Föckinghausen, located at the southern edge of the nature park „Arnsberger Wald“ (Arnsberg Forest), is a former logger and charcoal burner settlement. Today, with its school youth hostel, family holiday accommodation and the hotel, it is a popular holiday destination.
You set off behind the hotel and follow the path between the meadows towards the forest.
At the holiday home, you turn right onto A1/A3. You follow this trail until you have covered the slowly increasing gradient and arrive on top at the 4-way crossroads with refuge (Gemeinheitskopf), where you can take a short break.
From here you continue on X1 (Plackweg), an old army and trade road which was already used by Napoleon and his army, passing the „Nuttlarer Höhe“ (Nuttlar height) (542 m above mean sea level), until you reach the parking lot „Hirschbruch“. You cross the street and keep following X1 through the extensive forests of the „Antfelder Forst“ (Antfeld forest). Soon, you reach the village of Esshoff.
At the entrance of the village, you turn left and continue on X1 – the path will lead you through meadows, until you reach the „Altenbürener Mühle“ (mill of Altenbühren) (closed on Mondays and Tuesdays). The restaurant invites you to a refreshment.
You return, on X1, to Esshoff. Follow the main street across Esshoff. Behind the village, already back in the forest, you follow, diagonally to your right, hiking trail A1 to Grimmlinghausen. The Lourdes-grotto in the village-centre of Grimmlinghausen is a good place for a short rest. From Grimmlinghausen you follow trail A4. Through meadows, you are walking slightly upwards, until, in the forest, you turn right, onto XR. At the tree nursery Meschede, the path continues on the other side of the street back to „Waldhaus Föckinghausen“ (via XR).
