Paderborner Höhenweg - Panoramatour rund um Neuenbeken

Stage 1: Mission house - Papenberg viewpoint: 2.7 km
The starting point of our hike is the entrance to the convent of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood. We cross the Alte Amtsstraße and take the street An der Bischofsmühle. We cross the Beke bridge and turn left at the end of the path. After about 50 meters, a footpath branches off to the right, which leads up the steep slope in a few serpentines. At the top, continue straight ahead until you reach Horner Hellweg. Follow this to the right. After about 250 meters, immediately after the small parking lot with the recycling containers, we turn right onto a hiking trail. A signpost to the tree house also shows us the direction here. At the fork, which we reach after a few meters, we choose the left alternative. Our hiking trail now climbs slightly up to the 224-metre-high Ziegenberg. To the left, we occasionally have good views of Bad Lippspringe and the Senne. At a crossroads, we keep straight on. A little further on, we see the Neuenbeken tree house on the slope to the right, which is used by schools for "lessons in the forest".
Our path continues for another 800 meters through the forest - parallel to the asphalted Horner Hellweg, until it finally joins it. We continue to the right. Shortly afterwards, an asphalt path coming from Bad Lippspringe joins it from the left. About 100 meters later, we turn right, pass the barrier and after a few minutes reach the Papenberg viewpoint, from where we can enjoy a wide view over Neuenbeken and Benhausen as far as Paderborn and the Hellwegebene. A picnic group and a landscape lounger invite you to take a break here.
 
Stage 2: Viewpoint - Beketal quarry: 5.3 km
About 100 meters further on, at the edge of the forest, the asphalt path turns into a gravel path. Keep left at the fork. Around 300 meters further on, a short path branches off to the right to the small sinkhole on the Hanstein. An information board at the side of the path marks the spot.
We follow the forest path. In a small dip, a path joins from the right at an acute angle. The path then climbs slightly. At the next fork, we keep left and follow the gravel road. After about 300 meters, we see an iron cross on a stone pedestal on the right, "Hindahls Kreuz", as well as an information board for the Paderborn High Trail. Here we turn right and walk along this straight road for about 700 meters until a path branches off to the right, which is blocked by a red and white barrier. We turn right and shortly afterwards reach the hiking hut of the Eggegebirgsverein Neuenbeken section. The hut is closed, but the benches under the canopy are a good place to take a break.
We follow the path through the forest and come to a road, which we follow to the left. After about 300 meters, in the right-hand bend of the road, we keep straight ahead and climb a little uphill on a gravel path. At the top, turn right. After about 200 meters, we follow the bend to the right. We now walk downhill along the slope on the relatively wide forest path. At a fork, we choose the right-hand path, which initially runs along the slope at roughly the same height. After negotiating a left-hand bend, we reach a fork where we keep left. We walk downhill. This is followed by a left turn of almost 180 degrees, after which we reach a crossroads where we turn right. We walk through several bends along the slope. At first our path descends, but then rises again slightly and then descends again. Occasionally - when the trees are not leafy - we can see the small viaduct on the other side of the Beketal. After a 180-degree left-hand bend, a well-maintained gravel path takes us down into the Beketal valley. On the left, we see the former quarry at Hanstein, where we can clearly see the stratification of the limestone bedrock. Here, another picnic area invites us to take a break.
 
Stage 3: Beketal quarry - Dunetal: 3.6 km
We ignore the road branching off to the right and walk along the edge of the forest through the Beketal for around 1.3 kilometers. Then we turn right, cross the Beke bridge and reach the country road, which we cross carefully. We descend the steps and continue to the right. After just under 100 meters, we turn left onto the gravel path, which is closed off by a barrier. We pass the long, dark railroad embankment tunnel and turn right onto the wide forest path about 200 meters further on. This first leads uphill, then downhill and finally ends in the Dune Valley. Here we hike towards the Dune Viaduct and the refuge.
 
Stage 4: Dune Valley - highest point in Paderborn: 3.7 km
We cross the asphalt path and follow the path behind the refuge, which leads us up the slope in a few hairpin bends. We now have around 50 meters of altitude to overcome. At the top, we come to a junction where we can choose between three other paths.
Turning right, we reach the viewing platform, which was built in 2014 and offers impressive views of the viaduct and across the Beketal valley on the cross-connection marked with blue signposts.
To continue our hike on the main path, we turn left and follow the gravel path, which runs along the slope at roughly the same level. After about 10 minutes, after a left-hand bend, we come to a junction where we have three options. We opt for the middle path, which continues along the slope at roughly the same altitude. After about 250 meters, we follow the bend to the right and then hike slightly uphill into a side valley of the Dune Valley. About 100 meters after a left-hand bend, we come to a fork where we decide to take the right-hand, uphill path. We turn left at a T-junction. We walk steadily uphill and reach a hill. The beech forest ends and we now walk through a section of forest where spruce trees used to grow, which were felled due to bark beetle infestation. At the end of the former forest, at a T-junction, we keep to the right. We walk towards the wind turbines and reach the edge of the forest, where we see a red and white barrier and a raised hide. Where the asphalt path begins, we turn right and continue along the edge of the former spruce forest. After a good 100 meters, we walk straight into the "forest" and stay on the wide forest path for about 200 meters. Then we leave it by turning left into the former spruce forest. Now we can already see the summit cross, which marks the highest point in Paderborn, 347 meters above sea level. A metal box containing the summit book is attached to the overview board. Two forest sofas and a picnic area invite you to take a long rest here. An information board provides information about the future of the forest after the clear-cutting of spruce stands, which has taken place in many places - including here.
 
