You are standing on the parking-lot, facing eastwards, with „Hotel Waldhaus“ behind you and the playground on your left-hand side.

At the 3-way crossroads at the end of the parking-lot, you walk straight ahead and follow the sign „W“ (green colour on white background) (Sengenberg circular hike). This symbol will also show you the way during the remainder of the hike.

When you get to the first junction, you keep to the right; then after approx. 40 m you turn right again and walk along the hillslope.

Today we start into another direction from Waldhaus Föckinghausen. Turn right at the end of the parking and follow the asphalt road into the valley, "A2/B7". At first, the street leads downhill through woodland, then the landscape opens up. You cross below the motorway and continue downhill on "A2/B7". When you have arrived at the bottom, you take a sharp right-hand turn, continuing on "B7". You will see an apple tree at this spot. The path leads alongside the Ruhr through a small wood. You keep on walking on "B7", until you reach a residential area in Velmede.

There you continue up to the street which leads to Föckinghausen ("Kanalstraße"). Turn right onto "Kanalstraße" and then immediately left onto "Gepkerweg", from there following "B7". You hike past the farm "Schulte-Wiese" and reach open field, passing meadows and continuing along the Ruhr.

In front of you is the massive motorway bridge, which you will soon cross below. Behind the bridge you stick to the right and continue on "A7". After a brief stretch of way you reach a tunnel, which passes underneath the motorway.

You start behind the hotel and walk to the right of the barn alongside the meadow to the holiday-home, where you turn right and follow the sign "A3". You continue slightly upwards through open fields on "X14", "A1" and "A3". You soon reach the border of the forest and meet a signpost, which you follow to the right on "X14" and "A3" in the direction of "Wahlberg" and "Gemeinheitskopf". After a few minutes, another junction follows – you remain on your path and follow it straight ahead into the forest. The path leads slightly uphill.

Soon, a bench on the left-hand side invites you to take a short break, you have now walked for about 25 minutes. On the right side of the path you discover a hiking signpost. Here, the path "A3" takes a left turn, but you continue straight ahead, in the direction of "Gemeinheitskopf" and "Ausspann". To the right, we soon have a view over the extended forests of the Sauerland. The "Gemeinheitskopf" with its refuge is a good place for a first rest.

From here, you continue on your right on "X1", the "Plackweg", an old army and trading route, which in former times was even used by Napoleon and his army.

We start at the hotel and walk to the right of the barn alongside the meadow to the holiday home, where we turn right and follow the sign "A3". We continue slightly upwards through open landscape on "X14", "A1" and "A3". Soon we reach the border of the forest and meet a signpost, which we follow to the right on "X14" and "A3" in the direction of "Wahlberg" and "Gemeinheitskopf". After a few minutes, another junction follows – we remain on our path and follow it straight ahead into the forest. The path leads slightly uphill.

Soon, a bench on the left-hand side invites us to take a short break, we have now walked for about 25 minutes. On the right side of the path we discover a hiking signpost. Here, the path "A3" takes a left turn, but we continue straigh ahead, in the direction of "Gemeinheitskopf" and "Ausspann". To the right, we soon have a view over the vast forests of the Sauerland. The "Gemeinheitskopf" with its shelter is a good place for a first rest.

After that, we turn left onto "X1" in the direction of "Ausspann", which we reach after approx. 15 minutes. We orientate ourselves towards the right side on the asphalt street ("A14"). On a stump to the left of the path we discover the signs "X1" and "A8". Soon after, the asphalt road turns into a gravel path, which we follow straight ahead to the junction "Markes Kreuz".

We remain on our path ("X1", "A8" and Lörmecke tower-symbol). After a short while the path "A8" branches off to the right, after about 5 more minutes also path "X1" turns right towards Lörmecke tower ("Lörmecketurm"). Those interested can use these paths for a detour to the tower.

Our own hiking path, however, continues straight ahead, slightly uphill. A further refuge invites you to take a rest. After a longer stretch of way we reach another signpost. Here "X1" leaves our path and turns left. We, however, do not take a turn, but follow our path straight ahead, in the direction of the "Lörmecketurm Parkplatz" (parking of the Lörmecke tower), where you will find an information board on the tower. Here, we take path "A4" on the right-hand side, leading us into the forest and soon after to the junction with country road B55. Here, we cross the street and follow, directly across, path "W" into the forest.

At the first possibility, we turn left (symbol "W") and shortly after we turn right (symbols "A3" and square-shape). The path takes us across higher grass and blueberry bushes. After a while we come across a gravel path, which we follow to the right ("A3" and square-symbol). The path continues through deciduous forest, which opens up after a while. Later on, the path leads downhill and we reach the junction "Kerstings Wieschen", a good spot for another rest. We keep on walking straight ahead, even when after a short while a path marked by a triangle-symbol branches off from our path. After another small leg we reach a junction, at which we orientate ourselves towards the right. After searching a bit, we find symbols "A3" and square on a tree to the left in front of us.

