Etappe 06 Geislingen - Heldenfingen

Today we leave the northern edge of the Swabian Alb and cross the mountain range to the southern edge. The route leads through forests and fields through the villages of Schalkstetten and Gerstetten to the district of Heldenfingen.

We leave Weiler on the Schalkstetterstraße to the east. The route is marked with a red Y. We soon leave the road and walk across fields into the forest.
Attention: a path with a yellow triangle branches off in the forest. From now on, we follow this signposting, which next leads us to Schalkstetten. There is a lovely rest area with a fountain in front of the church. Always following the yellow triangle, we leave the village on the valley road. Shortly after leaving the village, turn left across a meadow and then continue straight ahead on a forest path for a long time. Before a valley cut, turn left downhill out of the forest. Caution: the path is difficult to recognise and can easily be overlooked.
(You can now follow the valley path for a detour of 2.8km to Sontbergen. The tiny village church is decorated with stained glass windows by the artist Sieger Köder).
The normal route with the yellow triangle crosses the valley path into the forest and we reach Gerstetten. In the village, we change to the yellow Y markings and leave Gerstetten on Karlstraße. Shortly after the village, a path with a yellow diamond branches off to the right into the meadow. We follow this marking, which leads us into the Heldenfingen district. From Breite Straße, we turn right at the next junction into Mittlere Dorfstraße and from there turn left briefly into Heuchlingerstraße to Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche. There is a pilgrim's stamp in the church.