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Cham-Furth Depression

Cham (district)Geography of the Plzeň RegionLandforms of the Czech RepublicNatural regions of the Upper Palatine-Bavarian ForestUpper Palatinate
Furth im wald ansicht
Furth im wald ansicht

The Cham-Furth Depression or Všeruby Highlands (German: Cham-Further Senke, Czech: Všerubská vrchovina) is a lowland in the Upper Palatine-Bavarian Forest that separates the Upper Palatinate Forest from the Bavarian Forest. At the same time it connects the Upper Palatinate with Bohemia. The German part has an area of 281 km2, a length of 40 kilometres and a width of five to ten kilometres. The Czech part covers 206 km2. The valley runs in a west-southwest-east northeast direction. It is divided into the Cham basin in the west at a height of 360 to 400 metres, which extends from Roding roughly as far as Arnschwang, and the smaller Furth depression in the east, which extends to Bohemia at heights of 400 to 500 metres. The Furth valley is bounded in the east by the European watershed. Its highest point is Kameňák (Steinwald, 751 m) near Svatá Kateřina (St. Katharina). The geologically ancient depression is filled with Pleistocene and alluvial sediments and drained by the rivers Chamb and Regen and their tributaries. These rivers meander through the undulating, hilly region. In the Cham Basin, gneisses and granites predominate. In the Furth valley melanocratic rock of the gabbro-amphibolite mass is dominant. The climate is warmer and drier than the surrounding mountains, but winters are relatively cold and often characterized by böhm winds from the east. The hilltops of the typically rural landscape are covered with islands of spruce and pine. While the Cham Basin has been inhabited almost continuously since the Stone Age, the Furth valley was not fully developed until the High Middle Ages. Farming dominates, followed by grassland use. The Cham-Furth Depression has always been an important communication route between Bavaria and Bohemia. Cham Castle, built around 976, guarded the eastern border of the Empire. The Bavarian-Bohemian border of the vast area has remained highly disputed throughout the early modern period, which led to different negotiations and agreements between the kings of Bohemia and the dukes of Bavaria in 1564, 1580, and finally in 1764. Today the area is part of the Upper Bavarian Forest Nature Park.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Cham-Furth Depression (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Cham-Furth Depression
Trosteraustraße, Weiding (VGem)

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

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N 49.26667 ° E 12.76667 °
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Trosteraustraße 22
93495 Weiding (VGem)
Bavaria, Germany
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Furth im wald ansicht
Furth im wald ansicht
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Rimbach, Upper Palatinate
Rimbach, Upper Palatinate

Rimbach is a municipality in the district of Cham (district) in the Upper Palatinate in Bavaria in Germany. Rimbach is a village at the foot of the Hoher Bogen (a seven-peaked mountain ridge in the Northern Bavarian Forest National Park). In the village is the Baroque 'Church of Saint Michael' built in 1719. The church had a major expansion in 1970 but preserved the Baroque carvings on the main altar and side altars. Within the church grounds is the ‘Old Church’, built in 1438 with its carvings and altars. And is still used for small services (it seats about 36 individuals). This village holds on to the traditional customs and culture of the Bavarian Forest Area. There are many organized groups that maintain the native dress, dancing, songs, and the traditional musical instruments from the area. Every Fall there is a “High Garden Fest”(not a ‘beer tent’ or Om-Pa-Pa Fest) to celebrate these cultural treasures of music and song. There are numerous hiking trails within this area of the National Forest. One hike is to the castle-ruin property of the Earls Preysing, arena of the Erzählung. This area was the inspiration of “The Maiden of Lichtenegg" by the forest poet Maximilian Schmidt. This castle-ruin was used as a watchtower to protect the area from the advancing Swedes during the 16th century. In late July, an outdoor, annual 'Folk Play' is held at outdoor stage area next to the Ruin that tells the story of "The Maiden of Lichtenegg". Two other hikes to the top of the mountain are to the antenna area for German TV broadcasting at the peak called Burgstall. This relay station brought broadcast TV to a remote area of German and provided news and educational content to Western Bohemia over the "Iron Curtain" during the Cold War. From this location, one can hike to the other end of the mountain ridge to the peak named Eckstein. It also has a Cold War history, since it was the site of German, French and American Signal Intelligence operations (since closed in the 1990s) that were directed over the Czech Border (3.5 miles to the East).