33 - (GER 33) - Nordlingen - Harburg

Place of Departure	NORDLINGEN
Place of Arrival	HARBURG
Length – KM	26
Nation of the route	Germany
Region	Bavaria
Uphill Gap	393 mt.
Downhill Gap	391 mt.
CAI (Diff. Escurs.)	E
Praticability
File (.KMZ)	File .kmz

Open Street Map on Outdooractive	Open Site

Nördlingen is a town of 19.268 inhabitants, “mentioned in a document as a “royal court” in 898. In 1998 Nördlingen has celebrated its 1300° anniversary. The town preserves its medieval urban character with walls and well preserved fortifications. The historic centre has a precinct wall and has a walkway for the guards all along the walls.

This is a long stage, two thirds of its length within a forest; with ups and downs in the first part, level at 550 m above sea level in the second part, with only a few settlements along its route, therefore it is advisable to carry provisions during your walk. We leave Marktplatz, on the left of the Cathedral, we turn right, behind the apse, we cross the Schafflesmarkt, we turn right on the Brettermarkt, then left on the Hinterer Reimlinger Gasse, at the bottom of which we turn right and walk along the walls. Having passed the bastions we turn left and exit the city walls by what may be called the ‘servants door’. We then enter a residential quarter, turning first right and then left on the Kellermannsweg; we cross the Johannes Kahn Strasse, and we enter the town’s park. We walk along the country lane for 800 m, over a hillock, a further 600 m and we cross the road which connects from right to left Herkheim with Reimlingen. We carry on walking straight on across the fields, then along the edge of a forest, then again fields for 2,4 km to arrive at Schmahingen; we pass through the village, from North to South, walking on the Kirchbergstrasse; we turn left, on the Muhibachstrasse, then right on the Hurnhernerstrasse which we leave after 50 m to follow the Am Birkle and we will be in open country. We continue on the road for 1,4 km to arrive at the Don9; we turn left and sharp right, to avoid the traffic. 500 m and we are near a farming estate, where we turn left, and again to the left, and we arrive at a water purification plants, we avoid the lane on the right through the woods. We are on a first road, and turn left on the second, the Dorfstrasse: we cross the Niederaltheim and arrive at Hohenaltheim. We exit the village taking the Rotengasse which we follow for 1,7 km up to a great storage plant, here we turn right and after 500 m turn left to arrive in 1,2 km at Monchsdeggingen. We cross the small village and we are in front of the Church of St. Martin, here we take the Klosterstrasse which we then leave to turn sharp to the right and walk uphill into the forest, with numerous crossroads on both sides; we keep the direction given by Don9 on our left, a road that we cross after 3,5 km. After crossing the Don9, we continue on the unpaved road inside the forest for a further 2,3 km and cross the Don16, then in 350 m we arrive at a locality called Eisbrun, where we will find refreshments, and now we have ended the uphill walk. A few more meters of hill then gradually we descend to Harburg where we shall arrive in 5 km; the route is still complicated, through the forest with many crossroad, but now we bear continuously in mind the Don16 which in part we follow. We enter the town along the Heidestrasse, the Bugstrasse, passing the Castle, and then the Am Bogen and we will be in the centre of town.