The best walks and hikes in Herrschaft

Looking back, the route did catch my eye, but unfortunately it didn't encourage me to stop and/or take photos.

Even though this body of water is probably something artificially created (cf. 'Alte Thöse'), nature has reclaimed a lot here, so a short stop to admire it is worthwhile. To stay in the forest between Wathlingen and Hänigsen, there isn't much else you can do, as @Watho96 correctly mentions in his highlight [www.komoot.com/de-de/highlight/4791781?ref=whd] about the supposedly most direct path past the spoil heap.

In the middle of the forest of the Brand nature reserve [https://www.nlwkn.niedersachsen.de/naturschutzgebiete/naturschutzgebiet-brand-44604.html] , when riding on the well-maintained forest paths, you encounter St. Andrew's crosses and railway tracks. These belong to the remnants of the former potash railway, which ran in a triangle from the former Niedersachsen-Riedel mine near Hänigsen [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaliwerk_Niedersachsen-Riedel] , via the heap at the former Niedersachsen shaft in Wathlingen [https://www.kpluss.com/de-de/ueber-ks/standorte/europa/wathlingen/#aktuelles] and the decommissioned Elwerath 29 oil drilling site near Nienhagen (ExxonMobil - https://corporate.exxonmobil.de/neuigkeiten/newsroom/presseinformationen/2022/elwerath-29: BEB Erdgas und Erdöl GmbH & Co. KG - https://www.beb.de/About/DE_about.html) to the Ehlershausen train station, where there was a connection to the DB rail network. Although no train has rolled on this route for decades (or centuries?!) especially in the section between Elwerath and Ehlershausen, it was part of the official railway directory for a very long time, which led, for example, to the fact that during the construction of the new B3 near Ehlershausen, sunken railway tracks were visible and audible when driving over them in the asphalt for many years. [http://www.bahnsteiner.de/bergbau/] That this is no longer the case after the application of a new asphalt layer, and that the solidly constructed guardrails also make sense, is due to the fact that the railway lines have now also been removed from the route directory. However, part of the route is still actually used today by the vehicles of Kalibahn Niedersachsen Riedel e.V.. Even though they mention on their homepage that there are also trips on the route from Wathlinen to Elwerath, to which this level crossing belongs, the current condition of the tracks does not look like anything has moved here this year. [http://kalibahn.de/]

This high mountain of waste is always impressive.

That's what grandma always said: If the mountain is dark, it will rain, if it is light, the sun will shine 🌞

There is a sunny spot here for a rest even in winter - unfortunately there is no bench or anything similar, so you have to make do with a stack of boards

This is the only way to cross the Thöse; the path to the right along the stream ends in nothing after about 300 meters!

Only if you look closely do you notice the two badly weathered railings on both sides of the path. They are framed by 4 very old chestnut trees.