In the Ringeldorf woods and the hills of Morschwiller

Park at Place Helmstetter in Val-De-Moder.

(S/E) Leave the car park heading east and, when you reach Rue des Tanneurs, turn right and walk gently uphill towards the junction with Rue de Haguenau. Cross the junction carefully on the left-hand side (protected crossing) and admire the beautiful façade of the house set back from the junction.

Continue slightly uphill on the D 519 (Rue de la Gare) with its beautiful houses and shop fronts.
Cross the street to the right-hand side. At the triangular crossroads, you will see the obelisk-shaped monument. Continue straight ahead to cross the level crossing.

(1) Immediately turn left into Rue de Strasbourg: there are a few parking spaces at the beginning of this street. Continue along the path heading south-east, away from the housing estate on your left. The path, which is not very well marked, climbs through a meadow, passes to the right of a small copse and joins a small road coming from Niedermodern. You can take a short break on a bench at this point.
About two hundred metres further on, a path branches off to the right: from here, the route is clearly marked.

(2) Take the path on the right uphill. When the slope of the path levels out, the route arrives at an old vineyard shelter, a 19th-century building that allowed winegrowers to take shelter and probably leave their tools or produce there. Continue towards a vineyard and go around it, keeping it on your left. The path then begins to descend towards the Strasbourg road (D 110).

Cross this road with caution and continue opposite on a path that soon passes under the high-voltage power line and joins the Hengstbaechel stream. Cross the stream via a small wooden bridge and follow the path that branches off to the right and enters the forest. Continue to a crossroads in the woods.

(3) Turn left onto the uphill path. At the next crossroads, take the path on the right, which is almost horizontal, and pass the first crossroads.

(4) Turn left at the next junction (T-junction). Continue uphill through the Ringeldorf Forest. At the next T-junction, turn left towards the east. After about 100 metres, take the path opposite on the right, which joins a more clearly marked path just before the edge of the forest.

At this point, turn right again and continue climbing through the woods on this path, which passes near a cave before turning right and then left at a right angle. The path eventually leads to the edge of the woods.

(5) Turn right and follow the edge of the woods. The path then heads towards Ringeldorf, offering beautiful scenery. Enter Ringeldorf via Rue de la Forêt, which slopes gently downwards, and continue to the crossroads with a farm track climbing up to the left.

(6) Turn left onto this path, which climbs to the top of the hill. You will see a wayside shrine on the left at a crossroads where the path turns into a small road. Continue straight ahead towards the telephone antenna.

(7) Immediately after this, you will see a beautiful calvary against a small grove of trees. Turn left onto the farm track that descends towards the Kirchfeld area.

(8) At the three-way junction in the path, take the path on the right which descends towards a small wood (markings on the ground). This will be on your left as you cross the start of the valley where the Hengstbaechel stream flows. The path then begins a short climb towards the Hirchlaenge area. At the top of the hill, take the path on the left, which quickly joins the D 110 road.
Cross it carefully and go to the small car park with picnic tables to take a break at the Napoleonic bench made of Vosges sandstone and enjoy the landscape (orientation table).

(9) Return to the D 110 road and follow it very carefully on the right-hand side, walking in the grass at the side of the road if possible. When the road turns left, about two hundred metres from the car park, turn right onto the path that runs along a hedge of trees on the north side, offering beautiful views over the whole of the Val-de-Moder.

The path begins to descend and arrives at a T-junction. Take the path on the right, which descends more steeply towards the north, and continue to the junction with a clearly visible path coming from the left.

(10) Turn left onto the path that climbs to the top of a hill (altitude 247 m), then begins to descend in an S-shape to skirt around vineyards. You will see a millstone from the old Moder mill.

Immediately afterwards, it joins a small road (barred at its junction with the D 110 road). At this point, see an old vine shelter dating from the 17th century on your right. Continue along the small road towards the west while enjoying the scenery of the northern slope. See a millstone from the old Moder mill.

(2) From there, retrace your steps along the same route. In other words, continue down the road for about 200 metres and turn left – at the bench on your left – onto the path that crosses a large meadow to reach Rue de Strasbourg on the west side of the housing estate at the bottom of Steinberg.
Follow Rue de Strasbourg.

