Old grain mill – Slate Cave loop from Rhaunen

Germany

Rhineland-Palatinate

Landkreis Bad Kreuznach

Landkreis Birkenfeld

Rhaunen

Old grain mill – Slate Cave loop from Rhaunen

Hard

5.0

(1)

riders

Old grain mill – Slate Cave loop from Rhaunen

02:13

31.6km

470m

Gravel riding

Hard gravel ride. Very good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.

Last updated: October 15, 2026

Tips

Your route passes through protected areas

Please check local regulations for:

Naturpark Saar-Hunsrück

Waypoints

Start point

Bus stop

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1.75 km

Old grain mill

Highlight • Structure

A beautiful old Bach stone house. Once again, Fsmilie Stumm has left its mark. See info board.

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3.88 km

Kaisergarten Rest Area

Highlight • Rest Area

the beautiful Kaisergarten rest area could be mowed and mowed to beautify it.

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14.3 km

718 m Summit, Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park

Highlight • Summit

Very nice up here

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17.2 km

The house with 15 rooms, built around 1895 by Richard Haniel (1865–1937) as a hunting lodge, moved in 1955 from the widow Ulla Haniel to the Protestant Church in Germany. However, this could not do anything with the premises, as they did not seem suitable for a children's home or an old people's home. It therefore granted the then Bundestag President Eugen Gerstenmaier, who had headed the aid organization of the Protestant Church from 1949 to 1954, a right of use. This gave him access to the house in the Idarwald and invited political friends to state hunts and other festivities. Helmut Kohl, Franz-Josef Strauss and other prominent politicians from the country came to the Hunsrück to hunt. At the end of the 1960s, the hunting lodge hit the headlines nationwide, as the transfer to the Protestant Church is said to have been in connection with tax evasion by the widow Haniel.
While newspapers close to the CDU called the house a "ski lodge" at the time, social democratic newspapers spoke of a "castle-like villa" or a "feudal hunting lodge with palatial dimensions," wrote Der Spiegel at the time. However, the tax offense of the widow Haniel was already statute-barred when it was discovered. In 1979 the house became the property of a board member of the jam manufacturer Schwartau. After it had belonged to an entrepreneur in the plastics industry for three years, the Belgian brothers Fruytier (wood industry) bought the building in 2001. The Belgian Fruytier Group, which also owns the sawmill in Hochscheid, manages the Vierherrenwald. In this context, the company hit the headlines in 2011 because of the questionable clear-cutting of a large part of the forest.

Current condition (9/2021): The building seems to be inhabited from time to time. The outdoor facilities near the building are well maintained, but the adjacent park is overgrown.

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18.3 km

Gerstenmaier Pass (718 m)

Highlight • Mountain Pass

Locals call the connection between Hottenbach and Hinzerath the Gerstenmaier Pass in reference to Eugen Gerstenmaier, the former President of the Bundestag (1954 to 1969). He owned the impressive villa on the side of the road.

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23.1 km

Romantic stream!

Highlight • River

Great view

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24.4 km

Jewish Cemetery with Memorial Stone and Sculpture Garden

Highlight • Historical Site

Above Schulstrasse is a Jewish cemetery created in the second half of the 19th century, 17 gravestones in situ, 1868 to 1940.
In the immediate vicinity a park with more or less voluminous sculptures, other art installations for hiking and viewing are currently in the development phase.

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