Familientour - Abstecher ins Grüne

Trail description:

The gravel field path leads you past meadows and a small river, the Krummen Wasser. You cross this at two places over a bridge.


Trail information:

The stately lime tree at the Ohlehof is already over 300 years old and as a "teenager" could perhaps have been an eyewitness when Octavio Piccolomini's troops besieged the town towards the end of the 30 Years' War and set fire to the new town. With a circumference of over 6.5 m, it is probably one of the most valuable natural monuments in the Einbeck area.

At the "Krumme Wassermühle" farm on the left in the valley is a drinking water protection area, from which up to 30%  of Einbeck's drinking water is extracted. Three wells here pump up to 60,000 liters of water per hour from a depth of around 50 m. As this is very hard, i.e. very calcareous water from the shell limestone, it is blended with the very soft Solling water, which is piped to Einbeck.
 
The Krumme Wasser, also known as the "Hille-Bach" in its upper reaches, has its source in the north in the forests of the Hils. After a course of 16 km, it flows into the Ilme south of Einbeck.

The Krumme Wasser played an important role in the creation and development of Einbeck: it supplied the town with much-needed water for the fortification ditches, the wells and the brewery. It was also decisive for the naming of the town. It was a village "An der Beke" (on the stream) and, according to surviving documents, it first became "Embeke" in the 11th century, "Einbike" in the 12th century and later "Einbeck".

Originally, the stream probably ran through the middle of the town, but was later routed past the western side of the wall.
 
The village of Kuventhal is tightly squeezed into the 50 m deep valley incision of the stream. As can be seen from the two-tier bridge at the end of the village, the village has largely adapted to the natural shape of the valley. The local chronicles tell of frequent severe floods as a result of melting snow or torrential downpours. A flood in the summer of 1886 is said to have reached a height of 4 m in the village and caused severe damage.

Due to the naturally narrow valley, the stream swells very quickly and can burst its banks within a few hours. Unlike larger rivers, however, the floods are often short-lived.