Church and then return to Wünschendorf on the Heinrich Heine Path.

Both described routes can be combined into a long-distance hike (1.3).

Tour information

  • Cultural Interesting

  • Loop Road

  • Stop at an Inn

Directions & Parking facilities

B 92 Gera-Weida to the roundabout at Röppisch, from there Wünschendorf is signposted.

By Vogtlandbahn from Gera or Plauen/Weischlitz: www.vogtlandbahn.de

Bus connections can be found at www.bus-greiz.de 

Additional information

Variant 1.1: approx. 9 km

Variant 1.2: approx. 18 km

Variant 1.3: approx. 27.5 km

Author

Tourismus Marketing Gesellschaft Sachsen mbH
Bautzner Straße 45/47
01099 Dresden

Organization

Vogtland - Sinfonie der Natur

License (master data)

Vogtland - Sinfonie der Natur
License: Attribution, ShareAlike

Author´s Tip / Recommendation of the author

The parish church of St. Veit is open daily and worth a visit. How about a canoe or boat trip in Cronschwitz afterwards?

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