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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf and Grumsin

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
237 km
Riding-time estimate
4 h 06
Journey
Recorded itinerary
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.

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Why this ride

A 237 km round trip from Zehlendorf - roughly 4 h 06 in the saddle. It goes by way of Gartenstadt Flakenberg, The ADGB Trade Union School, Grumsin and back through The ADGB Trade Union School. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.

Scenic road chapters

Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf → Gartenstadt Flakenberg

This part of the ride is 26 km of Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf → Gartenstadt Flakenberg.

Chapter facts
Length
26 km

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf

    Bright colours were a weapon for Bruno Taut. The architect believed that good housing could change people's lives, and in the 1920s he designed several large housing estates in Berlin for working and middle class families, with light, airy flats, gardens and shared green spaces. The Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf, better known as Onkel Toms Hütte, Uncle Tom's Cabin, after a nearby inn and the underground station, was built between 1926 and 1931 on the edge of the Grunewald forest, and Taut, working with other architects, painted the houses in strong reds, greens, blues and yellows, so that the estate glows among the pine trees. It is one of the great monuments of modern housing in Germany.

    Read the complete Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf is where the day begins. Next is Gartenstadt Flakenberg.

  2. 2. Gartenstadt Flakenberg

    On the southeastern edge of Berlin, near the Dahme river, a few streets of small houses are painted in colours so bold that locals nicknamed the place the paint-box estate. This is the Gartenstadt Falkenberg, or Falkenberg Garden City, designed by the architect Bruno Taut and built in the years just before the First World War. Taut believed that colour could improve ordinary lives, and so he gave the terraced houses facades of deep blue, red, ochre and green, with gardens, tree-lined lanes and a central square. It was an early experiment in affordable housing for working families, and UNESCO included it in 2008 among the Berlin Modernism Housing Estates.

    Read the complete Gartenstadt Flakenberg write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Gartenstadt Flakenberg comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is The ADGB Trade Union School.

  3. 3. The ADGB Trade Union School

    In the pine woods just outside Bernau, north of Berlin, a cluster of yellow brick buildings steps down a gentle slope toward a lake, and it is one of the purest expressions of Bauhaus architecture anywhere. The Federal School of the General German Trade Union Federation, known by its German initials ADGB, was designed by Hannes Meyer, the second director of the Bauhaus, with Hans Wittwer, and built between 1928 and 1930 as a training college for union officials. Every detail, from the arrangement of the dormitory wings in staggered blocks to the glass corridor that runs down the slope, was designed to encourage community, light and a healthy life. It was added to the UNESCO Bauhaus site in 2017.

    Read the complete The ADGB Trade Union School write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach The ADGB Trade Union School. Next is Grumsin.

  4. 4. Grumsin

    North-east of Berlin, the last ice age left behind a landscape of hills, hollows and lakes, shaped by glaciers that advanced and melted back again. In one corner of it, between Angermünde and Joachimsthal, lies the Grumsin forest, a beech wood that has been left largely undisturbed for a long time. It is part of the UNESCO site of Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, inscribed as one of Germany's contributions in 2011. Old beeches tower above a forest floor scattered with fallen trunks, small ponds and bogs, and in spring the canopy glows a fresh, translucent green.

    Read the complete Grumsin write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Grumsin, about halfway. Next is back through The ADGB Trade Union School.

  5. 5. back through The ADGB Trade Union School

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete The ADGB Trade Union School write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through The ADGB Trade Union School sits at 167 km, about halfway. Next is back through Gartenstadt Flakenberg.

  6. 6. back through Gartenstadt Flakenberg

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Gartenstadt Flakenberg write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Gartenstadt Flakenberg comes up about 210 km into the recorded legs. Next is Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf.

  7. 7. Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf closes the day.

Leg by leg

Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf to Gartenstadt Flakenberg

Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf → Gartenstadt Flakenberg is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Gartenstadt Flakenberg to The ADGB Trade Union School

Gartenstadt Flakenberg → The ADGB Trade Union School is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

The ADGB Trade Union School to Grumsin

The ADGB Trade Union School → Grumsin is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Grumsin to back through The ADGB Trade Union School

Grumsin → back through The ADGB Trade Union School is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through The ADGB Trade Union School to back through Gartenstadt Flakenberg

back through The ADGB Trade Union School → back through Gartenstadt Flakenberg is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Gartenstadt Flakenberg to Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf

back through Gartenstadt Flakenberg → Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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