They still exist, lonely inns without connection to the power grid and the general infrastructure, one like the "Forsthaus Sylvan" in the depths of the Spessart forests between Rohrbrunn and Bischbrunn.
Far from any road, it is only accessible on foot.
Wild bratwurst and the homemade cake taste twice as good.
When the weather is clear, there is also plenty of space outside with self-service.
As an accommodation and supply station, the inn can look back on two hundred years of tradition.
As a result of secularization in 1803, the princes of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg came into possession of the forests of Neustadt Abbey, which they, supplemented by a former Mainz forest, converted into a huge gate used for hunting.
The forests, which had been badly affected in the 18th century, were reforested and surrounded by a 34-kilometre-long fence for more than twenty years so that the nobles could get enough red and wild boar before their guns.
The foresters and helpers were built in permanent houses like "Sylvan", which later also looked after hikers and forest workers.
Finally, 50 years ago, the Main-Spessart section of the German Alpine Association took on the building for overnight accommodation.
The gastronomy is leased, since 2017 in the hands of landlady Diana Kühhirt, who expanded the food, opening times and the offer to include live music.
Back in the 1970s, it was not yet foreseeable that the hearty restaurant would one day be located in the middle of extensive protected areas.
It was a stroke of luck that its location, the Weihersgrund, was chosen as the 100th nature reserve in Lower Franconia in 1998.
Rare species such as mountain lizards or the spring damselfly dragonfly find their last refuge in the clear streams, which the beaver followed a few years ago as a reliable indicator of water purity.
Its traces are unmistakable in the form of sharpened trunks in a biotope in the upper part.
The fact that trees – even without beavers – are now allowed to fall down of their own accord and are hardly ever cleared away is a comparatively recent development.
It is true that there have been smaller protected areas of old oak and beech stands for almost a hundred years, such as on the Rohrberg or near Weibersbrunn.
However, the extensive establishment of natural forest reserves is considered ecologically more sensible.
In the meantime, forestry has been discontinued on around 2000 hectares in the Bavarian Spessart.
Ideally, a coherent jungle-like vegetation should develop through the designation of further areas.
At the highest point of the low mountain range, the 586 meter high Geiersberg, chainsaws have symbolically had their day.
Only the area in front of the summit cross remains free.
Directions
In the eastern Spessart there are practically no public transport connections at the weekend.
The infrastructure for drivers is all the better.
There is a nature park site every ten kilometers.
The one at the historic Torhaus Aurora is strategically well located, on the one hand close to the motorway and on the other hand not far from the forester's lodge Sylvan im Weihersgrund.
From the parking area - most of it is covered by trees - it is only three kilometers directly to the stop.
More beautiful and challenging is a sweeping round through the protected areas around the Geiersberg.
To do this, turn left at the end of the long parking strip at the intersection with the black H sign.
This is the prelude to a longer straight ahead, without becoming monotonous in view of the changing trees, especially when the natural forest reserve is accompanied.