CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
417 km from Beelitz to Großbeeren, about 6 h 42 of riding. The stops in between: Bad Belzig castle hill, Wiesenburg park roads, Rabenstein castle and in Großbeeren. The climb of the day is near Michendorf. It keeps to quiet secondary roads.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 49 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
There are stations at the edge of town, supermarkets, and a handful of bakeries, and the A10 motorway is close enough that the town gets its share of passing trade. From here, the roads south and west leave the flat farmland and climb gently into a country of old castles and quiet villages.
Read the complete Beelitz fuel gate write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beelitz is where the day begins. Next is Bad Belzig castle hill.
Above the little spa town of Bad Belzig, on a low hill with a view across the Fläming, stands Burg Eisenhardt, a medieval castle that has survived better than most in Brandenburg. Its round keep, nicknamed the Butterturm, rises over the walls, and the castle's courtyards and bastions hold a museum and a youth hostel. The hill itself was a lookout for centuries, guarding a trade route across the heath. The town below has about twelve thousand people and a pretty, cobbled centre, with timber-framed houses and a market square, and the castle gives it a faintly storybook air.
Read the complete Bad Belzig castle hill write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bad Belzig castle hill comes up 43 km in. Next is Wiesenburg park roads.
Wiesenburg lies on the northern edge of the Hoher Fläming, a ridge of low hills, forest and heath south-west of Berlin that counts as the highest ground for a long way around. The town has about five thousand people and a small palace with a landscape park, laid out in the English style, where old and unusual trees stand in wide lawns and a stream winds through. The park is open to visitors and is a pleasant place for a short walk.
Read the complete Wiesenburg park roads write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
86 km in you reach Wiesenburg park roads. Next is Rabenstein castle photo.
Burg Rabenstein is one of the best-preserved medieval castles in Brandenburg, standing on a wooded hill in the Hoher Fläming, and it looks every bit like a child's picture of a castle: a round keep, stout walls and a pointed roof rising from the trees. It dates back to the twelfth or thirteenth century, and it has been a lookout, a family home, a ruin and, in modern times, a museum and a venue for events. Falconry displays have long been a feature, and the site has an owl and eagle collection that draws families in summer.
Read the complete Rabenstein castle photo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rabenstein castle photo, early in the day. Next is Back to Beelitz.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beelitz fuel gate write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Back to Beelitz. That is the ride. Next is Saxon Switzerland Overnight.
Saxon Switzerland Overnight is the fuel stop for this leg. Next is High point near Michendorf.
You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Saxon Switzerland Overnight checkpoint 8.
Berlin has a racetrack hidden in plain sight. The AVUS, which opened in 1921 through the Grunewald forest, was both one of the first motorways in the world and a racing circuit, where drivers and riders competed at astonishing speeds on its long straights and steep, banked north curve. Racing ended long ago and the banking is gone, but the road is still there, now part of the A115 motorway, and the old grandstand and timing tower survive by the roadside. Passing them on the way into the city is a nod to history.
Read the complete Near Grunewald write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Saxon Switzerland Overnight checkpoint 8. That is the ride. Next is Scenic stretch near Velten.
Scenic stretch near Velten sits at 342 km, about halfway. Next is Photo stop near Oranienburg.
Oranienburg is a town on the Havel river, a short way north of Berlin, and it carries two very different histories side by side. On one side there is the palace, built in the seventeenth century for Louise Henriette of Orange, the Dutch-born wife of the Elector of Brandenburg, who gave the town its name. It was the first baroque palace in Brandenburg, and its Dutch influence is seen in the proportions and brick. The town became known as Oranienburg, the castle of Orange, and the palace now houses a museum and gardens.
Read the complete Photo stop near Oranienburg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Photo stop near Oranienburg comes up 385 km in. Next is Berlin motorcycle escapes return.
428 km in you reach Berlin motorcycle escapes return. Next is Food stop near Grünheide.
For most of its history, Grünheide was a sleepy village of lakes and pine forests on the south-eastern edge of Berlin. Then Tesla arrived. The enormous electric car factory that opened here in 2022 transformed the place into a symbol of industrial change, controversy over water and forests, and new traffic. Even so, the countryside around it still offers some of the nicest lake landscapes near the capital.
Read the complete Fuel stop near Grünheide write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Somewhere to get off the bike, 470 km in. Next is Back to Saxon Switzerland.
It owes its modest fame to a battle. In August 1813, during the Napoleonic Wars, a Prussian and Swedish army under Bülow defeated a French force marching on Berlin, which saved the Prussian capital from occupation. A monument in the town marks the spot, and the battle is remembered each year with a local commemoration.
Read the complete Saxon Switzerland write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back to Saxon Switzerland closes the day.
Beelitz fuel gate → Bad Belzig castle hill is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bad Belzig castle hill → Wiesenburg park roads is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wiesenburg park roads → Rabenstein castle photo is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rabenstein castle photo → Back to Beelitz is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Back to Beelitz → Fuel stop in Großbeeren is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuel stop in Großbeeren → High point near Michendorf is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Michendorf → Near Grunewald is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch near Velten → Photo stop near Oranienburg is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Photo stop near Oranienburg → Near Waldsieversdorf, on the way back is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Food stop near Grünheide → Back to Saxon Switzerland is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.