Heringhausen, Diemelsee (Hessen/NRW)

Around the Northern Diemelsee

Distance13.0 km
Elevation gain247 m
DifficultyEasy
Estimated time3 h 1 min
Chains: NoTechnical: NoWaymarked: H6 in a black rectangle - left three times

Overview

The Diemelsee straddles the border between North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, and this loop takes in its northern end from the dam at Heringhausen. As signposted, the H6 spends 1341 m of its thirteen kilometres on the verge of secondary and tertiary road with no pavement: 703 m on the L 3078, 203 m on the Kirchstraße and 435 m on Am See. Each of the three has a path, a track or a side street beside it that the waymarked line does not use, and this version takes those instead.

The first three kilometres carry almost everything the walk passes. The viewpoint Sankt Muffert stands 160 m off the line at 1.4 km, then Heringhausen arrives with a hut, a hotel, a cafe, a restaurant and a museum inside 700 m of each other. After that it empties out.

For eight kilometres the loop holds between 372 and 395 m on track and gravel — the lowest of it at 5.5 km, where the path rounds the Hohes Rad with the top 62 m off the line — then climbs once, to 466 m at eleven kilometres, before dropping back to the dam. Half of it is sealed even so: the forest tracks here are tarred.

Points of interest

  • Visionarium — Museum in Heringhausen at 3 km, 24 m off the path, with admission charged. The village around it holds a hut, a hotel, a cafe and a restaurant, all within 700 m.
  • Diemelsteig — Picnic place at 8.7 km, 9 m off the path. It carries the name of the Diemelsteig, the 63 km waymarked circuit signed with a white D on green. The loop's one climb starts shortly after it.
  • Fährhaus — Restaurant by the water at 12.3 km, 42 m off the path on the last stretch back to the dam. The map data records it as open 11:00-20:00 and closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Trail alerts

  • Road walking: a fifth of this loop - 2.55 km of the 13 - is on tarmac open to cars. That is 1.05 km of service road, 709 m of tertiary road, 493 m unclassified, 194 m secondary and 107 m of village street. None of it is a road without a pavement of its own; removing that is what the three detours below are for.
  • This is not the signposted H6 at three points. Where the H6 - black rectangle, H6 - would put you on a verge, this route leaves the signs: at 2.2 km on the L 3078, at 3.1 km on the Kirchstraße and at 12.3 km on Am See, measured along the signposted trail. Follow the recorded track rather than the waymarks there; the three detours add 186 m between them.

Trail character

  • Surface: 6.8 km sealed, 2.7 km compacted gravel, 2.3 km loose gravel, 0.75 km grass. Half the walk is tarred while only a fifth is open to traffic - the forest tracks here are surfaced.
  • Height range: 372-466 m. Level for the first eight kilometres, then one climb to the high point at 11 km. A tenth of the distance is steeper than 10%.
  • Waymarking: H6, black rectangle. The route leaves it three times; see the alerts.

Access & rules

  • By bus: the Sperrmauer stop is 18 m from the route - the closest public transport of these three walks.
  • Parking: car parks 226 m and 300 m from the loop, Taucherbucht at 371 m and a Wanderparkplatz at 464 m.
  • Two states: the loop crosses the border between North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse - Marsberg at the dam, Diemelsee around the southern arm - and local rules on the water are set on both sides.

More routes nearby

  • Ramsbeck Miners' Round
  • Vom Hennesee über den Lannenberg
  • Around the Hennesee by the hillside

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