Friedrichroda is a town of 7.684 inhabitants and it belongs to the rural district of Gotha; it lies within a small valley North West of the Turingian Forest. North of the town there is the Monastery of the Mountain, first mentioned in 1114 with the name of Friderichesro. This stage will take us across the Turingian Forest north to South and arrive in a plain surrounded by hills, but the gradient to tackle is slight: however we will forsake the plains of Lower Saxony, which will no longer be part of our route. We now leave from the Heimatmuseum and take the road in front of it, the Gartenstrasse, which will take us to cross the Schweizer Strasse; we now continue on the Gruner weg, we take the third road to the left, the Burgweg, and enter the Waldstrasse. Out of the town the first hill begins and we enter the forest. Lower on our left is the Smalkalderstrasse which we will cross in 1,2 km. Past the two buildings on the left of the road, we take the Roter weg, the path will take us back into the forest uphill; we now go up for 2.6 km (watch the signs because there will be numerous signs indicating as many footpaths, and we must carry drinking water and snacks (because no refreshments will be available from here on). Where the forest is more open, we will find a road coming up on our left, we take it, in case we don’t need restoration (here we are at an altitude of 639 m above sea level; alternatively we should turn right here and go to the Hotel Berggasthof Spiessberghaus. After refreshment and a due rest, we return to the road fork and resume the walk from the point where we left it. We carry on the right and the forest road or Rennsteig for 2 km, this is the ridge way that crosses the forest from West to East, which reaches the highest point of our route(700 m a.s.l.). We are now on a crossroad and we gradually go downhill taking the lane on the right. We now have 7 km of gravel road before us, a road well-made and where we need to be careful and avoid mistakes at the numerous crossroads, left or right. We must follow the road signs which will safely direct us to Seligenthal e Schmalkalden. We cross Seligenthal first walking along Am Sportplatz, and then we turn left on the Mommelstein-Radwanderweg which in a little more than 5 km will take us to Schmalkalden. To enter the town we turn left on the Techstrasse, we cross the L1025, continuing along the Reihersgasse, we turn right on the Weidebrunner Gasse, again on the right on the Haargasse, left on the Braugasse, left again and open the Salzbrucke, finally on the right on the Mohrengasse, and here will be the town centre.
G.Caselli e Th.DahmsVia Romea Stade-Mittenwald Pilgerfuher Duetschland Ostfalia
Via Romea Stade-Mittenwald Pilgerfuher Duetschland Ostfalia
