Quality tour: Krenkeltal and Goldener Zapfen - ridge walk between the Rhine and Weser rivers

Tour starting point:

Hikers' parking lot "Stauweiher Heinsberg"; Kirchhundem-Heinsberg

Tour destination point:

Hikers' parking lot "Stauweiher Heinsberg"; Kirchhundem-Heinsberg

Properties:

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Additional Information

Rhine-Weser watershed

In the municipality of Kirchhundem, the Rhine-Weser watershed runs not only over the "Rhein-Weser-Turm" (observation tower, open to the public) but also over the Dreiherrnstein (673 m) and the Riemen (678 m; approx. 500 m southwest of the Dreiherrnstein) in the neighboring Siegerland. While the water of the Krenkelsbach or Heinsberg stream, which rises on the northern flank of the Riemen, flows into the Rhine through the Hundem, Lenne and Ruhr, the water of the Zinse flows through the Röspe into the Eder and that of the Elberndorfer Bach directly into the Eder and then through the Fulda to the Weser.

Dreiherrnstein

The territories of the Duchy of Westfalen, Nassau-Siegen and Wittgenstein-Hohenstein came together at the Dreiherrnstein. The large triangular stone on the Wildborn is marked on the Nassau side with a wolf's sceptre, on the Wittgenstein side with a large W and on the Electorate of Cologne side with a cross. In 1817, Prussia formed the districts of Olpe, Siegen and Wittgenstein. This meant that the old territorial borders were only district borders in the newly founded province of Westfalen. Today, the former "border triangle" is a border point between the districts of Olpe and Siegen-Wittgen-stein. For centuries, fierce and sometimes even deadly border battles raged along this territorial border, with destruction and theft of wood, tools and livestock. To this day, this old border is characterized not only by the Rothaar ridge, but also by the clash of Saxon and Franconian cultural and confessional influences. (Source: Rothaarsteig adventure guide; Ed.: Rothaarsteigverein e.V.)

"Grenzgschichten hautnah" (audio stories for download at www.lennestadt-kirchhundem.de) tell curious and interesting facts about the "Dreiherrnstein".

Rothaarsteig adventure station "Aqueduct"

In the Krenkeltal, not far from the starting point of the "Krenkeltal & Goldener Zapfen" quality tour, a structure that is almost unique in Germany remained dormant until the summer of 2003. Since the beginning of the 20th century, this structure, an "aqueduct", has been used to channel a stream over the artificial cut in the terrain for a railroad line, which has since been dismantled.

Since the summer of 2003, visitors to the station, which was set up by the Rothaarsteigverein together with the Kukölnisches Sauerland Regional Forestry Office, have been able to learn about the eventful history from the start of construction to the present day in a book. You have the opportunity to take a close look at and enjoy the building and the surrounding nature. At the end of the aqueduct is a true work of art in the form of a scale model of the terrain, cast in copper, which clearly shows how an "aqueduct" works.