Rundwanderweg Wahlen

We really didn't have the highest expectations of the walk, since we mostly based our decision for the days trail on its location - we were meeting up with family from the other side of the Odenwald and the walk is pretty much richt in the middle. Other than that we were expeciting it to be mostly wide forest roads and views of the village.

The weather also didn't quite want to work out for the day. Even though the last few ways were warm and sunny, it was colder and a lot more bleak and gray. The thermometer showed only 14°C and the sky was full of dark gray clouds.

We didn't let that discourage us and instead started walking. Once we crossed the road a small path led us on a small path towards Unter-Scharbach. It was just a short section and soon we crossed the road again and reached the village. There we followed the "Wa 4" marking through town but somehow missed the lefthand turn that was supposed to lead us back into the forest. Instead we just walked through the whole town and then ended up on the original route.

The path led through the forest in a big turn on soft forest ground, before the view opened upon Affolterbach and the Ulfenbachtal. After a few more meters the trail branched off to the left and followed the Ulfenbachtal back to the small village of Wahlen.

Even though the gravel path is not quite our favorite terrain, we really enjoyed this section of the trail - beautiful green flower meadows and grain fields to all sides.

Back in the village of Wahlen the walk now led us to the right and to the other side of town. Here we came by a rest area with a bench and a nesting box for birds - which wasn't actually for birds, but rahter for adults that like acohol, as it was filled with schnaps.

Shortly after, the trail once again led into the forest, then along the edge of the forest for a while. Along the way we reached the park area Wahlen with a Kneipp-Facility. Unfortunately it was too cold to actually use that, but we used the benches in the beautiful park for a picnic.

After our rest break we continued along the edge of the village and back into the forest. After a few kilometers and a short walk across fields we reached the edges of the next town, Grasellenbach. There we crossed the road again and looked at old restaurants and pensions along the way.  There was also a nice farm shop, which unfortunately was closed due to the day being a holiday.

Then it was already time to walk back towards Wahlen. Once again along the Ulfenbach that had already accompanied us on the other side of the village.

The whole walk took us around 3:45h hours, including the extended lunch break. Once we arrived back at the starting point, we spent a while exploring the former train station of Wahlen that has now been turned into a nice park area. This is probably a super nice place for families, with a large playground, picnic tables and public toilets. Across the small stream Ulfenbach there is also a miniature golf place that might be enjoyable.

All in all this was a surprisingly nice walk that we liked a lot better than expected.