Why this ride
Out of Zehdenick, one way: 467 km, roughly 8 h 32 in the saddle. The stops in between: near Sandau, Trossin and Scenic stretch in Golßen. near Neuruppin is the high point. Long stretches are under trees.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Dahme-Heideseen Backroads · short arc
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 467 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 8 h 32
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. 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
Dahme-Heideseen Backroads fuel gate → Dahme-Heideseen Backroads high p
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 66 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 60 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fuel stop in Zehdenick
Planning note
Dahme-Heideseen Backroads is where the day begins. Next is High point near Neuruppin.
2. High point near Neuruppin
Two of the most important figures in Prussian culture were born in Neuruppin: the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1781 and the novelist Theodor Fontane in 1819. Fontane went on to write the Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg, a multi-volume account of his travels through the region, and the first volume opens with the county of Ruppin. Reading even a few pages before riding these roads gives them a depth they might otherwise lack.
Read the complete Food stop near Neuruppin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Food stop near Sandau.
3. Food stop near Sandau
Sandau is one of the smallest towns in Germany, a cluster of houses and a big Romanesque brick church on the east bank of the Elbe in Saxony-Anhalt, opposite the meadows that stretch towards Havelberg. A cable ferry crosses the river here, a slow and peaceful way to reach the other bank, and the experience of standing on the deck with your bike, watching the broad, brown river slide past, is a fine reason to come.
Read the complete Food stop near Sandau write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
A break here. Next is Berlin motorcycle escapes return.
4. Trossin, on the way back
Pine, sand and silence: the Dübener Heide is one of the larger forests of central Germany, a broad plateau of heath and woodland between the Elbe and the Mulde. Trossin lies on its eastern edge, a small village surrounded by fields and forest, a few kilometres from Dommitzsch, where the Elbe flows slowly past meadows and old willows.
Read the complete Trossin, on the way back write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Berlin motorcycle escapes return, about halfway. Next is Scenic stretch in Golßen.
5. Scenic stretch in Golßen
Planning note
Scenic stretch in Golßen sits at 414 km, late in the day. Next is Photo stop near Lieberose.
6. Photo stop near Lieberose
South of Lieberose, a wide expanse of open sand and heath stretches away under the sky, so bare in places that it has been nicknamed the Lieberose desert. For decades, this was a Soviet military training area, where tanks churned the ground and fires burned the forest. After the troops left in the 1990s, the land was left to nature, and it has become a refuge for wildlife, including wolves, which returned to Germany around the turn of the millennium and have established packs in the region.
Read the complete Photo stop near Lieberose write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 467 km.
Leg by leg
Fuel stop in Zehdenick to High point near Neuruppin
Fuel stop in Zehdenick → High point near Neuruppin is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Neuruppin to Food stop near Sandau
High point near Neuruppin → Food stop near Sandau is 76 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Food stop near Sandau to Trossin, on the way back
Food stop near Sandau → Trossin, on the way back is 183 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Scenic stretch in Golßen to Photo stop near Lieberose
Scenic stretch in Golßen → Photo stop near Lieberose is 64 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.