Running routes at Engel Obertal

The Black Forest does not belong to hikers alone. Keen runners will find plenty around Obertal too, those who run for pleasure as much as those in serious training. Every run is an encounter with nature, over hill and valley, past streams and ponds, through meadows and woodland.

Four routes between 2.7 and 8.2 kilometres start right at the Hotel Engel, arranged from easy to demanding, each with a map and elevation profile. The times given assume a leisurely pace of seven kilometres an hour.

2.7 kilometres · easy · 28 metres of ascent · about 25 minutes

The short loop for morning or evening. Cross the bridge and head uphill to the Weiher signpost, then turn right onto the tarmac footpath and keep straight on past the tennis courts to the fork by the Lärchenhütte.

There, go halfway round the hut, over the bridge and out of the Buhlbach valley. At Vorderer Hirschauerwald turn left into the Engelweg, then follow the gravel track past the sunbathing lawn and you are soon back in front of the hotel.

5.1 kilometres · easy · 67 metres of ascent · about 50 minutes

From the hotel, turn left towards the Ruhesteinstraße and continue to the Murg-Café, where a footpath branches off before the Murg bridge. On the left bank of the Rotmurg you run gently uphill, past a stone wall with a waterfall just short of the highest point.

The way back crosses the bridge at the Häuslehütte and follows the tarmac road along the Rotmurg. Turn right at the red and white barrier, cross the wooden bridge and take the meadow path back onto the gravel track of the outward leg, then continue through the residential streets to the Murg-Café and the Engel.

6.6 kilometres · moderate · 119 metres of ascent · about 1 hour 10 minutes

The Weiherweg climbs to the Schützenhaus in the woods, then the route runs fairly level along the yellow diamond waymarks to the sports ground and the Jägerruhe. Past the Tannenfels ruins and the Försterstein you reach the Spinnenbrunnen and, a little later, the Luxemburger Eck on the Ilgenbach.

Here you leave the network of hiking trails with a sharp left turn and follow the stream downhill into the Ilgenbachstraße. The way back runs along the Murg via the Schloss, Schlossweg, Uferweg and Scharrain signposts to the Weiher and from there to the Engel.

8.2 kilometres · difficult · 226 metres of ascent · about 1 hour 30 minutes

The king of the running loops. Opposite the Medical Resort, a steep footpath climbs to the Kraftenbuckelweg, past the church and along the edge of the woods towards the Hirschauer Wald. A narrow forest path with a slight incline takes you towards the Hänger, then the route continues in hairpin bends, past a small hut, until the fish farm in the Buhlbach valley comes into view below.

Above the fish farm, the route runs back along the edge of the woods to the Hänger, with wide views along the way. Take the narrow forest path once more and return to the Hotel Engel via the Kraftenbuckelweg.

All four routes are just as good for walking, in which case the times roughly double. The surfaces are mostly gravel and tarmac with short stretches of path, so ordinary running shoes are all you need.

After your run, Wolke 7 is waiting. Head for the sauna or the brine pool, or take a dip in the natural swimming lake. Recovery is included, right here at the hotel.