The Schwaller Mill
From the Layenmühle, it takes us only a few minutes until the Schwaller Mill, also known as Jakobs or Müllerjuppsmühle, appears before us.
Since mills were usually named after their owners in the past, the names changed frequently. At the Schwaller Mill, an old, half-ruined little house catches our attention. Upon closer inspection, we find that it must have been a former baking house. The round masonry of the oven is still clearly visible, and a curious glance into the unlocked interior confirms our suspicion. How many generations must have baked their daily bread here? (The baking house has since been extensively renovated and can now be used again for baking bread.) In a tax register from the early 18th century, an Anton Bunsch is mentioned as the Schwaller Miller. Shortly after 1800, a Jacob Nick came to the mill. He and his descendants have remained the owners of this mill to this day. Hermann Nick, the last miller in the entire valley, only ceased milling operations in 1964.
In the part we have traversed so far, the Baybach Valley presents itself as a gentle, wide, and flat meadow valley, but below the Schwaller Mill, the wooded slopes come close to the stream. And then we see several buildings before us, where the first glance says: These are not mills; these are buildings of modern times. And as a contrast to the previously admired baking house as a relic from old times, the Oberes Baybachtal wastewater treatment plant shows the consequences of our current affluent society. In this treatment plant, the wastewater from 14 surrounding villages is collected and cleaned. We naturally want to know if the facility is up to this task. It seems so, as the water flowing out of the facility and being fed into the Baybach is clear and odorless.
The hiking trail zigzags past the treatment plant over a concrete bridge. We always follow the round signs with the clearly visible "B" (for Baybach) and can thus not miss the right path. Immediately behind the treatment plant, where the stream comes down from the "Emmelshäuser Heilbrünnchen," an impressive natural monument captures our interest. It is the so-called "Dreispitz," a fir tree over 100 years old. At man height, it has branched into three shoots that shoot up almost 30 meters high. One stands in awe before this natural wonder, as well as before a bushy and gnarled beech tree, about 150 years old, which stands unmistakably by the path shortly thereafter.
Excerpt from the book "From Mill to Mill" a hike through the Baybach Valley, available for 9.00 euros at the Tourist Information Emmelshausen.
