02 From Kirchen to Bad Bruckenau via Rothaargebirge and Rhon
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RouteXpert Leonor Orban - Sr. RouteXpert
Last edit: 14-11-2023
Route Summary The route continues from the Westerwald towards the East. You drive on wonderfully winding roads through rolling landscapes and ultimately drive the last kilometers in the Bavarian Rhön.
Along the way you can visit various historical features. You will come across the usual castles, such as the castles of Fronhausen, Staufenberg, Ellhaus and Laubach. Perhaps the highlight of this ride is a dilapidated wooden ski jump. A not-so-average object for lovers of Urbex photography.
In combination with the smooth asphalt and sufficient dining options along the way, this route gets 4 stars.
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Animation
Verdict
Duration
5h 57m
Mode of travel
Car or motorcycle
Distance
226.10 km
Countries
RouteXpert Review The morning starts with a good breakfast, after which you can start your ride at leisure. With approximately 226 kilometers ahead of you, you will have plenty of time to enjoy the surroundings in addition to motorcycling. There are plenty of sights along the way.
The road starts quietly. You immediately dive into the woods to drive towards Herdorf. Here you can refuel and continue on the road. The road winds eastwards with wide gentle bends, to the moated castle of Hainchen, a medieval castle that has stood the test of time. It was once a strategic defense point (dating from 1290), nowadays the park around the castle is often visited.
The road continues to wind through the varied landscape. Your route goes over rolling hills, through forests and past meadows. Before you know it, you have already been on the bike for 90 minutes and the first moment for a break has arrived. In Oberndorf you can stop at Gaststätte Zur Linde Siegbach, for a German Tasse Kaffee und Kuchen.
After this break the villages follow each other a little faster. In one of those villages (Bad Endbach) you drive under the impressive Salzböde viaduct. This engineering masterpiece extends across the valley with a length of 175 meters and 18 meters high. Until 2001, the single-track Aar-Salzböde-Bahn operated over the route. Today it is a tourist attraction in the village.
Nature takes over the route again: forests and meadows dominate the landscape again. A number of villages in this landscape are home to old castles and castles. The first on your route is the Oberburg in Fronhausen. This moated castle was built at the end of the 13th century and served variously as a fortress, beer brewery and inn. During the Thirty Years' War it was seriously damaged by fire. Nowadays it is privately owned, so you can only admire it from the outside.
Further along the route you will see Burg Staufenberg. The castle, first mentioned in 1233, belonged to the Counts of Ziegenhain. In 1273 the castle was destroyed during a war between Hesse and the Archbishopric of Mainz. After the Thirty Years' War it was not rebuilt and fell into disrepair. In 1858, Princes Louis and Henry of Hesse-Darmstadt bought the Unterburg and restored the castle. In 1925 it became the property of the Hessian state. The Unterburg was sold in 2002 and now houses Hotel Burg Staufenberg.
And in the third village in a row you see Burg Ellhaus. Exact information about the castle's founding is not available. It is suspected that the castle was built in the 13th or 14th century as a square late Gothic residential tower. The residential tower, known as the 'Alter Stock', has walls about 1.8 meters thick. The castle was probably expanded around 1679 with the “Neuen Stock” (also called “Burg am Wasser”).
If you like to visit (the park around) a castle, you can visit the castle of the same name in Laubach. This castle was also probably built in the 13th century. In 1418 the castle came into the possession of the counts of Solms-Laubach. Scions of this family still live in these buildings today.
To process all the impressions of these castles, you can take a short break in Schotten. In the center of this town you can choose from a number of nice cafes and restaurants.
With 70 kilometers to go, the last part of your route begins. You have left the castles behind you. But the hills and forests will continue to accompany you today until the end of the route.
Before you arrive in Bad Brückenau, there is an optional special place on the list. Do you enjoy visiting the not-so-standard sights? Then it is certainly worthwhile to visit the Wilhelm-Dillemuth redoubt in Bermuthshain. You have to deviate from the route briefly, but after about a kilometer you see something spectacular looming: an old dilapidated wooden ski jump. On top of the Höllerich hill, one of the last German wooden ski jumps was put into use in 1970. It was once a hub for regional sports and tourism. It was a popular place for (amateur) ski jumpers. Unfortunately, the redoubt was decommissioned after another decade, causing it to slowly decay. Only in 2003 was it designated as a historic site and a little care is given to the redoubt. For example, an observation platform has been built at the foot of the ramp. As an urbex photographer you might like to visit this place.
After this wonderful excursion, the route finally comes to an end. After a not too long day of driving, you will hopefully arrive safely at the hotel in Bad Brückenau. In the evening you can eat a delicious meal in one of the restaurants in town.
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Use of this GPS route is at your own expense and risk. The route has been carefully composed and checked by a MyRoute-app accredited RouteXpert for use on TomTom, Garmin and MyRoute-app Navigation.
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Changes may nevertheless have occurred due to changed circumstances, road diversions or seasonal closures. We therefore recommend checking each route before use.
Preferably use the route track in your navigation system. More information about the use of MyRoute-app can be found on the website under 'Community' or 'Academy'.
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North Rhine-Westphalia
About this region
North Rhine-Westphalia (German: Nordrhein-Westfalen, pronounced [ˌnɔʁtʁaɪn vɛstˈfaːlən] (listen); Low Franconian: Noordrien-Wesfale; Low German: Noordrhien-Westfalen; Colognian: Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (German: [ɛnʔɛʁˈveː] (listen)), is a German state (Land) in Western Germany. With more than 17.9 million inhabitants, it is the most populous state of Germany. Covering an area of 34,084 square kilometres (13,160 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest German state by size. Apart from the city-states, it is also the most densely populated state in Germany.