(1) When you reach the D 259 road, cross it carefully and turn right onto Rue de la Gare until you reach the junction with Rue de Haguenau. Cross this road carefully and take Rue des Tanneurs until you reach the car park on Rue du Docteur Albert Schweitzer on the left (S/E).

The parking area is located on Rue du Docteur Albert Schweitzer. Alternatively, there are a few spaces available after the level crossing at point (1): parking in front of the station is limited to a maximum of 1 hour 30 minutes.
Finally, it is possible to start from a small car park on Rue Gayling in Niedermodern, near a school south of the railway line. In this case, take the road heading south and join the route shortly before point (2).

This hike covers varied terrain and requires suitable footwear.

Most of the route (from point (2) onwards) is marked with a red ring on a white background. This is the Collines route marked by the Club Vosgien. In addition, it is advisable to follow the directions in the description and on the map, while paying close attention to the landscape. The waypoints (with their GPS coordinates and distance from the starting point) are helpful for hikers who are discovering the route for the first time.

Hike completed by the author on 28 October 2021.

Pfaffenhoffen
Antiquity
The village of Pfaffenhoffen developed around a crossroads of two Celtic paths, one running along the Moder from east to west, the other connecting Brumath to the Niederbronn region.

Middle Ages
From the 7th to the 9th centuries, the Benedictine abbey of Wissembourg owned extensive properties in Alsace, the Palatinate and Lorraine. The name Pfaffenhoffen is composed of two parts: "Pfaff" and "hoffen". In Old German, Pfaff referred to a clergyman or cleric, while hoffen translates as courtyard or farm. Pfaffenhoffen was therefore a manor belonging to a convent or abbey. A deed of donation from this venerable institution mentions the estate of "Matra Villa" for the first time in 773, which undoubtedly included the twin villages of Pfaffenhoffen and Niedermodern. Subsequently, the monks of Wissembourg founded the Church of Saints Peter and Paul there.
In 1017, "Paphenhoven" is mentioned as "Imperial property" (Reichslehen) in a deed by Emperor Henry II. In 1334, Louis III of Lichtenberg owned half of Pfaffenhoffen and Niedermodern, together with the lords of Ochenstein, who had been invested with their share by King Adolph of Nassau in 1293 as a fief of the imperial nobility.

Renaissance
Since the 16th century, Pfaffenhoffen has been an important commercial centre in the region. The weekly markets and quarterly fairs always attracted crowds of buyers and merchants. The leather, cloth and pottery trades flourished. Local regulations governing these trades were recorded in the Fleckenbuch de Pfaffenhoffen (Pfaffenhoffen town register) as early as 1513. In the mid-17th century, Pfaffenhoffen was the headquarters of the shepherds' guild for nearly 200 communes in Lower Alsace and thus held a monopoly on the wool trade. Farmers from around thirty villages in the surrounding area came here to sell their grain, butter and other farm produce. Many craftsmen, restaurateurs and brewers benefited from this activity and contributed to the town's reputation.
The Church of Saints Peter and Paul, founded by the monks of Wissembourg in the 8th or 9th century, had become an archpriesthood and the mother church of six surrounding communes. In 1545, the Reformation was introduced in the county of Hanau-Lichtenberg. Then, on 8 April 1546, the first Protestant synod of the county of Hanau-Lichtenberg was held in the town with the aim of organising the new religion. On the orders of Louis XIV, the Church of Saints Peter and Paul was declared a simultaneous church on 28 July 1685. It hosted both denominations until the inauguration of the new Protestant church on 6 September 1885. The population of Pfaffenhoffen suffered greatly from the misfortunes and destruction caused by the wars that ravaged the region from the 14th to the 18th century: the Hundred Years' War, the Peasants' War and the Wars of Religion.

The Thirty Years' War
Pfaffenhoffen was particularly hard hit by the Thirty Years' War, with a decisive battle taking place on the hills south of the town in 1632. The Wars of the Spanish Succession and the Revolutionary Wars also brought their share of suffering to the population.

Source: Wikipedia (excerpts)