Why this ride
A one-way ride of 316 km, Strausberg to Königs Wusterhausen - roughly 5 h 16 in the saddle. On the way it passes Buckow lake bend core, Schermützelsee water stop, Neuhardenberg palace roads and Schlepzig forest water.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Berlin · Märkische Schweiz and Buckow Lakes + Spreewald Canals and Forest Sweep
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 316 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 16
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
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.
Scenic road chapters
Strausberg fuel gate → Buckow lake bend core
Water arrives beside the road and stays for 24 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go — slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 22 km
Schlepzig forest water → Lübben old town
19 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 36 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Strausberg fuel gate
Strausberg is the last proper town before Berlin turns into Brandenburg, and it knows how to be useful. It sits on the shore of a long lake, the Straussee, about thirty kilometres east of the capital, with the S-Bahn running straight in, and about twenty-six thousand people live here. The medieval centre kept a stretch of its town wall and the brick gothic Marienkirche, and the little ferry across the lake, the Strausberg ferry, is one of the nicest short crossings in the region. The town also runs one of the smallest tram networks in Germany, a single line that has served for a century.
Read the complete Strausberg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Strausberg is where the day begins. Next is Buckow lake bend core.
2. Buckow lake bend core
The road bends around the Schermützelsee here, and the bends are the point. Buckow lies in a hollow of the Märkische Schweiz, where glaciers once carved a long channel and filled it with water, and the road follows the lake shore in a series of turns that make a welcome change from the straight lines of the Brandenburg plain. Beech woods climb the slopes, and the water flashes between the trunks.
Read the complete Buckow lake bend core write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Buckow lake bend core comes up 44 km in. Next is Schermützelsee water stop.
3. Schermützelsee water stop
The water here is the point. Schermützelsee is the largest lake in the Märkische Schweiz, a long, clear glacial channel that runs alongside Buckow, and in summer the shore is dotted with small beaches, jetties and boat hire stations. The water is clean and refreshingly cool, edged with reeds and beech woods, and on a hot day it is hard to resist.
Read the complete Schermützelsee water stop write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
88 km in you reach Schermützelsee water stop. Next is Neuhardenberg palace roads.
4. Neuhardenberg palace roads
Neuhardenberg is a village on the edge of the Oderbruch, and its palace has an unusual story of renaming. The estate was called Quilitz until 1814, when the Prussian king gave it to his state chancellor, Karl August von Hardenberg, as a reward for his service in the reform era and the wars against Napoleon, and Hardenberg renamed the place after himself. The great architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel redesigned the palace and built the church in the village, a pale, clean-lined building that is among his best small works. In East Germany the village was renamed again, as Marxwalde, and it kept that name until 1990.
Read the complete Neuhardenberg palace roads write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Neuhardenberg palace roads, early in the day. Next is Back to Strausberg.
5. Back to Strausberg
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Strausberg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Finish at Back to Strausberg. That is the ride. Next is Königs Wusterhausen fuel.
6. Königs Wusterhausen fuel
In December 1920 a group of postal engineers at Königs Wusterhausen broadcast a concert of carols and instrumental music from a hill outside town, and the sound went out across Germany. It is remembered as the country's first radio broadcast, and the hill, the Funkerberg, still carries a historic radio station and a museum of early broadcasting. Whatever the exact date, this was where German radio began, and the masts on the hill have been a landmark ever since.
Read the complete Königs Wusterhausen fuel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Königs Wusterhausen fuel is the fuel stop for this leg. Next is Schlepzig forest water.
7. Schlepzig forest water
Schlepzig sits where the Spreewald stops being a tourist postcard and goes back to being forest. This is the Lower Spreewald, north of Lübben, where the Spree splits into slow channels beneath alder woods so dense that the light turns green, and the ground is more water than land. The trees grow in the wet, their roots arching above the surface, and in autumn the leaves float on the channels in drifts of orange.
Read the complete Schlepzig forest water write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
265 km in you reach Schlepzig forest water. Next is Lübben old town.
8. Lübben old town
Lübben is the stylish older sister of the Spreewald towns, a place of about fifteen thousand people on the river, with a small castle, a lively harbour and enough old streets to make a lunch stop feel like an event. The Spree comes in from the south in several arms, and the town grew up on the island between them, with water on every side.
Read the complete Lübben old town write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Somewhere to get off the bike, 309 km in. Next is Burg Spreewald water stop.
9. Burg Spreewald water stop
Burg is where the Spreewald water becomes a thing you can touch. The village has canals on every side, and a number of small landing stages where people launch punts and canoes, and in summer the water is warm, shallow and the colour of tea from the alder roots. A swim here is a traditional pleasure, and several spots along the channels have been set aside with steps and platforms.
Read the complete Burg Spreewald water stop write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Burg Spreewald water stop sits at 353 km, late in the day. Next is Beeskow river roads.
10. Beeskow river roads
Beeskow is a small town on the Spree with a castle that has found a second life. Burg Beeskow, a medieval fortress of brick and fieldstone beside the river, was once a seat of local lords and later a prison and a granary. Today, it houses an art archive that holds thousands of paintings and sculptures commissioned by the East German state, a large and strange collection that gives a picture of the art of the old regime, and it also hosts concerts and exhibitions. The town around it, with about eight and a half thousand people, still has parts of its medieval wall, a Gothic church of St Marien and a market square with old houses.
Read the complete Beeskow river roads write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Beeskow river roads comes up 397 km in. Next is Back to Königs.
11. Back to Königs
Königs Wusterhausen has two claims on history, one to do with a soldier king and the other with a radio mast. In the early eighteenth century, Frederick William I of Prussia, the Soldier King, used the hunting lodge here as his favourite retreat, and it was the setting for the Tobacco Collegium, an all-male evening society where he smoked pipes with his generals and played rough jokes. The squat little palace still stands beside the Dahme river and is open as a museum. His son, who grew up to be Frederick the Great, hated the place.
Read the complete Königs write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Finish at Back to Königs. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Strausberg fuel gate to Buckow lake bend core
Strausberg fuel gate → Buckow lake bend core is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Schermützelsee water stop to Neuhardenberg palace roads
Schermützelsee water stop → Neuhardenberg palace roads is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Neuhardenberg palace roads to Back to Strausberg
Neuhardenberg palace roads → Back to Strausberg is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Back to Strausberg to Königs Wusterhausen fuel
Back to Strausberg → Königs Wusterhausen fuel is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Königs Wusterhausen fuel to Schlepzig forest water
Königs Wusterhausen fuel → Schlepzig forest water is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Schlepzig forest water to Lübben old town
Schlepzig forest water → Lübben old town is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lübben old town to Burg Spreewald water stop
Lübben old town → Burg Spreewald water stop is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Burg Spreewald water stop to Beeskow river roads
Burg Spreewald water stop → Beeskow river roads is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beeskow river roads to Back to Königs
Beeskow river roads → Back to Königs is 75 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.