A Visit to Sandstone Caves near Schöftland in Canton Aargau

Sunday March 15 -- At this time of year there are many very nice places to hike in the Northern part of Switzerland, particularly in the pastoral and agricultural areas where the grass is already quite green and the meadow flowers and some trees are already starting to blossom.

Furthermore, wanting to keep our travel time in public transport to a minimum, we are looking for places we can get to mostly by train and within 90 minutes of home. That is why Cantons Aargau, Zurich and Lucerne offer super hiking opportunities for us as well.

In a hiking magazine we subscribe to was the following hiking suggestion: A visit to what used to be a very important sandstone quarry near Schöftland (Staffelbach Quarry... in the 16th and 17th Centuries the sandstone was called "Staffelbach Marble"), which provided building material for much of Canton Aargau and surrounding areas till early 20th Century.

Additionally, a pleasant walk through woods and fields brought us to a significant find of very old (150 million years) erratic stones carried North by the Aar Glacier about 300,000 years ago, stones which were discovered while creating a public picnic and grilling location, somewhat off the regular trails and which we surely never would have found on our own. 

Old farmhouse in Staffelbach: From the shape of the roof it looks like it probably originally had a straw roof typical of the local construction, but now with a tiled roof but keeping the original house intact. Possibly also sandstone used for the stable walls

Heading toward the sandstone quarry

Locally also known as the "Sandstone Caves"

It was quite an impressive construction. Several caves with thick supporting walls were hollowed out of the cliff walls here

The Staffelbach sandstone caves

I am always impressed by the trees which grow on boulders...

Staffelbach Sandstone Caves

From the caves we walked to Kirchleerau, a community near the border of Cantons Aargau and Lucerne (to the South) and then from there we headed North to the Erratics and back to Schöftland to catch the train.

Heading through the pastoral landscape of Canton Aargau. Soon these high-growth trees will be in blossom!

We rely on farmyard fountains to fill up our water bottles!

Heading across the Suhre River and over the hill toward Kirchleerau

After visiting the sandstone caves, we became aware of all the sandstone used in the local buildings, especially around the windows and corners of the walls!

It is believed that the village of Kirchleerau was already populated in Roman times, but first mentioned in documents in 1248. In 1998 the village celebrated their 750th anniversary. 

The church in Kirchleerau was first mentioned in documents from 1275. The tower was built in 1595, and the windows are decorated with valuable family crests from the 15th to mid- 17th Centuries

These are two of seven family crests decorating the Kirchleerau church windows. These are approx. 500 years old!

We had a coffee break on a bench above the town of Kirchleerau, looking South toward the Bernese Alps. Too bad the skies were hazy or this would have been a particularly nice view...

Heading North back toward Schöftland, this is a view down toward Schlossrued Castle to the East. Last year we hiked up to the castle and across the hills to the next valley over.

On the way to see the erratics, we caught a glimpse of these deer watching us. They were pretty close by, not 20 meters, and watched us for a while before slowly turning away (not running)

While clearing out this area for a picnic spot, these 150-million-year-old rocks were unearthed. Two totally different erratics assumed to have been deposited here by the Aar Glacier 300,000 years ago.

This marker shows the way to the erratics, but you have to know where to look once you get there!

Meadow flowers are definitely starting to brighten up the countryside!

Last stretch into Schöftland. The train station is right behind the Church. There's a castle in there somewhere too!

Schöftland. Waiting on the train to head back to Aarau.

This was an approx. 11-km, 3-hour hike, with very gentle ascents and descents, so altogether a pleasant and easy excursion with lots to discover

View out of the train window on the way home as we head down the Freiamt region of Canton Aargau.