Hiking trail "To the Göltzschtal Bridge"

We leave the market at the Mylau Gate (SW), turn left into Sebastian Bach Square, where a section of the old city wall can still be found.

Our path leads us down to the town church St. Peter and Paul (rebuilt in baroque style in 1722 after the city fire), over the city footbridge to the Park of Generations. We enter through the main entrance, then turn right, leave the park again at Hutleite, walk left to the end of the row of houses, then uphill to the right behind the houses. Via a footpath with a view of Reichenbach, we come to the former company housing estate (built around 1935). Through Klein Grönland we hike to Grenzstraße, which we go up on the left to the junction of a field path (right) heading southwest. (From here yellow marking) On this path we again have a nice view of Reichenbach, Reinsdorf, the Göltzschtal Bridge, Netzschkau, and the forests in the south. At Alten Lengenfelder Straße we turn right, pass through the district Rotschau, on Mylau Street to the field path (locally called Rasenweg) that branches off to the left. Again free view in all directions here. Downhill via Schützenstraße, we hike to Mylau (district) to the Friedenshain. In front of us rises Mylau Castle, first mentioned in documents in 1180, with a museum and evangelical Futurum School. Via Burgstraße we reach the market where Mylau town church St. Wenzel stands (built in neo-Gothic style in 1890, Silbermann organ, tower 72 m high). From the market (red M.) it goes southwest over the Göltzsch and Lengenfelder Straße to Kalkgasse and uphill to Lambziger Höhe (covered resting place with a view of the castle, Obermylau, Reichenbach, Rotschau, further up view of Netzschkau, the Göltzschtal Bridge, Reinsdorf near Greiz). Now we orientate ourselves on the Mylau village sign and go down the field path at the Heinrich Heine estate to Lambziger Straße, continue right and immediately afterward keep left and go to Netzschkau Hill. Here at the garage complex an old connecting path leads left to Netzschkau and right to Mylau. We stay on the Mylau side and go right An der Kiesgrube further north until we reach four identical four-story houses. On the first house we read “Type Feiler”. These listed residential buildings date from the 1930s and were a contribution to social housing (affordable rents). Each house has a square ground plan. Staircase and toilet windows face north, while the other windows of the four small apartments get sunshine. To prevent housing speculators from combining all four apartments into a large one, architect Curt Feiler arranged two apartments offset by half a floor each.

After the Feiler houses we go right through a narrow path down to Lambziger Straße and continue downhill to Ringstraße. From here, one can look down to Mylau and over to the Heights route. Via Ringstraße and August-Bebel-Straße we reach Netzschkau Straße downwards. Now we go left (W) on it and soon see the Göltzschtal Bridge. Before the Netzschkau village sign, we turn right north, cross the Göltzsch, and pass a listed greenish villa. Before the ascent, we take the yellow marked hiking trail left (W) in the valley and go always alongside the Göltzsch river (VPW valley path) until we reach the foot of the Göltzschtal Bridge. The Göltzschtal Bridge, the largest brick bridge in the world (78 m high, 574 m long) was built together with the Elstertal Bridge 1846–1851. Since then, the railway on the Leipzig – Nuremberg route (first north-south connection in Germany) runs between Reichenbach and Plauen over both bridges.

Following the red marking we hike through the lower bridge arch up to the upper level of the Göltzschtal Bridge. We then continue following the red marked path (VPW) eastwards, hiking through the upper arch, through a shady beech mixed forest, until we reach open fields (view of Mylau). Then on the VPW Heights route to a covered rest area (view of the Göltzschtal Bridge) and then further in the direction of a radio mast. There we are above a former diabase quarry and have a magnificent view of Netzschkau in the southwest (Kuhberg, in front the residential area, church, castle, in front the nursing home at the castle park), Mylau at our feet (castle, church), Reichenbach in the west, and in good visibility also the Weißensander motorway bridge and Perlaser Tower (in the southeast).

We leave the place and after a few steps go left uphill past the radio mast over the meadow up to the lane with old avenue trees. Now we see the Göltzschtal Bridge again. This path used to lead from Obermylau to Reinsdorf near Greiz and now ends at the railway line. We continue eastwards past the former knight's estate/public estate and reach the village center of Obermylau. The district is a Sorbian foundation. Worth seeing are the ensemble of farmhouses around the pond, the former inn, the Siegfried monument, and the horse trough, which is carved from a granite block.

We continue uphill, staying right before the railway bridge and go on the Obermylau path east through the Reichenbach-West residential area, cross Dammstein and Kinkhardt streets, walk up Goethestraße past the former district court to Bahnhofstraße. Slightly downhill we now head to our destination, the market. At the postal distance column (at the former Zwickau or Upper Gate) we go right via Marktstraße to the market square.

You can reach Reichenbach by the Vogtlandbahn and the Mitteldeutsche Regiobahn from the direction of Dresden/Chemnitz and Plauen/Hof as well as by regional bus. Information on arrival by bus and train can be found at www.vogtlandauskunft.de 

www.goeltzschtalbruecke.info