Why this ride
Out of Nauen, one way: 507 km, roughly 7 h 39 in the saddle. The stops in between: near Nennhausen, near Kropstädt, Lübbenau and Scenic stretch in Buckow.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Scharmützelsee Water Loop · short arc
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 507 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 7 h 39
- 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
Scharmützelsee Water Loop fuel gate → Scharmützelsee Water Loop 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 31 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 30 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fuel stop near Nauen
Planning note
Scharmützelsee Water Loop is where the day begins. Next is High point near Nennhausen.
2. High point near Nennhausen
Planning note
High point near Nennhausen comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Food stop near Kropstädt.
3. Food stop near Kropstädt
Kropstädt is a small village in the forests north of Lutherstadt Wittenberg, on the southern slopes of the Fläming, a low ridge of sand and gravel left by the glaciers of the penultimate Ice Age. The village is quiet, with farmhouses, a church and fields stretching to the edge of the forest. It is the kind of place you pass through on your way to somewhere else, but the surrounding area is full of interest.
Read the complete Food stop near Kropstädt 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. Near Lübbenau, on the way back
The Spree river does something strange in the Spreewald: instead of running in one channel, it splits into hundreds of small streams and canals that thread through a low, forested wetland southeast of Berlin. This spot lies near Lübbenau, the main town on the edge of this watery labyrinth, which has been a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 1991. For centuries, people here lived on small islands of dry land, travelling by flat-bottomed punts, and some farms are still reached only by water.
Read the complete Near Lübbenau, 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 Buckow.
5. Scenic stretch in Buckow
Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel spent their summers in Buckow in the 1950s, in a house by the lake, and it was here that Brecht wrote the Buckow Elegies, a series of short poems tinged with disillusion. The house is now a small museum, with Weigel's old covered wagon from Mother Courage in the barn. The playwright was not the first to fall for Buckow; the novelist Theodor Fontane praised the area, and the doctors of the nineteenth century prescribed its air for the nerves.
Read the complete Scenic stretch in Buckow write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Scenic stretch in Buckow sits at 345 km, about halfway. Next is Photo stop near Neulewin.
6. Photo stop near Neulewin
Planning note
Photo stop near Neulewin comes up about 400 km into the recorded legs. Next is Scharmützelsee Water Loop checkpoint 8.
7. Konradshöhe
At the northwestern edge of Berlin, where the city gives way to forest and water, Konradshöhe is a quiet residential area in the district of Reinickendorf, on a gentle rise above the Havel river and the Tegeler See. It feels more like a village than part of a capital: tree-lined streets of villas and small houses, sailing clubs and boathouses along the water, and the Tegeler Forst, a large forest of pine and oak, on its doorstep.
Read the complete Konradshöhe write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Scharmützelsee Water Loop checkpoint 8 closes the day.
Leg by leg
Fuel stop near Nauen to High point near Nennhausen
Fuel stop near Nauen → High point near Nennhausen is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Nennhausen to Food stop near Kropstädt
High point near Nennhausen → Food stop near Kropstädt is 119 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Food stop near Kropstädt to Near Lübbenau, on the way back
Food stop near Kropstädt → Near Lübbenau, on the way back is 86 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Scenic stretch in Buckow to Photo stop near Neulewin
Scenic stretch in Buckow → Photo stop near Neulewin is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Photo stop near Neulewin to Konradshöhe
Photo stop near Neulewin → Konradshöhe is 106 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.