Exploring the heart of the Westerwald: Between the Wied River and Puderbacher Land

Start: Hattert station
Finish: Altenkirchen station
Difficulty: average to difficult
Distance: 55 km

Route description: Cruise downhill from Hattert station into the long village and on through Laad to the edge of the forest (4.4 km). Turn right here on the bend – off the K10 and onto a steep downhill lane to the Wied River and the Marzauer Mühle water mill. Carry on straight ahead up a gradual incline to Wahlrod, then right onto the main road and follow signs to Berod. On the bend with the Hubertusbrunnen fountain turn left onto Waldstraße and immediately right onto Gartenweg to leave the village (6.8 km). After 1.2 km, turn right onto the road to Berod and before the first houses, turn left following the B signs up to Lauterberg Straße. Follow this road left for 500 m and turn right at the pallet works onto a farm track paved with concrete blocks, which rises slightly into the open countryside, leading to wonderful views back towards Hachenburg over the eastern Westerwald hills. After the side turning, continue for 100 m straight ahead on the unpaved field track to the edge of the forest. At the edge of the forest turn left and then immediately keep right to enter the forest (“Rund um Oberdreis” trail). This brings you to the Puderbacher Land circular cycle route (10.2 km). From here as far as Seelbach (42.3 km) proper signposts make a detailed route description unnecessary: simply follow the green and white signs with the symbol for the Puderbacher Land circular cycle route! It takes you through several villages, including Oberdreis (13.1 km), Raubach (22.7 km) and Linkenbach (31.5 km), which leads into the beautiful section through the Grenzbach Valley (32.5 to 40.0 km). Finally, there is a steep section up out of the Wied Valley towards Seifen and at the Höhenkreuzung crossing (42.2 km) follow the signs down to Seelbach. From here to the end of the tour, we follow the course of the Wied – sometimes close to the river and sometimes further away – along the valley to Altenkirchen through the villages of Berzhausen and Strickscheid and through Obernau on a cycle lane along the B256. In Neitersen (49.5 km) we turn right off the high street and follow the Altenkirchener Radtouren cycle routes 4 and 5 via Schöneberg and Almersbach through the peaceful Wied Valley to our destination in Altenkirchen.