G3VGR RHEINSTEIG    Schlangenbad - Wiesbaden      

I woke early, dressed in my official Rheinsteig T-shirt and wandered down to breakfast ready for my last day on the Rheinsteig. The sun was shining at last and I started off on the final 16.7Km through the Kurpark then followed along a stream through fields parallel to the main road to the outskirts of Schlangenbad. The trail took a sharp left and ascended into the forest towards Georgenborn. This really was a beautiful morning's walk with shafts of sunlight breaking through the tree cover. I passed the Graue Stein, a 10 meter high quartz rock formation and on to the famous Monstranzenbaum where legend has it that the monstrance from Kloster Tiefenthal was hidden by the Abbess. Unfortunately, the old tree was no longer standing and lay forlornly on the forest floor. The forest trail now descended slowly to the historic town of Frauenstein.

Oddly, the trail passed quickly through only a small area of Frauenstein, avoiding the castle and I soon made the Rheinsteig's last steep ascent up a narrow path to the Goethestein, a memorial to the poet, who apparently once had lunch here. Along the path were various signs describing the Aesculapian Snake, a rare inhabitant of the immediate area. I had passed the extent of the forests and the trail now meandered through orchards and vineyards, slowly descending to Schierstein. Again the ingenuity of the people who planned the trail was evident as it zig-zagged past gardens and smallholdings to avoid the built up areas. After passing under an autobahn and railway track, then between two blocks of flats and crossing a busy main road, I reached Schierstein Marina and the Rhein was just another 100m further on. The trail was now ending the same way it began, with a long promenade along the right bank of the Rhein. After 30 minutes, I reached Schloss Biebrich, the end of the Rheinsteig.
Schlangenbad Kurpark
Sunlight through the forest

Graue Stein
Monstranzenbaum

Goethestein memorial
Picnic Shelter in vineyards

View near Frauenstein
Schierstein Marina

Schloss Biebrich
Rheinsteig completed

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