EXCURSION TO THE ALTMÜHLTAL!

From Prunn Castle to Essing and back.

This time last year, we were out and about in the beautiful Altmühl Valley on the Altmühl Panorama Trail. Geo magazine named this trail one of the ten most beautiful hiking trails in Germany. It runs along the Altmühl from Gunzenhausen to Kelheim, is 200 km long in total and leads right through the Altmühltal Nature Park. We only walked 10 km of it on this tour, but we enjoyed it so much that we want to see even more of this hiking trail this year. We started in the village of Prunn, which is around 30 km from Regensburg. You can park below Prunn Castle and then walk up to the castle. The tough climb is worth it, the castle and the view from up there are magnificent! Prunn Castle stands on an almost vertical Jura rock high above the Altmühltal valley and is a truly magnificent example of a castle. The castle dates back to around 1200 and the builders, the Lords of Prunn, are first mentioned in 1037. Duke Ludwig of Bavaria acquired the castle in 1288 and it later passed to the Fraunberg family of Haag. Their coat of arms, a horse on a red background, adorns the castle to this day.

Prunn Castle and the Song of the Nibelungs

In 1566, the historian Wiguläus Hund found the so-called “Prunner Codex”, the fourth oldest complete manuscript of the Song of the Nibelungs, at the castle. There is a permanent exhibition about it in the castle. Today, the manuscript is housed in the Bavarian State Library. After enjoying the view of the Altmühl Valley once again, we leave the castle behind us and follow the Altmühl Panorama Trail signpost towards Essing. After the strenuous ascent to Prunn Castle, we now head downhill and leisurely through the forest until we reach the idyllic village of Essing around 5 km later.

The Tatzlwurm

Before we reach Essing, we can already see one of the town’s landmarks: the so-called Tatzlwurm. This is one of the longest wooden bridges in Europe (190 m), which crosses the Main-Danube Canal near Essing and connects both sides of the valley. The unusual design of this so-called span bridge was created by the architect Richard Johann Dietrich. Incidentally, a Tatzlwurm (or Tatzelwurm) is not actually a bridge, but an Alpine mythical creature. It is a half-dragon with a snake-like body and two paw-covered front legs, a mixture of dragon and lindworm, so to speak. We leave the bridge to the right for the time being and continue on to the village of Essing.

Eating

Markt Essing is a real gem and describes itself as a place between rock and river. Essing was first mentioned in documents in 976, although the town and the nearby Schulerloch stalactite cave already played a role in the Stone Age, as the caves in the Altmühltal valley were home to Neanderthals 50,000 years ago. You can find out even more about this in the Felsenhäusl Museum in Essing (opening times by appointment) and in the Altmühltal Archaeology Park. Randeck Castle, one of the oldest castles in Bavaria, towers high above Essing. In the Middle Ages, the castle provided shelter for robber barons. Also worth seeing is the Blautopf, a small lake just a few hundred meters from the village center, which owes its name to the shimmering blue-turquoise water. The market square in Essing is particularly beautiful, with its market fountain and the Bruck tower, which serves as a passageway to the old wooden bridge. We cross the so-called “Bruck” and enjoy another view of the town, the Jura cliffs and Randeck Castle on the other side of the Altmühl’s old watercourse before continuing right along the “Kunstweg an Fels und Fluss” (Art Trail on Rock and River).

We return on this side of the Restaltmühl until we reach the Tatzlwurm again, which we now cross.

At the end of the bridge, we turn right along the river back to Prunn. Shortly before Prunn (the castle is already visible) we have to cross a bridge again to return to the initial river bank.

Extra tip: Klausen cave

The Klausenhöhle cave is very close to Essing. If you cross the Tatzlwurm from Essing, a path leads slightly to the left across a meadow into the forest. If you turn left here, you will reach the Klausenhöhle cave, or rather caves, after about 10 minutes on the right. The Klausen caves were also used as living caves in the Stone Age, and a horse carved on a limestone slab was found in one of the caves.

Have fun discovering!

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