Eschenburg Trail – Lahn-Dill-Bergland Nature Park

Today we were out in the Lahn-Dill-Bergland Nature Park and hiked the Eschenburgpfad 🎒🥾. The start and finish 🏁 was the parking lot 🅿️ at the cemetery ✝️ in Nanzenbach. The hike begins with a steep climb ↗️ of a good 80m in the first half kilometer. After that it's still uphill, but not as steep. After about 2.5km you reach the highest point of the tour, the Eschenburg mountain ⛰️ (589m). From here you have a great view 👀 of the surrounding area. There used to be a 42m high observation tower up there (1936-1945), but it fell victim to an aerial bomb. The only thing left to remember the tower is an approx. 5m high miniature replica. From here the descent begins again ↘️ over farm roads, meadows and through forests 🌲🌳. There are always benches or forest sofas with mostly beautiful views that invite you to linger. Towards the end of the tour, the path led past many pear and apple trees 🍐🍎🍏, with a great view of the town with its beautiful half-timbered houses. Now we went briefly through the town before having to climb the last slope ↗️to the starting point. Conclusion: It was a nice hike. But given that it was a premium hiking trail, we had hoped for a little more.

And on we go on the Lahn Dill Bergland path extra tours. Around Nanzenbach today. Beautiful scenery, beautiful views and beautiful weather, what more could you ask for. Every season has its charm here, in winter you have a great view and in spring wonderfully fresh green meadows and forests. Today the meadows are blooming in all colors. Simply a splendour. As you can see, we really liked it again and it's probably not the last time we ran the small loop.

Today we were on the Eschenburg path in the best hiking weather. ☀️ The tour is very beautiful, but it's a bit sad that the beautiful Eschenburg tower was never rebuilt. For anyone who isn't so good on their feet, I would choose a different start and finish point, as the climb at the beginning is not easy in the blazing sun. 🥵 I hope all Komootlers have fun doing it and have a great Father's Day. 😁

Viewpoints are always worthwhile destinations for hikers. For this reason, the Eschenburg (589m) has long enjoyed great popularity as the highest elevation in the lower Dietzholz valley. A Hessen extra tour is dedicated to this topic and heads from the Dillenburg district of Nanzenbach to the Eschenburg with a return journey through the beautiful Nanzenbach valley. The Eschenburg is not only known as a mountain. In 1935-36 a tower was built on top of the Eschenburg. The 43m high wooden construction stood on a base made of greenstone over six meters thick. The Eschenburg Tower is said to have had an impressive view of the surrounding area. The reason for erecting this tower on the Eschenburg was a kind of memorial for the miners who marched year in year out from the Dietzholz valley over the Eschenburg into the Scheldt forest to the iron ore mines. Therefore, shortly after the opening of the Eschenburg Tower in 1936, there was an appeal in which 1,600 miners from the region took part. Since the Eschenburg Tower was briefly used as a radio station during World War II, it fell victim to an air raid on March 23, 1945. The 285 solid cubic meters of wood from which the Eschenburg Tower was built burned down completely. In post-war Germany, the greenstone base, which contained a mining museum, was then cut down and the stones used as material for reconstruction. Today, a wooden model is reminiscent of the large lookout tower and the tourism experts in the region agree that the construction of a successor building could certainly attract many hikers. But even without a tower, there has been a good view since the Kyrill hurricane of 2007, as large parts of the forest collapsed. The Eschenburg path starts at the parking lot at the cemetery in Nanzenbach. A hiking portal – an information station – is also set up here. The Eschenburg path first turns west towards Oberberg (479m) and turns north here to reach the Eschenburg. From the Eschenburg with its impressive view, the circular hike turns west through the Meerbach firs to the Eiershausen sports field until just before the entrance to the Schwarzbachtal. The Eschenburg path now leads back into the valley and turns off on the western slope of the Appersberg (525m) to the starting point of the tour in Nanzenbach. A closer look at Nanzenbach is also worthwhile. The upper main street is completely listed. After a devastating fire in 1772, in which all the houses were destroyed except for the chapel and one house, the houses were rebuilt according to plans by Dillenburg master builder Terlinden. The plan called for a long main street with short side streets. The half-timbered houses should face the street with their gable and still today usually have the characteristic gable-sided entrance that can be reached via a transverse staircase. The files of the Wiesbaden State Archives describe this building work as a masterpiece of German architecture of the late 18th century. During the reconstruction, increased attention was also paid to fire protection. The new house foundations were made of solid stone and the roofs were covered with slate instead of straw. This construction paid off in 1883, when another fire raged. In contrast to the fire of 1772, this time only 13 houses and 14 were victims of the flames. Source (www.ich-geh-wandern.de)

One or the other waymarking would have to be renewed, otherwise a small fine round. Many benches along the route invite you to linger, but today it was too cold for that. A good start would also be at the hiking car park - "Eiershausen".

A nice round in a great landscape. The views are fantastic.

At 1° and light cloud cover, this time I walked the Eschenburg path to the right. Unfortunately the snow wasn't really ☃️ suitable 🥲

A very nice little extra hike. Plenty of peace and quiet, nature, and beautiful views... if only it had been a bit clearer. There are plenty of benches. Great!