We continue through deciduous forest, the paths "A4" and "O" reach our path from the right and leave it again to the left at the meadow which now follows. We keep walking, however, straight ahead on our own path, which is now lined by meadows. When we see some more meadows in front of us, there is a signpost (on the right-hand side, slightly hidden). We have now walked for about 3 hours. At the signpost, we turn right, in the direction of "Herrlichkeit", and continue walking along the meadows. At the horizon we discover a quarry and the village of Kallenhardt.

We start at the hotel and walk to the right side of the barn alongside the meadow to the holiday-home, where we take a left turn. We are now on hiking path "B". Here, the sign can be found separate from the other signs on a fence post.

On a broad forest road we first walk through spruce forest, later on the forest opens up and on the right hand side we can see the village of Eversberg. After we have walked for approx. 10 minutes we reach a large junction. Our path continues on the right-hand side ("B" and "V9"). The path leads, through a landscape which offers many views, into a small valley bottom at a crossing. Here, we find one of the numerous benches inviting us to relax during our hike.

We continue straight on ("B"), up the hill. Soon we reach a plateau, from which we can enjoy a wonderful distant view of the surrounding hilltops Stüppel, Ohlenkopf, Borberg, Olsberg and the villages of Bestwig-Velmede and Andreasberg. Here, one gains a good impression of the "land of the 1000 mountains".

Soon we reach the highest point of our walk over the Heinberg. Straight on in the distance, we discover the village of Eversberg with its castle ruin.

Föckinghausen, located on the southern edge of the nature park "Arnsberger Wald" (Arnsberg Forest), was a former lumberjack and charcoal burner settlement. Today it is an often-visited resort with its schullandheim, the holiday park Hollandia and the hotel.

You start behind the hotel and follow the path alongside the meadow in the direction of the forest. At the holiday home you turn right onto "A1/A3". You follow this path, until you have left behind the long ascending line and you reach, on top, a junction with a shelter, the "Gemeinheitskopf". Here you can take a short rest.

You now continue left on the "Plackweg" ("X1"), an old army and trading route, which was even used by Napoleon and his army. It runs for a while on the ridge of the nature park "Arnsberger Wald" (Arnsberg Forest). Continuing on "X1" you pass the shelter at the point "Ausspann" (547 m above sea-level), before you reach the next crossing, "Markes Kreuz". From here you continue straight ahead for some while. Then, you turn right onto "A8", taking you to the "Lörmecke-Turm" (Lörmecke tower) with its viewing-platform.

You embark on your way back at the crossing "Markes Kreuz" and follow the path with its diamond-shape sign downhill through mixed forest. Do NOT change onto the "Waldroute", as this would be the farther way back to Föckinghausen! Keep on walking on the street straight ahead, until you reach the inn "Dollen Hof". Here, the ancient inner city of Eversberg begins, with its beautiful (half timbered) houses and corners.

Somewhat further straight ahead in the "Mittelstraße" you will find, on your left, the museum for local agricultural, handicraft and trade history. Here, all kinds of local history material was collected and is now on display.

Opening hours:
March-November: Tue, Thu, Sat, Sun from 15.00-17.00 hours;

We start at the hotel and take the path to the right of the barn alongside the meadow down to the holiday-home, where we take a right turn and follow the sign "A3". We continue walking slightly uphill through open landscape on "X14", "A1" and "A3". Soon, we reach the border of the forest and discover a signpost, which we follow to the right on "X14" and "A3" in the direction of "Wahlberg" and "Gemeinheitskopf". After some minutes, we reach another crossing – we continue on our path and follow it straight on into the forest. The path leads slightly uphill.

A bench on the left-hand side invites us to take a short rest. We then continue straight ahead. Shortly after – we have now walked for about 25 minutes – we discover another signpost on the right side of the hiking path. We take a left turn onto "A3" in the direction of "Gepketal" (3.2 km) and "Föckinghausen" (5.0 km). From now on, the symbol "A3" is painted on the tree trunks. We continue on a broad path through a forest with high spruce trees, mixed with small beeches. Later on, the path leads through high fir trees. At first, it is even, but then starts slowly winding down the hill.

At the next crossing, we turn sharply right – see the arrow on the tree trunk pointing out the right direction. The path leads further downhill. After approx. 3 minutes, we watch out (on our left) for a small signpost ("A3"), which points into the forest. We take the path, which for the first steps is rather steep, down into the forest – a wooden handrail serves as orientation.

We start behind the hotel and walk to the right of the barn alongside the meadows to the holiday home, where we turn right and follow the sign "A3". We continue slightly upwards through open nature on "X14", "A1" and "A3". We soon reach the border of the forest and discover a signpost, which we follow rightwards on "X14" and "A3" in the direction of "Wahlberg" and "Gemeinheitskopf". After a few minutes, another junction follows – we remain on our path and follow it straight ahead into the forest. The path slowly moves uphill.

