Töpperweg - from castle to castle

Andreas Töpper, probably the greatest private entrepreneur of the Danube Monarchy. Hammer master, industrialist, philanthropist and landowner. Those who make their way "from castle to castle" follow in his footsteps. Töpper was both the builder of the manor house at Neubruck Castle and one of the many owners of Scheibbs Castle on Rathausplatz. Our Töpper Trail connects his two former estates.

Scheibbs Castle is the start and end point of the themed trail. We take a short time to visit the beautifully landscaped arcaded courtyard of the castle and the imposing "Cathedral of the Erlauf Valley", the parish church of Scheibbs. We then cross the square towards the town hall. From here, we descend the Rathausstiege, cross the main street and then the Erlauf over the so-called Sandsteg. We pause for a moment to take in the flair of the old town by the river. Full of energy, we now head out of town. Along the Erlauf promenade with its impressive chestnut avenue, we walk past the widow's residence of Töpper's second wife Amalie, the house at Erlaufpromande 30, and the adjacent Töpper Bridge, which the Hammerherr had built as a link to his property on the left bank of the Erlauf. We follow the Erlauf always upstream. Many comfortable benches along this popular walking trail in Scheibbs invite you to take a short break by the Erlauf. After continuing along the Strudenzeile towards Neustift, we find ourselves on the famous Dreimärktestraße, which the markets of Scheibbs, Purgstall and Gresten had built in the heyday of the iron and provisions trade as a link to Innerberg, today's Eisenerz. After a short while, the Buchebner "Zum Steinbruchwirt" inn beckons, where we enjoy a cool refreshment in the shady garden before continuing our route past the former tuff quarry, from whose material many of the chapels, walls and buildings we pass were built. We now follow this former trade route for a good stretch, which joins today's B25 at Neubruck. In order to continue our journey of discovery in the footsteps of Andreas Töpper, we have to cross both the B25 and the B28 coming from St. Anton/J., as the way back to Scheibbs leads along the mountain slopes to the right of the Erlauf. Before doing so, however, we plan to stop at the imposing Töpperschloss Neubruck, which was extensively renovated and revitalized for the 2015 provincial exhibition "ÖTSCHER:REICH - Die Alpen und wir". Well rested, we now set off on the way back along the course of the II Vienna High Spring Pipeline. The start of the signposted part of the theme trail is outside the castle and factory grounds at the confluence of the Erlauf and Jeßnitz rivers (at the EVN hut). We follow a well-maintained forest road up to the "Anslöd" hill where we can watch the landowner's huge, gentle highland cattle grazing. This short and easy climb will be the only one on our route. After a short break at this viewpoint, we continue our route via Hochbruck. First we cross a meadow, then the route turns into a narrow hiking trail in a mixed forest and leads past Schloss Lehenhof to the Burgerhofsiedlung above Scheibbs. This is where the last section of our loop begins, which leads back to Scheibbs Castle via Burgerhofstraße in the residential area. A detour to the Jelinekwarte on the Rudolfshöhe (524m) is rewarded with a view over Scheibbs and the foothills of the Alps towards the Danube.