The Oberwald and Sainte-Anne Chapel Circular Route, starting from Lauw

Car park at the Lauw community hall.

(S/E) Leave the car park on the side of the book box and head up Rue du Château to the left for a few dozen metres.

(1) At the junction, take Rue de Mortzwiller (marked with a Green Ring).

(2) Turn right, staying on Rue de Mortzwiller, which becomes a wooded path leading uphill (marked with the Green Ring).

(3) At the junction of the signposted paths, turn left towards Sentheim (Green Ring and Yellow Triangle signs).

(4) At Kohlerplon (Place des Charbonniers with its wayside shrine), take the^second path on the left (same signposting) until you reach the first houses in Sentheim.

(5) At the junction of the road and the path (near a building site in 2024), take the path on the left which leads straight into the forest (Green Ring signposting).

(6) At the Sainte-Anne Chapel, continue straight on.

(7) At the junction with the^GR®531, turn right.

(8) At the entrance to the Hohlenstein Cave, take the footbridge on the right (Green Ring signposting) and continue along the path that follows the left bank of the Doller, until you reach the car park at the community hall (S/E).

From the community hall, you can follow the very well-documented Discovery Trail, which follows the route of this walk between the start and point (2), then from point (8) to the end; between these points, the trail follows the^GR®531(marked with Blue Rectangles).

St Anne’s Chapel Sentheim Town Hall website.
Tucked away on the edge of the Oberwald woods lies this unassuming chapel, dedicated to Saint Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary. In May 1888, two workers from the Bian factory went to see Father Cetty and told him of their wish to build a chapel on the spot where the statue of Saint Anne stood, with the intention of praying for the many young men called up for military service during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. It was built in 1889.
Between 2010 and 2015, it underwent major renovation as part of a partnership between the local council and the parish council, with the help of a number of volunteers from the village. It was inaugurated in September 2015.

Hohlenstein Cave. Lauw Town Hall website.
The Hohlenstein Cave is the largest in Alsace, stretching 900 metres and containing an underground river. It can be seen from the nature trail which passes close to the cave’s entrance, but remains strictly off-limits to the public for safety reasons. Bear bones have been unearthed in this cave.
It served as a refuge for the village’s inhabitants during the wars.