Among Knights and Romans, Adelsheim

Start: Adelsheim Ost railway station

(S/E) From our starting point, we walk towards Wemmershof and turn into the street ‘Am Ried’.

(1) At the edge of the wood, we turn right, where in summer, from behind the bushes and trees, children’s voices can be heard coming from the outdoor swimming pool, beautifully situated in the Brünnbachtal nature reserve. The path leads uphill out of the village.

(2) At the first fork, we take the right-hand turn and pass a boundary stone on our way into the rural hamlet of Wemmershof.

(3) At the T-junction, we keep to the left until the next junction.

(4) Here, we head left between fields to leave the village again and cross a bridge back onto the Sculpture Cycle Route, where we turn right.

(5) We walk straight on across a junction, where benches offer a chance to rest, and we are now on both the signposted Sculpture Cycle Route and the ‘Römerstraße’.

(6) At another junction, we turn left, passing a small cemetery, and take the shortcut straight ahead through a small copse.

(7) The road we now rejoin leads us straight into the village. At the fork, we keep to the right, passing the archaeological excavation site of the Roman fort, which lies to our left.

(8) From here, signs direct us first to the left, then to the right, towards the nearby, modern Roman Museum in Osterburken.

(9) From the Roman Museum, we head left along Adelsheimer Straße onto the large bridge over the River Kirnau.

(10) Turn right uphill onto Hemsbacher Straße and, at the next junction, left onto Doktor-Rudolf-Link-Straße. We spot a chapel on our left; we walk past it and through the housing estate out of the village.

(11) Follow a gravelled track over a small rise and then turn left down a narrow, grassy path. A forest track takes us into the woods, where we walk along the edge of a clearing

(12) Behind the mountain hut, we turn slightly right onto a nature trail marked ‘N’. At the T-junction after about 600 metres, we turn left onto the Eckenberg Path, marked ‘1’.

(13) At a playground, we turn left and head downhill to the end of Baron-Carl-Straße.

(14) Turning right, we reach the centre of Adelsheim.

(15) At the Kirnau waterfall, we turn off Marktstraße onto Rietstraße, which takes us back to the starting point of our walk, Adelsheim-Ost railway station. (S/E)

Author: Christiane Bachert

(7) In what is effectively a park, you can view the remains of the foundation walls of the so-called ‘Annex Fort’, which is actually just an extension of the original fort.

(9) The museum, which reopened in 2006, displays artefacts from the area around the Upper German-Rhaetian Limes across two floors. In addition, an exhibition – separated by a boundary wall – provides information on the way of life of the Germanic peoples on one side and that of the Romans on the other. Visitors can also learn more about Roman religion and bathing culture.

(14) In the centre of Adelsheim, we can take a historical tour of the town.