Top 5 Castles around Koberg

The Steinburg near Nannendorp – today Franzdorf – and Linau Castle were already mentioned in 1291 as the seat of the Scharpenberg Knights, who are notorious in Lauenburg's history for their numerous knightly feuds. In 1349, the Lübeckers attacked the Scharpenberg "robber barons" and, within 10 days, conquered and destroyed eight knights' castles in Lauenburg, including the Steinburg.

Wild for hiking and mountain biking

In 1230, the Slavic settlement was first mentioned in the Ratzeburg tithe register as Linowe or Lynowe. The place name goes back to Old Polabian *Linov and is a combination of *lin "tench" and the possessive suffix -ov and means settlement near the tench. Linau is of Slavic origin and lies on the "Limes Saxoniae", the former border between Saxons and Slavs, which enters the administrative area here. According to historical research, it can be assumed that the then "Lynowe" existed as a settlement much earlier. Linau Castle was destroyed in 1291, and the second castle in 1349. The remains of the castle complex are now more clearly visible again, as the foundation of the complex was restored as authentically as possible in a very complex operation in cooperation with the State Archaeological Office. The complex thus gives visitors an idea of its former importance. It is the only castle ruin of its kind in southern Holstein. Linau is located on the edge of the Hahnheide nature reserve and local recreation area, directly on the district border with Stormarn. The community had 543 inhabitants in 1939. After the unspeakable war, there were 1031. Many of them have accepted the community as their new home. Linau has an intact, diverse club life, including a motivated volunteer fire department. This is not least and especially due to the initiative of the Linauers. https://gemeinde-linau.de/unser-dorf/ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linau

The wooden bridge leads over the still very young Bille to the castle ruins.

Here in the forest northwest of Franzdorf lie the remains of a medieval castle. However, only the remains of the ramparts and ditches remain, as well as some debris from fieldstone walls or foundations. The complex has a diameter of around 40m and stands out clearly from the otherwise flat landscape. Interestingly, the castle ruins lie exactly on the district border, i.e. on the border of the former duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg. The castle also gives its name to the municipality of Steinburg, which was created in 1978 from the merger of Eichede, Mollhagen and Sprenge. Coming from the direction of Mollhagen or Sprenge, the forest path appears to end here. For experienced mountain bikers, however, it should not be a problem to overcome the ramparts and ditches and continue the path on the other side towards Franzdorf.

Today we visited the reconstructed castle. The reconstruction probably only affects the old keep, which was built a few meters thick with field stones. We would not have expected the castle itself to be here, but it is worth a short detour. Times must have been quite dangerous here back then, since some old castle ruins such as Cecilieninsel and the other castle ruins next to Cecilieninsel are also there. Incidentally, the way to the farm dog was blocked off, which means that it is no longer possible to get there. Next to the castle there are some ponds where fish was/is bred. If you want to enjoy the view, you can eat in the pond restaurant. But I don't know if this is still open at all, since there was no card on the house.

Nice castle surrounded with farm buildings.

Even if it cannot be seen on the map, you can connect the two paths. Walking every once in a while, I've already done it on my bike, but it takes strength to push the bike up the mountain.