Lautertal I

A small tour along the "Castle Trail" along a river called Lauter. The first ruins on the way, St. Ruprecht, could almost be missed if there wasn't a sign. Not really any walls left. Monsberg Ruins though still has a bit of a tower, some walls and part of a cellar. The most impressive former castle is Wartstein with a rebuilt tower overlooking the valley and the region. The way back was along the river where a heron tried to fly away from us but constantly managed to fly into the direction in which we were going so he started and landed at least 10 times until he realized that it would be better to fly upriver.

 Ruins Monsberg:

Ruins Wartstein:

Starting point: parking area in Unterwilzingen

Length: 6.7 km

Brieltal

Another nice valley with usually less people (unless it's snowflake time) is the Briel valley. 

Along the way there is a cave called Kätheren Kuch (Catherine's kitchen) because a woman lived there at the end of the 18th/beginning of the 19th century and whenever she was cooking people from the village could see the smoke. Her parents also live in a cave nearby and lived from what the farmers of the village gave them.

There is also a former castle but the site is quite disappointing - not really anything left there apart from a few hills.

Beginning of the valley:

 

 

Further into the valley:

 

Kätheren's Kuch (Catherine's kitchen):

 The former castle:

Parking area between Altsteußlingen and Briel

Length: 4 km

 

Wolfstal

I always claim that I grew up in a geologically boring area at least by my standards. The village here is still within the glacial deposits so you find almost nothing but gravel and sand. Not too far away we have Jurassic shales and limestones which are somewhat more interesting because you can find fossils. Due to the limestone the area has lots of caves, springs and numerous ruins built to control the valleys. 

One of these valleys is the "Wolf Valley" which is an attraction in March since you can spot huge fields of snowflakes and a bright red mushroom which is apparently very rare. My pictures of the valley look like there was nobody around but I had to wait a long time to get these shots. It was a weekday but seemed like everybody managed to get out to have a look. Real hiking trails for me next time ;)

The small cave is called "Bear Cave" and was used as a camp in the stone age. 

From Lauterach into the direction of Laufenmühle to big parking area

Length: 3.1 km one way