The best dog-friendly hikes and walks around Roding

A clean spot in the woods with a chapel...

very nice place for a little break

Very nicely situated in the forest; nice trails all around; unfortunately little view due to fog ;-)

We only saw it from the outside. But it looked good 😃.

Steinhäufl chapel On the way to Schwärzenberg you come across the Steinhäufl pilgrimage chapel in a forest clearing. According to tradition, the construction of the Steinhäufl chapel goes back to a vow. The Schellerhof administrator Georg Hirner built it in 1740 after a horse accident that had not taken its course. The children of the manager Hirner are said to have been in the carriage with a team of horses that had become shy. In his distress that no misfortune befall the children, he made a vow to build a chapel. In 1905, the until then modest wooden chapel was built in its present form by forester Franz Hopf from Strahlfeld with the help of donations, in particular from emigrants from the area to North America. In 1945, after the end of the war, the Strahlfelder promised to hold a service every May 1st at the Steinhäufl Chapel, because Strahlfeld was spared major disasters during and after the Second World War. Source: Steinhäufl Chapel information board

Ray field monastery The two missionaries, Sister Ignatia Hasslinger and Sister Alacoque Moosmann, came to Germany from what was then Rhodesia for a holiday in September 1914 and were surprised by the outbreak of the First World War, so that they could not return to Africa. They decided to make the best of their unwelcome stay and start a religious house, a place where young women who felt a missionary call could prepare for their missionary service. With courage and unwavering trust in God, they set about the hard work. On May 29, 1917, five courageous women, two Dominicans with three candidates, moved into the neglected ruins of the Strahlfeld castle estate to found a monastery there. "This is supposed to be a monastery!" said a newly arriving candidate two years later, appalled at the run-down property. And it became a handsome monastery, although permission for canonical construction was delayed until 1921. At this point, 26 postulants were already ready to be clothed because, despite the great poverty that reigned in the old walls, many young women came who wanted to enter. In 1924 the first missionaries from Strahlfeld traveled to the Africa Mission, and more followed year after year. The last time a young sister was sent out for missionary service was in 1971, she was the 493. But sisters were also needed in Germany to secure the livelihood of the monastery. The farm was improved and expanded in an exemplary manner, horticulture and fruit trees were cultivated, and workshops were set up. In order to provide a service for the education of girls, a home economics school was opened in 1923, which - interrupted by the years of the Second World War - existed until 1993. Today, the convent is primarily a dormitory and home for elderly sisters and sisters in need of care, for vacationing missionaries and for many who, after many years of service in Africa or in one of the smaller branches in Germany, are spending the rest of their lives here. They see their apostolate above all in prayer for the people and the needs of our time. Source: www.roding.de

Schwärzenberg castle ruins The Schwärzenberg castle ruins are located on the 557 meter high Schwärzenberg between Strahlfeld and Fronau. The Schwärzenberg is a geological feature. It is part of the approximately 100 km northwest-southeast trending "stake", a quartz rock formation. A castle probably already existed on the Schwärzenberg in the late 13th century. Schwärzenberg Castle was first mentioned in a document in 1306 in a fief book of the Bishopric of Bamberg, according to which "Andreas de Fronau" owned the castle as a fief. From 1388 "Peter der Fronawer" was the owner of the castle. "Peter der Fronawer" was a robber baron who attacked merchants on the nearby Reichsstrasse from Regensburg to Prague. Economically, however, he does not seem to have been particularly successful, because in 1400 he had to pawn half of the Schwärzenberg fortress to his cousin Hans Zenger. Around 1400 the castle was largely destroyed by fire and military conflicts, but was rebuilt and changed hands frequently in the years that followed. In 1606 the castle is said to have been quite dilapidated and dilapidated before it was probably finally destroyed by the Swedes (1633 or 1641) during the Thirty Years' War. In 1742 the ruins became the property of the Benedictine monastery of St. James in Regensburg (“Schottenkloster”). In 1865, the Free State of Bavaria acquired the castle ruins and the associated forest property. (Source: Bavarian State Forests)

Nice quiet rest area