Top 20 Caves around Beratzhausen

The Höhlenburg Loch > a geotope The Höhlenburg Loch is one of only two cave castles in Bavaria (the second is in Stein an der Traun in Upper Bavaria). The lower, flatter part of the castle complex lies in slab dolomites belonging to the Velburg Horizon. The steep wall, at the base of which the (residential) caves appear, is formed by mass dolomites of the Middle Franconian Alb Formation. Bavarian State Office for the Environment (LfU). https://www.umweltatlas.bayern.de/standortauskunft/rest/reporting/sb_geotope/generate?additionallayerfieldvalue=375A026

Beautiful rock formations in the forest

Beautiful view back over the Vils

Rock formations are now majestically visible in March. They soon disappear into the sea of leaves and are then almost invisible again—unfortunately!

Loch Castle Ruins Loch Castle was probably built by the Rammelsteiners, the lords of a nearby estate. They were first mentioned in the 12th century and were ministerials of the burgraves of Regensburg and later of the Bavarian dukes. Their castle in Loch was probably only built after 1300 to protect an iron hammer mill in the Laber Valley. A "Hugo vom Loch" is mentioned in a fief book of the Regensburg monastery of St. Emmeram at this time. Jakob Rammelsteiner vom Loch was district judge in Sulzbach in 1388 and court master to the Duke of Ingolstadt, Ludwig the Bearded, in 1413. His descendants Dietrich and Wolfgang took part in the knights' revolts of the Böckler and Löwler, but this did not cause any lasting damage to the family. After 1500, the lords of the castle also gained control of the Schönhofen and Eichhofen castles. When the last Rammelsteiner Sebastian died in 1556, the complex passed to his nephew Wolf Heinrich Sauerzapf in 1573 after long inheritance disputes. The Sauerzapf - a very successful family of hammer lords - gave up their seat in 1625 at the latest and resided in Schönhofen. In 1714, the last Sauerzapf Christoph bequeathed Loch Castle, already in ruins, to the Carthusian monastery of Prüll in Regensburg. The former Loch Castle, although it remained historically insignificant, offers many interesting features. The shape of the cave castle is extremely rare. The entrance was in the north, where a moat, still clearly visible today, separates the castle terrace. A gatehouse with a drawbridge can be clearly seen in the 1718 depiction, as can the residential buildings, which lean against the steep wall in the east in front of several cave rooms. At the southern end of the terrace stands the well-preserved keep, which is 23 meters high. It has 2 m thick walls, a toilet bay and large windows on the top floor. The structural design of the keep, which was built from roughly hewn rubble stone and was designed to be relatively comfortable with large windows and a toilet bay, clearly points to the 14th century. Clearly visible remains of built-in features have been preserved in the largest cave. It is surprising that such an uncomfortable and defensively unfavourable location was chosen for a castle in the late Middle Ages. It was extremely vulnerable to attack from the plateau above. The reason for the choice of location was probably solely the nearby hammer mill. Source: Excerpts from www.burgenseite.de

ATTENTION: On the Etterzhausen JURA🦕Steig ascent to the robber's cave, a very special person, compared to whom even real robbers appear to be honorable merchants, has made nasty mistakes: 3 flats in 6 months, always in the same place, and today, while patching, he discovered a fresh thumbtack. See picture #82. Time to upgrade to tubeless! Always a flat ride! 🍀🚴🏿‍♂️😀

Great trail again today, especially in combination with a detour to the plateau and subsequent technical downhill S2-S3.

The castle is best seen from Eichhofen, as entering is forbidden and not possible due to the fence