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The stage starts in Bullau at the Schumbert inn (Schöllenbacher Weg). You can reach Bullau by public transport from Erbach with the call bus (see below).
(S) We leave the village via Schöllenbacher Weg. We follow the road until we see a bench on the left-hand side of the path. If we continue straight ahead, we would take the Nibelungensteig variant to Erbach. However, we want to go to Hesselbach.
(1) Therefore, we turn right here onto a gravel forest road, reach the forest and follow the path. At a single spruce tree with a red arrow, we turn sharply right onto a meadow path; the sign is easy to miss. We follow the path downhill until we reach a fork.
(2) This is where the Nibelungensteig splits. We are coming from Bullau, i.e. from the Erbach variant. Straight ahead, the path leads uphill towards Güttersbach or Ebersberg (see stage 5), so we take the path sharply to the left towards Hesselbach/Schöllenbach. At forks in the path, we tend to keep downhill, following the Nibelungensteig signposts, which are well signposted. The path leads through a beautiful forest, but unfortunately, in spring 2023, a lot of tree felling work has left its unsightly mark. To our right below us, we can see the road and the first houses of Schöllenbach.
(3) We reach a paved road and turn sharp right here. We follow the road.
(4) To our left is a car park with a place to rest. The path leads past the Schöllenbach cemetery, with the Euterbach stream to our right, and we reach a church – the Quellkirche, which we now practically circle around.
(5) At the signpost by the church, we turn sharply left onto Weißenbörner Weg and should definitely take the time to take a closer look at the Quellkirche. We leave Schöllenbach via Hesselbacher Weg.
(6) At the Schöllenbach sign, we turn right uphill onto the path towards Hesselbach. We keep right at all junctions so that after a short time we are hiking uphill on a small path that is almost in the fall line. We cross a wider path and almost immediately continue uphill in serpentines. We cross more paths, but continue straight ahead on our path uphill. After the first relaxed section, this is now a real challenge.
(7) You will reach the road, which you follow to the right (Limesstraße). Pass the Hesselbach town sign and, at the end of the meadow in front of house number 28, you will reach a signpost. Follow the signs for the Nibelungensteig to the left. If you want to go directly to the inn, continue straight ahead on Limesstraße. At the next intersection, turn left again into Bürgermeister-Müller-Straße, past the volunteer fire brigade and follow the sign for the Nibelungensteig on the dirt road.
(8) At the T-junction with a table and benches, continue to the right until you reach a hedge on the right-hand side.
(9) Turn left and follow the Nibelungensteig trail. The trail leads along a gravel forest path through marshy woodland. You will reach a T-junction.
(10) At the signpost "Nördlich von Hesselbach" (north of Hesselbach), we leave the Nibelungensteig and make a detour to the former Limes guard post and follow the green L sign at the next intersection to the right. We reach a game fence, which we follow to the right until we finally pass through the gate.
(11) After the gate, we turn right, initially following trail markers 3 and 6. We reach a paved road, follow it to the right until we come across the Nibelungensteig again after a cow gate. We follow the trail sign to the left. The trail leads across a meadow, then along the edge of the forest along a game fence. We hike directly along the border between Hesse and Bavaria and can see the former boundary stones.
(12) At the Hesselbacher Torhaus, the sandstone building, the trail leads us uphill into the forest, continuing to follow the boundary stones and the game fence. The trail climbs quite steeply to the Dreiländereck.
(13) The Dreiländerstein marks the border between Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. The Nibelungensteig trail turns right here onto a wider forest path, which we follow to the left until we reach the Hesselbacher Höhe, an open meadow.
(14) At the signpost "Hesselbacher Höhe", the Nibelungensteig turns left and uphill. However, we want to spend the night in Hesselbach and follow the green triangle to the right downhill, past the Hesselbach cemetery (15). We reach Kailbacher Straße, follow it to the right downhill and find ourselves in front of the Zum grünen Baum inn (E).
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Difficult 
Easy 
