Why this ride
From Grünheide it runs 910 km to Bernau bei Berlin; allow about 13 h 05 of riding. The stops in between: Gerswalde, near Fürstenberg, near Brandenburg an der Havel and Lichterfelde. The climbs: near Baruth and in Oranienburg.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Oderbruch Wide Horizon Ride + Müritz National Park Long Day
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 910 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 13 h 05
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fuel 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Oderbruch Wide Horizon Ride is where the day begins. Next is Berlin motorcycle escapes return.
2. Near Gerswalde, on the way back
The Uckermark, in the far north-east of Brandenburg, is one of the emptiest regions in Germany, and that is precisely its charm: rolling hills, endless fields of grain and rapeseed, beech forests, villages with brick churches and, scattered everywhere, lakes left behind by the glaciers of the last ice age. Gerswalde sits between some of the largest of these lakes, and on a hot day on the way back to Berlin, it is a wonderful place for a swim.
Read the complete Near Gerswalde, 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 comes up 59 km in. Next is Food stop near Fürstenberg.
3. Food stop near Fürstenberg
Three lakes wrap around Fürstenberg/Havel, and the town calls itself a water town with good reason: bridges, boat hire, and the Havel threading between the Röblinsee, the Baalensee and the Schwedtsee. It sits right on the border with Mecklenburg, at the southern edge of the great lake district that runs north towards Neustrelitz and the Müritz, and in summer the waterways are full of houseboats and canoes.
Read the complete Food stop near Fürstenberg 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 Photo stop near Brandenburg an der Havel.
4. Photo stop near Brandenburg an der Havel
Brandenburg an der Havel gave its name to the whole state, and its cathedral on an island in the Havel was founded in the tenth century, when this was a frontier between Germans and Slavs. The town is a maze of water, with the Havel splitting into channels and lakes, and its old centre is spread across three historic towns, the Old Town, the New Town and the Cathedral Island, linked by bridges. Brick Gothic churches, gates and towers rise above the rooftops.
Read the complete Photo stop near Brandenburg an der Havel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Photo stop near Brandenburg an der Havel, early in the day. Next is Oderbruch Wide Horizon Ride checkpoint 8.
5. Lichterfelde
In 1881, Werner von Siemens opened the world's first electric tram line in Lichterfelde, a short track connecting the railway station with the cadet academy. Thirteen years later, Otto Lilienthal, the pioneer of human flight, had an artificial hill built in the same suburb so that he could launch his gliders from it, whatever the wind direction. The mound is still there, now a small park with a memorial. For a quiet residential district in south-western Berlin, Lichterfelde has a surprising place in the history of technology.
Read the complete Lichterfelde write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Finish at Oderbruch Wide Horizon Ride checkpoint 8. That is the ride. Next is Scenic stretch near Sperenberg.
6. Scenic stretch near Sperenberg
South of Berlin, the forests around Sperenberg hide a strange history. In the early 1930s, at the nearby Kummersdorf army testing ground, a young Wernher von Braun began his rocket experiments for the German military, the first step towards the V-2 and, eventually, the Saturn V. After the war, the Soviets built a large air base at Sperenberg, which remained in use until the last Russian troops left in 1994. The old runway and buildings are now abandoned, slowly being reclaimed by forest.
Read the complete Scenic stretch near Sperenberg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Scenic stretch near Sperenberg comes up 296 km in. Next is High point near Baruth.
7. High point near Baruth
Glassblowers once worked in the forest just outside Baruth. In the eighteenth century, the counts of Solms-Baruth founded a glassworks here, using the local sand and the wood of the surrounding forests, and a village grew up around it. Glashütte, as it is still called, is now a museum village, with workshops where you can watch glass being blown, old workers' houses, a café and craft shops, a charming stop deep among pine trees.
Read the complete High point near Baruth 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 Back to Oderbruch.
8. Back to Oderbruch
East of Berlin, the land flattens and the lakes begin, and this start and finish lies near Grünheide and Spreenhagen, in Brandenburg, at the edge of the forested lake country around Erkner and the Müggelsee. The area has a long literary link, since the playwright Gerhart Hauptmann lived in Erkner and set some of his early plays here, and today it is known more for the large Tesla factory in Grünheide, which opened in 2022. Pine forest, sandy tracks and small lakes surround it, and in summer the roads are busy with cyclists and swimmers.
