Had a good time on the ‘Vierburgenweg’ trail yesterday.
This trail connects four old fortresses between Kenzingen and Waldkirch in southern Breisgau, Germany. The Lichteneck fortress at Hecklingen, the Landeck fortress at Mundingen, the Hochburg at Windenreute and the Kastelburg at Waldkirch.
The trail is 31 km long and can be hiked, biked or run. My run was from Kenzingen to just near the Hochburg.
The path through the forest.
There are some fantastic forest trails in the Malterdinger Vierdörferwald area, where the Landeck fortress and Eichbergturm (Germany’s highest observation tower) are located.
On the path through the Malterdingen forest you go right past an ancient Neolithic burial site used by forest peoples who populated the area for thousands of years.
Especially interesting is the prehistoric grave site called ‘Heidengrab’ (heathen’s grave) which I discovered back in 2011 and went back today to check out again.
The Landeck fortress outside Mundingen.
The Breisgau region (the area between the Rhine river and the Black Forest) was home to the Celts and Romans, and was later settled by the Alemanni, who gave their name to the current dialect heard in this area (allemannisch; which shares roots with Alsatian and Swiss-German).
The Hochburg fortress outside Emmendingen.
There are many heathen cult sites, myths and legends to be found here, such as the Abnoba (Black Forest goddess) temple in Badenweiler; the Belchen solar network which connects the Belchen mountains in the Black Forest, French Vosges and Swiss Jura; as well as the Magdalenenberg, which is central Europe’s largest burial mound from the Hallstatt culture located in Villingen.