Rheinsberg Lakes and Castle Sweep
A 189 km loop
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Why this ride
A rider’s loop: clean exit, memorable middle, calm return. A 189 km loop that starts and ends near Berlin, about 3 h 26 of riding. The plan has 1 food stop marked.
Roadbook
- Berlin
start
The tower, finished in 1969 and 368 metres high, is the tallest structure in Germany and can be seen from nearly everywhere in the city. It was built by the East German government as a showpiece of socialist engineering, and when the sun hits its steel sphere, it throws a cross of light that Berliners cheekily called the Pope's revenge.
The neighbourhood is a mix of the grand and the plain, and it tells the whole story of the city. Nearby is the Nikolaiviertel, a reconstructed medieval quarter on the site where Berlin began, and the huge brick Marienkirche, one of the oldest churches in the city. A few minutes away is Museum Island, whose five museums on an island in the Spree were listed by UNESCO in 1999. Across the river the great boulevards lead to the Brandenburg Gate, and along the way you pass the remains of the Wall, a strip of cobbles in the road marking where it ran.
As a place to start a ride, Berlin is demanding. The streets are wide but busy, with trams whose rails can catch a thin tyre in the wet, cobbles in the older quarters, and a great many cyclists, scooters and delivery vans. Traffic lights are everywhere. Early on a Sunday morning the centre is almost empty and a pleasure, but at rush hour it is slow and stressful. Once you are beyond the ring road the landscape opens into forests and lakes, and the riding gets better quickly.
Fuel in the centre is limited, because the stations are mostly on the outer roads, so fill up on the way in or on the way out. Parking a bike in Mitte is easy to do and hard to do well, and a locked chain through the frame is sensible. Berlin eats late and stays up later, so there is no need to hurry.
- Rheinsberg
food
In 1736, Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia, the future Frederick the Great, moved into the palace at Rheinsberg with his wife, and he later said the years he spent here were the happiest of his life. Away from the stern court of his father, he read philosophy, played the flute, corresponded with Voltaire and surrounded himself with friends. The palace, rebuilt for him in an elegant Rococo style on the shore of the Grienericksee, is still the jewel of this small town, and the park around it, with its avenues, sculptures and views across the water, is perfect for a slow walk.
Rheinsberg has literary associations too. In 1912 Kurt Tucholsky published a light, witty novella called Rheinsberg: A Picture Book for Lovers, about a young couple's weekend trip to the town, and it became a bestseller. The town also has a tradition of ceramics, and you can find local pottery in shops near the palace.
There is one more surprising piece of history. Just north of town, in the forest by the Stechlinsee, stood the first nuclear power station of the GDR, which operated from 1966 until 1990 and has been in the process of being dismantled ever since. It is a strange contrast to the Rococo elegance of the palace, but it says something about the twentieth century in this quiet corner of Brandenburg.
The landscape around Rheinsberg is a world of lakes and forests. The land here was shaped by the glaciers of the last ice age, which left behind hundreds of lakes, sandy soils and gentle hills, and the area merges seamlessly into the Mecklenburg Lake District to the north. The roads are quiet, winding between lakes and through pine and beech forests, often lined with old trees. Some village streets still have cobbles, and the sandy verges can be soft. Rheinsberg has fuel, cafés and restaurants, including fish from the lakes. Summer is the busiest time; spring and autumn are quieter and very pretty.
- Berlin finish