Read the complete Oderbruch 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 Oderbruch. That is the ride. Next is Müritz National Park Long Day.
9. Fuel stop near Bernau bei Berlin
Planning note
Next is Photo stop near Mittenwalde.
10. Photo stop near Mittenwalde
Planning note
Photo stop near Mittenwalde comes up 533 km in. Next is Scenic stretch near Ludwigsfelde.
11. Scenic stretch near Ludwigsfelde
Planning note
592 km in you reach Scenic stretch near Ludwigsfelde.
12. Near Beelitz, on the way back
Asparagus is a serious business in Beelitz. Every spring, from April to late June, the sandy fields around this small Brandenburg town southwest of Potsdam produce white asparagus, Spargel, which Germans adore, and roadside stalls, farms and restaurants all over the area sell it fresh, served with butter, hollandaise sauce, potatoes and ham. The season ends traditionally on 24 June, St John's Day, and people come from Berlin just for the asparagus.
Read the complete Near Beelitz, 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, late in the day. Next is Food stop near Kremmen.
13. Food stop near Kremmen
In 1412, on a causeway through the marshes near Kremmen, the forces of the new Hohenzollern rulers of Brandenburg fought the Dukes of Pomerania in a battle that marked the beginning of the Hohenzollern era, which would eventually lead to Prussia and the German Empire. The causeway, the Kremmer Damm, still crosses the wetland, and a memorial cross marks the site of the battle. Fontane described it in his travels, and the story is part of Brandenburg folklore.
Read the complete Fuel stop near Kremmen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Food at 710 km, roughly 13 hours into the riding. Next is High point in Oranienburg.
14. High point in 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The high point of this section. Next is Müritz National Park Long Day checkpoint 8.
15. Glienicke
Glienicke/Nordbahn is a small town just outside Berlin's northern edge, in Brandenburg, and during the decades of the Berlin Wall it found itself in one of the strangest positions in divided Germany. The town was in East Germany, but it pushed into West Berlin on three sides, and one narrow part of it, known as the Entenschnabel, the duck's bill, was enclosed by the Wall on almost every side, so that residents of a few streets lived inside a corridor of concrete and barbed wire, with West Berlin just over their back fences.
Read the complete Glienicke 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 888 km. Next is back to Müritz National Park.
16. back to Müritz National Park
Bernau is the old walled town on the northern edge of the Barnim plateau, and it carries a surprising weight of history for a place that most Berliners know as the end of a railway line. Its medieval wall, with stretches still standing and a few towers, encloses a small centre of brick churches and old houses, and local legend says it was saved in 1432 when the women and children of the town poured boiling beer over Hussite attackers. The story has been told so often that a beer festival in July is named for it.
Read the complete Müritz National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back to Müritz National Park closes the day.
Leg by leg
Fuel stop near Grünheide to Near Gerswalde, on the way back
Fuel stop near Grünheide → Near Gerswalde, on the way back is 121 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Food stop near Fürstenberg to Photo stop near Brandenburg an der Havel
Food stop near Fürstenberg → Photo stop near Brandenburg an der Havel is 136 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Photo stop near Brandenburg an der Havel to Lichterfelde
Photo stop near Brandenburg an der Havel → Lichterfelde is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Scenic stretch near Sperenberg to High point near Baruth
Scenic stretch near Sperenberg → High point near Baruth is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Baruth to Back to Oderbruch
High point near Baruth → Back to Oderbruch is 65 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Back to Oderbruch to Fuel stop near Bernau bei Berlin
Back to Oderbruch → Fuel stop near Bernau bei Berlin is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuel stop near Bernau bei Berlin to Photo stop near Mittenwalde
Fuel stop near Bernau bei Berlin → Photo stop near Mittenwalde is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Photo stop near Mittenwalde to Scenic stretch near Ludwigsfelde
Photo stop near Mittenwalde → Scenic stretch near Ludwigsfelde is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch near Ludwigsfelde to Near Beelitz, on the way back
Scenic stretch near Ludwigsfelde → Near Beelitz, on the way back is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Food stop near Kremmen to High point in Oranienburg
Food stop near Kremmen → High point in Oranienburg is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point in Oranienburg to Glienicke
High point in Oranienburg → Glienicke is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.