Informational Tour

Get to know the surroundings

Post Office – Stadium – Steinenbronn – Cemetery – Post Office

This short circular hike is conceived as an informational tour to give you an initial overview of the hiking area. Our walk begins at the bus stop "Postamt Waldenbuch".

We set off to the right. We'll come down the steps here at the end of our hike. Continue past the Esso filling station to the left as far as the next junction, then go right. Here we find a signpost pointing uphill on the left to the stadium (Stadion) and the residential area of Kalkofen (Echterdinger Straße). Walk on the left-hand pavement up the hill until you see the stadium on your left. After passing the stadium and before the sports hall we take the asphalt road (Hermannshalde) leading off on the left to the fields.

After c. 300 m we come to a seating area, where we take a short break to learn some interesting facts. In the valley the former B 27 trunk road (now the L 1208), can be seen coming from the right (Steinenbronn). It passes through Waldenbuch and disappears further up in the woods in a wide curve in the direction of Dettenhausen / Tübingen. In this area you'll also find the large natural orchard known as "Braunacker", with a forest car park nearby. We head for the church tower and see on the hill to the right of it a solitary chapel. It belongs to the cemetery, which we'll pass through on our way back. Further right, on the slopes near the woods, is the district of Weilerberg. If we look back to where we came from, we can make out the residential area of Kalkofen, and in the background the panorama of Schönbuch Nature Park with the Betzenberg hill (500 m) and the transmission tower. Directly below it a large forest glade can be seen. This is the pasture for young cattle with the "Ponderosa", a recreational facility for young people. The buildings below and slightly to the right of it, but still on the hill, are part of the Bonholz industrial estate.

In the direction of our hike lies Steinenbronn, which comes into view as soon as we reach the next small elevation. We turn right at the barn, cross the road and pass under the bridge of the main road until we come to the next crossroads in the town. We turn left into Tübinger Straße, continuing along it until it ends at the junction with the main road. From here, a cycle track and footpath leads along the side of a wall made of large stone blocks, at the end of which, on the top right, we discover a so-called minor monument: an atonement cross dating from the 15th/16th century. In those days it was a custom in legal practice for such a cross to be erected as a penalty for homicide. In addition to paying a sum of money to the victim's dependents, the perpetrator had to put up a stone cross. Some 1,000 such crosses are still to be found in Baden-Württemberg today.

We carry on walking along the farm track. Later we go slightly downhill, always with the transmission tower ahead of us, to the cemetery. There we cross the car park into the older, left-hand section to where the chapel stands, and then go right to the covered exit way, with a fine view over Waldenbuch. For your orientation: up on the left you again see the houses of Kalkofen, half-left it goes down through the Aich Valley to the district of Glashütte. We now go down the steps, always bearing slightly right down the many stairways and two roads, until we arrive back at our point of departure.