Hike on the Böselstein circular trail to Krawinkel

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The sun was shining from the sky, despite the sub-zero temperatures, and once again we were after a hike, so we quickly packed our backpacks, warm tea and some provisions and set off for the Böselstein circular trail above Bad Bibra.

We had already heard several times about the Böselstein circular trail, also known as the “Spitze Hut Böselstein”, the Himmelsleiter that is part of the ascent and its dry grassland areas with native orchid species and silver thistles, as well as the resulting impressive panoramic views of the towns of Steinbach, Kalbitz, Wallroda and Bad Bibra and the wooded stream valleys in between.

Passing the Himmelsleiter to the Böselstein circular trail

We had chosen the car park diagonally opposite the Margareten Church at the entrance to Bad Bibra as the starting point for today's tour of around 12 kilometres to Krawinkel and back, where you also meet the Saale-Unstrut-Elster-Acht cycle path and follow it for a few meters, turning left.

For around 200 meters, you walk parallel to the village of Bad Bibra, then turn right, steadily uphill along the field path (next to the dilapidated garden house), until you reach the edge of the forest and reach the Böselstein circular path, which you turn right onto. Along the way, you will repeatedly be able to enjoy views of the town of Bad Bibra, which was first documented over 1200 years ago, and its surroundings. On the forest path you reach a fork in the road, where you turn left. You continue past a meadow, a short way through the forest, which thins out again below another meadow orchard. Turning left, the hiker comes to several viewpoints until you reach the entrance to the so-called Himmelsleiter.

Böselstein Bad Bibra - a project of the care and development concept (PEK)

The climb up the challenging staircase with 127 steps is rewarded with a wonderful view of the small town of Steinbach. Climbing the 127 oak steps is quite demanding and definitely a small sporting undertaking. Because of its scenic location and also as the shortest access to the popular rest and viewing point "Böselstein", it is often used by locals and tourists. Most often in the months of May and June, when around 15 native orchid species bloom in the Bibra Forest Nature Reserve and other rare flowering plants can be discovered.

The wooden steps of the Himmelsleiter had long been desolate and no longer safe to walk on. Steps were already missing, were rotten and weathered, and urgently needed to be replaced. The town of Bad Bibra and the “An der Finne” collective municipality sought and found support from the Geo-Nature Park and submitted the renewal of the staircase as a project proposal for funding as part of the maintenance and development concept (PEK). The aim was to renew the steps to ensure safety.

The application for approval to the Burgenland District Environmental Office was submitted in September 2021, as the work meant an intervention in the protected and FFH area. Existing, dilapidated old steps made of wood and reinforcing iron, which posed a danger to visitors when using the path, were also to be replaced as part of traffic safety.

Project officer Toni Wipper explains that the renewal also enables visitors to be guided through the sensitive protected area. There are orchid sites directly on the path, and the section is part of the path concept of the nature park and the municipality. The timing of the completion of the project is also appropriate in view of the fact that we will be well prepared for visitors when the orchids soon bloom - some of the leaves were already visible along the path.

Julius Bösel - after his journey to the military and death

On July 3, 1866, Julius Bösel fell fighting for his fatherland in the Czech town of Königgrätz.

Here, at Julius Bösel's favourite place, his family erected that very stone in memory of the young man. Even today, the numerous guests in the local forest enjoy the view of the beautiful valley and the peace that emanates from this spot.

He began working for the Bibra miller Knoblauch in the Untermühle and took Bösel to the cities of Jena, Zeitz, Pegau and Leipzig during his journey. At the age of 21, he received orders to join the 8th Company of the 32nd Infantry Regiment of the Halle garrison, which meant the young man's first experience of the unloved barracks drill and lack of freedom. The following years brought repeated phases of interruption in his much-loved professional life, and Bösel had to exchange his miller's uniform for the uniform several times. But that was not to happen. On his 27th birthday in 1866, he received the fateful order that he had to report to Erfurt on May 11th as a militiaman with the 5th Company of the 3rd Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 71. On July 9th, his mother received the news of his death on July 3rd, 1866 near Königsgrätz, where Julius Bösel had been buried near the then Bohemian town of Königgrätz (now Hradec Králové).

The stone itself has experienced many exciting things in the recent past. It was once found broken, almost overgrown by grass, in the undergrowth by two young men from Bibera. They realized that this was part of the town's history, so they took the stone to Dr. Kuminek on a moped and trailer. The stone stood in his garden and was later restored until it was able to return to its intended place after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The newly erected memorial stone "Böselstein" stands at 281.5 m above sea level and offers a beautiful view of Bad Bibra.

Back on the circular path, after a good 300 meters, the "Alte Naumburger Weg" branches off to the left down the valley. This gravel path leads back into the valley to the B 176 (roundabout).

We continue to the town of Krawinkel

However, we decide to continue our way to Krawinkel and after about 200 meters we reach the limestone open-cast mine, which was closed in 1968. Pioneer plant communities and renaturalized areas with pines, shrubs, silver thistles, fringed gentian and valerian line the path. After a further 3 kilometres across the high plateau, we reach the town of Krawinkel with its ancient little chapel of Saint George.

Krawinkel was first mentioned in documents in 1351 as Crawinkil, as a place in the Krähenwinkel, when the Bibra monastery received this place from the bailiffs of Weida. The noble family Krahwinkel took its name from the place.

The spelling of the place name according to the 1550 official inheritance book was Krohwingkel, Krohewingkel and Krohewinckel. At that time, 13 possessed men lived in the place, including two horse-drawn carriage drivers.

These men were directly subordinate to the Electorate of Saxony's Eckartsberga office. The other people were subordinate to the von Rockhausen on Kirchscheidungen and the von Heßler and were partly also subject to feudal and rent payments to the chapter of Bibra and the Mergenthal monastery. The von Rockhausen on Kirchscheidungen feudal lords and collectors of the parish of Krawinkel were also the von Rockhausen on Kirchscheidungen.

We go through the town of Krawinkel to the statue "Leda and the Swan", where we follow the signposted path back to Bad Bibra to the left. After about 1.5 kilometres, the path turns sharply to the right and then immediately to the left again. Caution is advised here as it is very steep downhill. After about 4 kilometres we reach our starting point, Bad Bibra, along the old railway embankment.

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