North Rhine-Westphalia features 30 of the 81 German municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants, including Cologne (over 1 million), the state capital Düsseldorf, Dortmund and Essen (all about 600,000 inhabitants) and other cities predominantly located in the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area, the largest urban area in Germany and the third-largest on the European continent. The location of the Rhine-Ruhr at the heart of the European Blue Banana makes it well connected to other major European cities and metropolitan areas like the Randstad, the Flemish Diamond and the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Region.
North Rhine-Westphalia was established in 1946 after World War II from the Prussian provinces of Westphalia and the northern part of Rhine Province (North Rhine), and the Free State of Lippe by the British military administration in Allied-occupied Germany and became a state of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. The city of Bonn served as the federal capital until the reunification of Germany in 1990 and as the seat of government until 1999.
Culturally, North Rhine-Westphalia is not a uniform area; there are significant differences, especially in traditional customs, between the Rhineland region on the one hand and the regions of Westphalia and Lippe on the other. The state has always been Germany's powerhouse with the largest economy among the German states by GDP figures.
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North Rhine-Westphalia features 30 of the 81 German municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants, including Cologne (over 1 million), the state capital Düsseldorf, Dortmund and Essen (all about 600,000 inhabitants) and other cities predominantly located in the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area, the largest urban area in Germany and the third-largest on the European continent. The location of the Rhine-Ruhr at the heart of the European Blue Banana makes it well connected to other major European cities and metropolitan areas like the Randstad, the Flemish Diamond and the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Region.
North Rhine-Westphalia was established in 1946 after World War II from the Prussian provinces of Westphalia and the northern part of Rhine Province (North Rhine), and the Free State of Lippe by the British military administration in Allied-occupied Germany and became a state of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. The city of Bonn served as the federal capital until the reunification of Germany in 1990 and as the seat of government until 1999.
Culturally, North Rhine-Westphalia is not a uniform area; there are significant differences, especially in traditional customs, between the Rhineland region on the one hand and the regions of Westphalia and Lippe on the other. The state has always been Germany's powerhouse with the largest economy among the German states by GDP figures.
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Have fun with this collection and while driving one of these routes. Enjoy all the beauty that the Netherlands and in particular the province of Limburg has to offer. Click on “View route” to read the review of the chosen route.
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But not only pie, marl and coal in Limburg, but also a very beautiful province to tour by car or motorcycle and enjoy all the beauty that the province of Limburg has to offer. For this, the MyRoute app RouteXpert has put together a Top 10 of Car and Motorcycle routes for you.
All routes in this collection have been checked and made equal for TomTom, Garmin and MyRoute-app Navigation by a MyRoute-app RouteXpert.
If you think, I have a very nice route that should certainly not be missing from this collection, send it to:
email: routeexpert@myrouteapp.com
Subject: New Route for the Top 10 collection Province of Limburg composed by Hans van de Ven.
The route will then be reviewed and then added to the Top 10.
To make the Top 10 also the Top 10, 1 route will have to disappear from the Top 10, you can indicate this when submitting the new route.
Have fun with this collection and while driving one of these routes. Enjoy all the beauty that the Netherlands and in particular the province of Limburg has to offer. Click on “View route” to read the review of the chosen route.
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All routes in this collection have been checked and made equal for TomTom, Garmin and MyRoute-app Navigation by a MyRoute-app RouteXpert.
If you think, I have a very nice route that should certainly not be missing from this collection, send it to:
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The route will then be reviewed and then added to the Top 5. To make the Top 5 also the Top 5, 1 route will have to disappear from the Top 5, you can indicate this when submitting the new route.
Have fun with this collection and while driving one of these routes. Enjoy all the beauty that the Eifel has to offer. Click on “View route” to read the review of the chosen route.
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Several chains can be distinguished in the Eifel:
The northernmost part is called the Nordeifel, which in Belgium connects to the High Fens;
To the east of this is the Ahrgebirge, this part is located north of the Ahr in the Ahrweiler district;
South of the Ahr is the Hohe Eifel (or Hocheifel), of which the Hohe Acht (747 m) is the highest point, and also the highest point in the entire Eifel region;
To the west, near the Belgian border, the hills are known as Schneifel, part of the wider Snow Eifel area with peaks reaching up to 698 metres;
South and east of the Hohe Eifel is the Volcano-Eifel, a volcanic area with many crater lakes (Maare).
The southern part of the Eifel is less high. The area is bisected by streams and rivers running southwards. These streams flow into the Moselle. The largest of these rivers is the Kyll; the hills around this river are known as the Kyllwald;
In the south, the Eifel ends in the Voreifel.
In the north of the Eifel there are some large reservoirs. The largest of these is the reservoir in the Roer that was created by the construction of the Roerdal dam.
The Nürburgring is also located in the Eifel, a well-known car circuit for Formula 1 races, among other things. Since 2004, part of the north of the Eifel has become the Eifel National Park. This National Park falls entirely within the German-Belgian nature park High Fens-Eifel. Another part of the Eifel falls within the South Eifel Nature Park.
Well-known throughout the Netherlands and Belgium by car and motorcyclists, so reason enough for the MyRoute app RouteXpert to compile a Top 5 of Car and Motorbike routes for you.
All routes in this collection have been checked and made equal for TomTom, Garmin and MyRoute-app Navigation by a MyRoute-app RouteXpert.
If you think, I have a very nice route that should certainly not be missing from this collection, send it to:
email: routeexpert@myrouteapp.com
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The route will then be reviewed and then added to the Top 5. To make the Top 5 also the Top 5, 1 route will have to disappear from the Top 5, you can indicate this when submitting the new route.
Have fun with this collection and while driving one of these routes. Enjoy all the beauty that the Eifel has to offer. Click on “View route” to read the review of the chosen route.
I would like to hear your findings about the route(s).
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