A short walk in the Niederwald

Start from the car park next to the spa centre.

(S/E) Leave the car park, follow the D27 to the left for a few metres and take the footpath on the left.

(1) Turn left and head south-west, away from the spa centre.

(2) Turn right onto Rue de Frosechwiller (north-north-west). The road soon leaves the resort of Morsbronn-les-Bains.

(3) At the fork, continue straight ahead on the road (the path on the right will be taken on the return journey). Cross the D250 with care and follow the path opposite. Pass Rue du Lausberg on your right and go under a power line.

(4) Ignore the path on the right and enter the woods. Ignore a path branching off to the left; continue northwards until you reach a forest track.

(5) Turn right onto the forest road, which is initially flat before beginning a descent in a wide right-hand bend. At this point, there is a lovely view of the hillsides towards Woerth and Froeschwiller on the left-hand side.

(6) As the forest road reaches a clearing on the right-hand side, turn right onto a path that descends into the Niederwald woods near the edge of the woodland. At the bottom of the descent, cross the stream Le Holzmatt (which is intermittent at this point) and continue straight ahead along a forest track that climbs back into the woods – this section, with fairly dense vegetation, is neither clearly marked nor visible from a distance. You will come to a gentler sloping forest track and pass a metal barrier.

(7) Just before a clearing on the left, turn onto a path that climbs quite steeply in a south-southeasterly direction. The path leads out at the corner of a field bordering the woods. Pass the electric fence and continue along the path that runs alongside this stretch of woodland to the south-east, first slightly uphill, then downhill towards the hamlet of Lausberg.

(8) Turn left into Rue du Lausberg and immediately onto the path on the right. Alternate between gentle descents and ascents. Cross the D250 road with care and continue along the path opposite, which descends gently and joins a road taken on the way out.

(3) Continue to the left. The return to the car park follows the same route as the start of the walk, but in the opposite direction: continue along Rue de Roeschwiller towards Morsbronn-les-Bains, enter the village and take the footpath on the left which leads back to the car park (S/E).

The car park is located next to the spa centre.

This hike across varied terrain requires suitable footwear.

This route, which presents no real difficulties, is unmarked, although some sections follow marked paths. It is advisable to follow the directions in the description and on the map and to cross-check them against the landscape. The choice of route is the result of a journey covering as many paths of all kinds as possible and sections on quiet roads (where possible).

Hike completed by the author on 26 October 2017

Morsbronn-les-Bains
History
6 August 1870, Battle of Froeschwiller-Woerth.
In the spring of 1904, a drilling operation by the Gewerkschaft Gute Hoffnung, searching for oil, discovered a hot water spring at a depth of 450 metres, to the north-west, on the edge of the road from Froeschwiller leading to the village of Eberbach-Woerth and the hamlet of Lausberg. Georges Urban, a restaurateur from Morsbronn, bought the deposit and, following analyses, this reserve of hot water at 42°C proved to have beneficial properties for rheumatism as it is rich in sodium chloride and calcium.

Monuments
All Saints’ Church: Morsbronn is one of some 50 towns in Alsace with a church serving multiple parishes.
Several monuments commemorate those who died in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, including the impressive ‘Adler’ (‘Eagle’), not far from the Bouygues telephone exchange on the heights above the village.

Thermalism
The thermal water of Morsbronn-les-Bains comes from two natural springs discovered in 1904 during drilling carried out to locate oil deposits in the region: the “Les Cuirassiers” spring at 38.9°C, drawn from a depth of 400 metres, and the “Saint Arbogast” spring at 41.9°C, drawn from a depth of 670 metres.
These two catchments provide the spa with an abundant flow of naturally warm water rich in sodium chloride, calcium, magnesium and sulphur.
With sedative, analgesic and relaxing properties, these waters are recommended for the treatment of:
- chronic and debilitating inflammatory rheumatism, - spinal, cervical or lumbar osteoarthritis, and osteoarthritis of the hip or knee
- fibromyalgia,
- progressive polyarthritis,
- sequelae of osteoarticular trauma.