Gingen an der Fils Things to Do

If you do not want to walk or cycle uphill the way to Süßen, the neighbour village towards Göppingen, is a good option.

Coming from B 10, turn left after the Rathaus (town hall) and go straight ahead for about 1km, then, at the last roundabout of Gingen, turn right and follow the signs of the official cycling track.

You can continue to Donzdorf on the Lautertal-Radweg (bicycle track). In this case, when the track meets the first official road of Süßen, turn sharply to the right and follow the signs.

Either walk or cycle back the same way (safe option LOL) – or finish the loop through a forest named Marren (but only if you do not mind a short but steep uphill section).

For this, when having reached Donzdorf, you have to navigate your way to your right up the hill, towards the forest. Turn to the right and walk or cycle parallel to the forest until a street named Gingener Weg turns to the right. Take this turn, and then follow this street which will soon be an unsealed white sandy gravel track. When you reach a fork, take the option to the right. Soon you will reach Gingen. Johanneskirche is so dominant and visible from everywhere that you will find your way back to the centre without a problem.

BTW If you take the wrong arm at the fork you will also reach Gingen at some point, you will just spend more time in the forest… ;-) If you are wrong, do not turn to the left. This will lead you back into the forest, and you will get lost, as there are no signs at all. The signs you see are only the names of the different sections of the forest.

This is a walk towards Kuchen and up the hill where the Siebenquellen sit. I will not lead you directly to the place where the Schnapper story starts because you would get lost, as orientation can be a bit difficult in this forest, and there are absolutely no signs apart from the place names within the forest.

This walk starts at B 10, at the Kuchen end of Gingen. There you have parking options on the left and right side of B 10 (commercial zone to the left, old B 10 on the right - not directly along B 10!!!).

Walk along old B 10. After about 2 km, turn to the right up the hill onto an unsealed fine white gravel track. Follow this track to the top of the hill named Schafenberg. At the top it describes a very wide left curve. Stay on that track until you reach the point where it splits into several arms. Turn to the right, past a clearance with wooden seats and animal carvings, follow the curve to the left, slightly uphill.

Now just imagine to walk a loop back to the point where you turned right.

So: Turn left when a track from the right joins your track. Turn left again at the next intersection, and then always straight ahead, and back down the same way that you came up the hill at the beginning.

If you get lost, you should never turn to the right at the start – and not to the left on the way back. If you follow this rule you would always end up somewhere between Kuchen and Gingen. Otherwise you walk miles and miles into the forest. So I highly recommend to stay on the track I describe here.

BTW This track is absolutely great for jogging. It has always been my favourite track in Gingen because the uphill sections might be long but they are not that steep that they would kill you. Just do not talk all the way uphill and you will survive ;-)

If you want to pick and eat raspberries and blackberries along the way take only the higher ones. I was told they have problem with the fox tapeworm (Echinococcus multilocularis) there, which still is a lethal disease which outbreaks many years after the infection.

As mentioned in my intro, this was the first sports stadium of Kreis Göppingen with a handball field of international standard measures.

Now it is old-fashioned but, of course, the field still has the correct measures. The local handball teams and other teams of the region play there on Saturdays and Sundays from autumn till spring. Sometimes dancing balls and other festivities take place there, and school sport in the mornings. The primary school – in the meantime named Hohensteinschule – is the building next door.

Two outdoor sports fields complete the sports complex at the Kuchen end of the village.

Follow the sign to Hohensteinhalle from the turn at the traffic lights at B 10. You cannot miss it, the stadium is at the end of Lindenstraße which is the second to the right after the traffic lights.

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You still have a great view of the Fils Valley and the surrounding hills from Burren – but you do not have the great view from Gingen to Burren anymore. The trees have grown quite a bit since my childhood, and blocked the view to the treeless top of the rounded hill. You must consider this look to understand the second name of the hill: Nadelkissen – Pincushion – as it throned like a pincushion above the treeline.

If you walk from Gingen the nicest way is on a track through a forest named “Brand” (durch den Brand). From the traffic light on B 10, follow the road towards Unterböhringen/Grünenberg for about 200 metres, then follow the road to the left along a creek named Barbarabach. When the road would go uphill, take the left fork on an unsealed track, with a forest on the left, and unfenced paddocks with apple and pear trees on the right. Shortly before you reach the Grünenberg-Unterböhringen road, turn sharp left up the hill. Now it goes rather steeply up the hill to the summit where you find some a bench for your picnic and have great views.

I must say, signs are very sparse, so always ask the locals to make sure you get on the right track.

By car: Pass Grünenberg. After a sharp and long left curve there is rather a big carpark on the right. Park there, cross the road and walk up the hill straight ahead.

Of course, you can also make this trip by bicycle or MTB if you do not mind the strenuous uphill section. The last ascent is not really suitable for bikes, so better park it at the carpark.

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Grünenberg (Green Hill) is a tiny hamlet outside Gingen, sitting picturesquely in the hills, consisting of some farm buildings and a traditional restaurant.

When I was a child we used to make long and short weekend walks, and whenever we were near Gasthof Grünenberg around dinner time, my parents had a dark beer with their dinner, and I ordered Spätzle (our Swabian pasta named “Little Sparrows”) with a lot of sauce. I never felt the need to eat the roast which was necessary to get the delicious sauce I needed for my Spätzle.

At the time it was very uncommon to serve dark beer in restaurants. This one did, and so on Saturdays and Sundays hordes of hikers and motorists pilgrimaged to Grünenberg, many only to indulge in the dark beer fresh from the tap. It was Andechser, a very strong beer produced at the monastery of Andechs, at the shores of Ammersee in Bavaria.

The Gasthof is about three kilometres up the hill from Gingen. You can walk there on marked tracks from the town (ask the locals), or if you want to drive: Coming into Gingen on B10 from Göppingen/Stuttgart turn right at the traffic light in the town centre, towards Grünenberg/Unterböhringen. After about 3 km the restaurant is on the left side of the narrow and winding road.

From Grünenberg you can start to some nice walks, as to Burren (to the left) and Fränkel (to the right after the farmhouses) and Wasserberg.