Stage 5: Highest point - plague cemetery: 3.2 km
Shortly after the summit cross, we turn right and continue along a former logging road through the former spruce forest. At the end, turn left. After a few meters, the ground changes to asphalt. At this point, we see a bench on the left and an information board on the use of wind energy on the Paderborn plateau. After about 200 meters on the asphalt path, before the slight ascent, we turn right onto a forest path. After about 100 meters, a path branches off to the left, which we follow through the forest. At the Karl Hagemeier hut of the Eggegebirgsverein Paderborn section, this path meets a well-maintained forest path, which we follow to the left, unless we want to take a break at the hut first.
At the T-junction, we turn right, but turn left again after around 100 meters. We walk slightly downhill on this forest path for a good 300 meters. Then we turn left onto a natural path. We now walk for almost three kilometers on the family version of the Paderborn High Trail. After about 300 meters on the nature trail, we pass the large climbing station, which was specially constructed for the family version. 150 meters further on, we come to a wide asphalt path. We turn right and after 60 meters reach a junction of two asphalt paths. There we turn slightly left onto a nature trail. We follow this for almost 500 meters and pass the animal call station. After crossing a logging road, our nature trail leads us directly past the "beech tree with two legs" and finally meets a wide gravel forest path directly at the "hut to the beech tree with two legs".
From there, we continue our hike to the left. Shortly afterwards, the forest path leads downhill before reaching a T-junction at the edge of the forest. We continue along the gravel path to the right. At the edge of the forest, the gravel path bends to the left. Here we turn right onto a forest path, but before doing so we should definitely enjoy the view of Bad Lippspringe, the Senne and the Teutoburg Forest. At the point where the path bends to the right, we keep slightly to the left and shortly afterwards see several yew trees, some upright stones, a memorial stone on the left and a 4.50 meter high oak cross a little further on. We have reached the plague cemetery, which was established here almost 400 years ago, during the Thirty Years' War.
 
Stage 6: Plague cemetery - Mission house: 2.9 km
We follow the path and reach a footpath, which we continue along to the left. After just under 400 meters, we meet the wide asphalt path again, which we cross diagonally to the right. An information board at the small parking lot informs us that this is the official starting point of the family version of the Paderborn High Trail.
We enter the narrow footpath that winds its way through the beech forest. At the edge of the forest, we come to a gravel path, which we follow to the right. At this point, we again have a beautiful view of Neuenbeken, Benhausen and Bad Lippspringe as far as the Teutoburg Forest. There is a picnic area here where you can take a break.
We enter the forest and choose the left alternative at the fork. This gravel path initially runs parallel to the edge of the forest at a short distance, then leads into the forest and describes an ascending left-hand bend. At the crossroads, where there is a green high seat, we turn left and leave the family version of the Paderborn High Trail. We hike through an elongated right-hand bend, followed shortly afterwards by a slight left-hand bend. Flanked by bushes, we walk downhill on a beautiful path along the edge of the forest.
After around 300 meters, we leave our path by turning right onto a path. After a short ascent, this describes a 180-degree right-hand bend. We reach a T-junction and continue our tour to the left on the gravel path. There is now a wire mesh fence on the left. About 100 meters before the end of this path - we can already see a railroad bridge ahead of us - we branch off to the left onto a footpath at a fence with green metal posts and an information board about the mausoleum. We walk downhill, follow the bend to the right and after a few meters we reach the Uhden family mausoleum, built of limestone.
We walk uphill on a gravel path, pass a passage in the fence and rejoin the path from which we turned off to the mausoleum. If we walk relatively straight across the crossroads into Glashüttenstraße, we reach the former Uhden glassworks after a few meters via the cross-connection of the Paderborner Höhenweg. The small half-timbered building on the left is a former bakery.
In order to follow the Paderborner Höhenweg, however, we walk through the railroad underpass, keep left at the T-junction and follow Buchholz Street downhill to the main road, Hildesheimer Hellweg. There we head straight on into Alte Amtsstraße. We can already see the buildings of the convent of the Missionary Sisters on the left-hand side and shortly afterwards reach our starting point.
 
Tip: The Franz Pfanner guest house at the Neuenbeken Mission House also offers overnight accommodation and refreshments on Saturdays and Sundays from 2.30 to 5.00 pm (groups can also visit at other times by prior arrangement on 05252 96500).

.

Hiking boots, drinks and provisions are recommended.