Apple circuit Etzersdorf – Rollsdorf

We start our tour at Gasthaus Reicher in Rollsdorf (part of St. Ruprecht an der Raab - opposite the volunteer fire brigade) and walk a few metres along the L360 and then turn immediately right towards the Mesnerturm. Follow a short asphalt road slightly uphill to the Mesnerturm.
At the landmark of Rollsdorf we should definitely plan some time for a short break. The Mesnerturm is one of the few of its kind in Styria and is still beautifully preserved with the Mesnerkeusche - it is a listed building. A guided tour is also available on request (Werner Rahm).
Continue straight ahead along a short nature trail until you reach a road with little traffic to the Wohngraben. At the Wohngraben, we walk past apple orchards, always straight ahead towards Pircha. There we turn sharply left onto the Wetzelbergweg to go downhill again towards the Ilztal-Landesstraße.
Once there, we follow the road on the new footpath and cycle path built in 2020 briefly in the direction of Etzersdorf. At a bend to the right - it would be worth taking a detour (straight ahead about 450 m) to the Buschenschank Leiner, where a good Styrian snack and cosy hosts await you.
Strengthened, we hike this 450 m back to the main road and soon turn off onto the Leitenweg lins. We follow this steadily uphill until we come to a crossroads in the direction of Heimwirt. Once again, countless apple trees line the path.
When we reach the crossroads, we are at one of the entrances to the spring knotweed forest in the Mühlwald - where the largest occurrence of spring knotweed from around the beginning/middle to around the end of March - should definitely be planned for. A short circular path through the Mühlwald (marked with green arrows) and information boards invite you for an excursion of about half an hour to an hour.
Then we walk in the direction of the Heimwirt and always follow this road with little traffic slightly uphill. At the next crossroads we keep to the left to reach the Grenzweg.
There we walk along the ridge, past beautiful orchards and the true diversity of Eastern Styria, also affectionately called the Garden of Austria, is shown to us here: cherries, chokeberries, apples and much more thrive here.
We pass by the Kirschenhof Maier and other farm-gate sales, which invite you to take the diversity of Styrian culinary delights home with you.
Soon we come to the next larger crossroads, which leads to St. Ruprecht an der on the right and straight on to the core chapel. Here we come across the core chapel trail. It is definitely worth taking a detour (about 600 m straight ahead) to the core chapel. The core chapel is a wonderful vantage point and place of tranquillity. A life-size Emmaus Jesus, carved by the well-known woodcarver Hans Pendl, welcomes us here at eye level, so to speak.
A rest area with the "ex farm self-service machine" from “Beerenstoak” invites you to take a break. If you wish, you can change here to the core chapel trail and hike to St. Ruprecht an der Raab. With the SAM - Sammeltaxi Oststeiermark - we could return to Rollsdorf. Or we walk back the 600 m to the intersection Dietmannsdorfweg - Lohnbergweg.
We turn onto the Lohnbergweg towards Rollsdorf and follow it for a few metres. Then we turn left along the forest following a nature trail and walk a few hundred metres along the forest to then enter the forest and walk through the forest.
Coming out of the forest again, we walk past beautiful, well-kept family homes back to our starting point, stopping at the village cross of Rollsdorf.
At the end of the hike, it is worth taking a short detour to the Rahm fruit farm and the Herbst fruit farm - where you can buy numerous apple products as well as other farm products.