Moosburg to Landshut: A Handful of Castles

With an extra holiday at hand, I decided to visit some interesting spots near Moosburg an der Isar. Although I didn't plan the route too carefully, I think I made it work at the end. Continuing the Hiking Web project, since I already visited Moosburg an der Isar, it was the logical next step to follow Isar all the way to Landshut.

My first checkpoint was Berghofen, a small village on a local hill. On the way to it, I crossed some fields with deer, ducks, and other animals enjoying the sun.

As I got closer, I also came across a few local lakes where it was forbidden to swim, and a local quarry. Every time I would approach the lake beach, a few wild ducks would get startled and flee the area, shouting at me to stay back.

On the top of the Kuhberg (487 m) hill, I first visited the 14th century church of St. Peter und Paul, then enjoyed the view towards Moosburg from a viewing area near the church.

Afterward, I made a quick loop around the village, making sure to pass by the top of the hill. There were a bunch of families enjoying the holiday dinner together, with their kids running around in gardens and on the streets.

My next stop was Kronwinkl, with Schloss Kronwinkl as the target. I saw it from far away and was thrilled to see an actual castle in quite good condition. As usual, the inside of the castle was private, with actual people living in different sections split into apartments.

Although my initial plan was to go to Viecht and stay on the beach trails near Isar, I decided to go to Ast instead, specifically to Schloss Ast. I ignored the chore of calculating the route and distance to that village, and just followed the signs and common sense to get there. Surprisingly, I even met some women having walks with baby carriages far away from the surrounding villages.

When I got to the castle, there was a gate saying that entry is forbidden. I had to go over a field and climb into a garden near the castle to get inside, finding out there's a normal open entrance on the other side. Still, the castle itself was closed, so I just kept going.

I saw some ruins in Schlöttholz near Tiefenbach on the map, so I set it as my next target. The way there was really nice, since there was a bike road the whole way through. Walking through the village was uneventful, but the forest section at the end was quite cool.

The ruins themselves were just a dirt wall that once circled a medieval settlement. I started following some random trail hoping to see something cool, but it didn't really lead anywhere and just looped in a circle.

Then, I went to Burgstall Schlossberg near a Naturfreude cafe on top of a hill. There were a bunch of people enjoying refreshing drinks, but I was in a hurry and didn't have company of my own, so I skipped it and kept going. In any case, I knew this was the last stretch of the hike, as I was already approaching Landshut.

First, I went to Birkenberg (473 m) in Achdorf. It was right near a radio tower covered in graffiti, making for a cool location to check out. There was also a lot of machinery nearby drilling a water well.

Second, I planned to go straight to the castle but saw a hill peak icon of Annaberg (463 m) in a random neighborhood. I couldn't just walk by and headed there to check it out. It was, as expected, a quiet upper class neighborhood, so I didn't dwindle there for too long.

Third, I headed to Burg Traunsnitz to check out the Landshut panorama. There were tons of locals and tourists there, and even a tour guide giving a historical lesson on the construction and happenings of the castle. I took some photos and headed to the museum cafe, since at that point I already ran out of all food and water I was carrying.

It was a bit weird drinking my mango juice and eating some cake while the other visitors were taking long drinks and cocktails. There was also a group of russians arguing with each other while ordering more and more alcoholic drinks. The wife was threatening the husband with "knocking even more teeth out of his mouth than before", while the husband was telling her to shut her mouth and take nice pictures of him near the sunset. I ignored this typical russian family as much as I could and tried to appreciate the panoramic view instead.

But with all things considered, and with the russian group starting to get violent between each other, I decided to head out to the train station. I quickly ran down the stairs to Alte Bergstraße and entered the old town.

Walking across the old town of Landshut was really cool. At first, I was just looking at the old buildings and the locals taking evening walks, but having ice cream shops on every corner got the best of me, and I bought a pomegranate-pistachio cone.

The rest of the way was uneventful. I'd say this was a nice hike, but I can't really recommend it, as there's not much to see apart from the castles. Maybe, it would be a good bike ride instead?