Soon, a bench on the left-hand side invites you to take a short break, we have now walked for about 25 minutes. On the right side of the path we discover a hiking signpost. Here, the path "A3" takes a left turn, but we continue straigh ahead, in the direction of "Gemeinheitskopf" and "Ausspann". To the right, we soon have a view over the vast forests of the Sauerland. The "Gemeinheitskopf" with its shelter is a good place for a first rest.

After that, we turn left onto "X1" in the direction of "Ausspann", which we reach after approx. 15 minutes. We orientate ourselves towards the right side on the asphalt street ("A14"). On a stump to the left of the path we discover the signs "X1" and "A8". Soon after, the asphalt road turns into a gravel path, which we follow straight ahead to the junction "Markes Kreuz".

We remain on our path ("X1", "A8" and Lörmecke tower-symbol). After a short while the path "A8" branches off to the right, after about 5 more minutes also path "X1" turns right towards Lörmecke tower ("Lörmecketurm"). Those interested can use these paths for a detour to the tower.

Our own hiking path, however, continues straight ahead, slightly uphill. A further refuge invites you to take a rest.

We start at the hotel and take the path at the right side of the barn, which leads through the meadows down to the holiday home. There, we take a right turn and follow the sign „A3“. We continue walking slightly uphill through open landscape on “X14“, „A1“ and „A3“. Soon, we reach the border of the forest and discover a signpost, which we follow to our right on „X14“ and „A3“ in the direction of „Wahlberg“ and „Gemeinheitskopf“. After some minutes, we reach another crossing – here, we continue on our path and follow it straight on into the forest. The path leads slightly uphill.

Soon, a bench on the left-hand side invites us to take a short rest, we have now approximatively hiked for 25 minutes. On the right hand side of the hiking path, we see another signpost. Here, we take a left turn onto „A3“ and follow the path until we reach a large clearing.

We start behind the hotel and walk to the right of the barn alongside the meadow to the holiday home, where we turn right and follow the sign "A3". We continue slightly upwards through open landscape on "X14", "A1" and "A3". Soon we reach the border of the forest and meet a signpost, which we follow to the right on "X14" and "A3" in the direction of "Wahlberg" and "Gemeinheitskopf". After a few minutes, another junction follows – we remain on our path and follow it straight ahead into the forest. The path leads slightly uphill.

Soon, a bench on the left-hand side invites you to take a short break, we have now walked for about 25 minutes. On the right side of the path we discover a hiking signpost. Here, the path "A3" takes a left turn, but we continue straight ahead, in the direction of "Gemeinheitskopf" and "Ausspann". To the right, we soon have a view over the vast forests of the Sauerland. The "Gemeinheitskopf" with its shelter is a good place for a first rest.

After that, we turn left onto "X1" in the direction of "Ausspann", which we reach after approx. 15 minutes. We orientate ourselves towards the right side on the asphalt street („A14“). On a stump to the left of the path we discover the signs "X1" and "A8". Soon after, the asphalt road turns into a gravel path, which we follow straight ahead to the junction "Markes Kreuz".

Here we take a right turn onto the hiking path marked by a diamond-symbol. We pass the "Judenkirchhof" and walk through a small valley bottom, before the path straight ahead starts slowly climbing up again. After a while the forest opens up. At a junction where the "Waldroute" joins the path from the left, we leave the diamond-marked hiking path for a short stretch of way and instead walk straight ahead on a small path leading us again into the forest.

Today we start behind the hotel and follow the path alongside the meadow into the direction of the forest. At the holiday home we turn right onto "A1/A3/X14".

You follow this path until you have left the slowly ascending line behind and reached the cabin with shelter on top of the hill ("Gemeinheitskopf"), where you can take a short rest.

From here, you continue on your right on the "Plackweg" ("X1"), an old army and trading route, which in former times was even used by Napoleon and his army.

You follow the "Plackweg" until you reach the "Nuttlarer Höhe", where you take a left turn onto the path with the hiking-sign "<". You follow small paths across high fir forests with a wonderful view over the "Lörmecketal" (Lörmecke valley). Then, you shortly cross "A10", but continue on the path marked by a diamond, until you now cross the "Lörmecke"-stream.

Enchantingly mystic and always a bit different: this is the trademark of the Sauerland "Waldroute" (Forest Route), the new top hiking-trail from Marsberg to Arnsberg and on to Iserlohn.

The trail leads, with a total length of 160 km, 110 km across the nature park „Arnsberger Wald“ (Arnsberg Forest): through a unique forest world and flora, passing fascinating natural spectacles, small creeks and lakes as well as rare birds, amphibians and fish.