Hiking with History >>> Trail 5

After the railway underpass, the hiking trail runs along the railway track to the B32. Here we cross the tracks and after some time come to a duck pond. The house at this pond was once a hammer mill and bone crusher. Devices were still manufactured here until 1968, and the bones of slaughtered cattle were crushed into bone meal = fertilizer, which can still be bought today. If you continue straight on to the bike path, you will find the memorial stone for the Roman burgus "Schlossbichel" under a chestnut tree; its fragments were destroyed in 1899 during the construction of the Röthenbach railway line. After the hammer mill, the path leads left towards Menzen and Wolfertshofen. At the Harratried/Happareute signpost, the route turns right. Shortly before Happareute, we come to another bone mill again.

The field path continues to Harratried.  After Harratried, it first goes left through a hollow. The route passes through a forest to a tarmac road. If you cross this road and continue on the field path, you will reach Schloss Syrgenstein. By the way, there are more legends about Syrgenstein: In earlier times, when going from Eglofs to Heimenkirch, you could occasionally hear a beautiful bell ringing in the forest. So beautiful that it enchanted the listener. People usually avoided following the sound of the bell in order not to lose the way. Often there was a little woman there who misled hikers even more if they did not listen to the bell ringing.

A tunnel is said to have led from the castle towards Meckatz. It is said to have expanded several times like a hall. Centuries ago, the godless inhabitants of Syrgenstein gathered here to celebrate pagan festivals, even while Christ was already revered in churches and chapels above ground. In a passionately fought battle between Christians and adherents of Wotan, the demons of the depths withdrew the ground from a lonely little church, and it sank. However, in sinking, it destroyed the evil powers and the bell rang from the depths for a long time.

From Schloss Syrgenstein, take the tarmac road uphill towards Wolfertshofen -> Berg -> Heimenkirch