The access trail to the GR® 532

Access to the car park

From the Route de Strasbourg (D263) in Haguenau, head towards Schweighouse-sur-Moder and the Parc des Sports. Follow Rue du Moulin Neuf until you reach the car park near the stadium and Haguenau SNCF train station.

Yellow rectangle with white stripe signage

(S) Head north-east from the car park to take the tunnel under the railway line. Follow Rue du Moulin Neuf, which veers slightly to the right, to reach Boulevard de l'Europe. At the crossroads, cross the road and immediately turn left to cross the bridge over the Moder canal. Finally, turn right to follow the left bank of the canal parallel to Boulevard Pasteur. You will arrive at a footbridge.

(1) Leave the footbridge and continue straight ahead on the tarmac cycle path. At the fork, keep right along the canal. After 150 metres, take the stairs on the left to reach Place de Landau, where you will find the Club Vosgien signposts.

(2) Follow the signs for Walbourg by taking Route de Forstheim, which branches off to the left at the roundabout. Stay on this road, ignoring the streets on the right and left, until you reach number 79 on the road after about 1.5 km.

(3) Turn right onto Rue de la Ferme Hund and cross the hamlet of Hundshof. At the end of the hamlet, continue straight ahead on the cycle path towards Walbourg, which passes over the D1063 departmental road.

(4) After 300 metres, continue along the cycle path which enters the forest to the right of the Hundshof wash house. The path leads to the D27 road after about 700 metres. Cross it carefully and take the forest path which starts opposite, on the other side of the road. This path is almost perfectly straight.
(5) At the end of the path, turn left. At the next intersection 400 m further on, turn right and continue straight ahead, ignoring the paths on the right and left. This part of the trail is again almost perfectly straight. After about 1200 m, you will come to a junction with the Rorhlach forest road, which branches off to the left.

(6) Continue straight ahead onto the tarmac road (cycle route), still heading towards Walbourg until you reach the edge of the forest.

(7) After 2 km, stay on the tarmac road, which first branches off to the left, running along the edge of the forest, then to the right a few hundred metres further on, leading to Walbourg through the meadows. Continue to the^first intersection with a path, with the church in the distance in front of you.

(8) Continue straight ahead to cross over the Eberbach and go up Rue de l'Église towards the village centre. Ignore the streets and paths on the left and right. Pass the church and then the seminary.
At the end of the street, turn left onto Grand’Rue where, on the other side of the road slightly to the left, you will find signs for the departmental cycle routes and a sign for the Club Vosgien (E). See Practical Information.

(E) You can continue the hike by following the yellow rectangle with a white stripe signs towards Biblisheim to Woerth, where you will join the GR® 532 (yellow rectangle signs). Allow about 1½ hours.

Don't forget to take the tourist map of the Haguenau Forêt d'Exception®, available from the Pays de Haguenau tourist office, which shows the plot numbers indicated on the trees at the intersections. This makes it very easy to find your way around the undivided forest!

The access trail to the GR® 532, information sheet from the Tourist Office.

Contact

Pays de Haguenau Tourist Office
03 88 06 59 99
tourisme@agglo-haguenau.fr
More information at visithaguenau.alsace

NB: you will need a vehicle for the return journey if you do not want to come back the same way or via the D27.

Located at the stage (4) at the entrance to the undivided forest after passing through the hamlet of Hundshof, the Hundshof wash house or Huettenhof wash house is the only^19th-century wash house still standing in the municipality of Haguenau. While the last washerwoman regularly washed her laundry there until the early 1990s, residents of the hamlet of Hundshof still went there to wash rugs, jackets and other bulky fabrics in the summer until the early 2000s. The water from the wash house is discharged into the local stream, the Brunnbach.

In the heart of the forest, halfway between stages (6) and (7) at the intersection of the cycle route leading to Walbourg and the Gründel forest road, the Gründel ponds are considered a jewel of the forest. These two shallow ponds were created by the extraction of gravel and sand for the construction of the railway line between Mertzwiller and Seltz in the late^19th century, which was ultimately destroyed during the Second World War.

The Abbey Church of Sainte-Walburge, located on Rue de l'Église in Walbourg after the stage (8), is a former Benedictine abbey built in^{the 11th} century. Damaged by aerial bombardment in 1945, it was restored from 1949 onwards.