Gransee is a small town with a big memory. In 1810 the young Queen Luise of Prussia died suddenly at her family's summer residence, and her coffin was carried back to Berlin in a slow procession that rested overnight in Gransee. The town later raised a monument on the spot, designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, a delicate cast-iron canopy that still stands in the market square, a rare piece of early German neo-Gothic metalwork. It is lovely and a little sad.
The town has about sixty-five hundred people and is surrounded by a rather well-preserved medieval wall, with a gate, the Ruppiner Tor, and a gunpowder tower among the surviving elements. Inside, the streets are quiet, with brick houses and a large Gothic church. It is an easy place for fuel, bread and a coffee, with stations on the main road and a few cafes in the centre.
The country around Gransee is the northern Brandenburg lake district, a blend of forest, farmland and water that stretches north to the Mecklenburg border. Backroads here are narrow and quiet, running between fields and lakes, with long tree-lined stretches and the occasional cobbled village. The surface is mostly good, and you will meet few cars on weekdays. It is leisurely riding, suited to a slow day and an open mind.
Wildlife is part of the pleasure. White storks nest on village rooftops, cranes feed in the fields in autumn, and herons stand in the ditches. Deer step out of the forest at dawn, so keep your speed down. In summer, the lakes are warm, and many have small public beaches.
From Gransee, Rheinsberg is about thirty kilometres north-west, and Zehdenick is closer to the south. Both are worth a visit, but there is no need to hurry. The charm of this region is that nothing is far and nothing is urgent. A day of wandering the backroads, with a stop at a lakeside cafe, is a fine way to spend a Sunday.