Micro-Adventure in Brandenburg: Bicycle tour in Oranienburg

This blogpost is also available in German / auf Deutsch

I had a very strange dream recently. I didn’t have wings, but I could fly. But every time I wanted to fly higher, power cables got in my way. I felt restricted and imprisoned. This could be analyzed in psychological terms. Or I can tell you what the conclusion would be: lately, the city has been too much for me. It’s not the asphalt, the city itself, or the people. Jesse and I just live in the back building, where it’s relatively dark, and we have no balcony. And right now, in one of the best summers I have ever experienced, everyone enjoys themselves at the lake or in the garden and I sometimes just feel “trapped” in the Concrete Jungle. With a garden, or a large balcony that might be different, but in the last few weeks I just wanted OUT. Out into the country, into nature, into the forest, away from people.

That’s why I wanted to take a trip to the country for my birthday. We do not have a car and we did not want to rent one, we also did not really want to go hiking. That’s why we decided to do a bike ride, also because we had both bought new bikes 4 days ago! I hardly know anything about Brandenburg, as far as where to do nice bicycle tours, etc. I just knew that I wanted to get out into the green, with as few people around me as possible (even on weekends) and with a nice lake to swim in as my final destination.

How did I put together our tour?

To be honest, I first looked at Google Maps where the S-Bahn went furthest out – and that was Oranienburg. There I looked at a few lakes and then compiled a route via Internet research and various bicycle apps. Jesse and I have never done a bike ride before. That’s why our route of choice had to be beginner-friendly, not too long, not too short and mostly on paved and quiet bike lanes.

What did our tour look like?

We took the train to the S-Bhf station Oranienburg. Do not forget to buy bike tickets as well! From there we took Bernauerstraße eastbound. At the Oranienburg lock we turned left and took the cycle path at the Oder-Havel-Kanal. Here we enjoyed the tranquility of the water and stopped by the Klinkerhafenbrücke. There we took some time to shoot photos on the old railroad tracks (not in operation, do not worry!), As well as in the nearby forest:

Then we just rode straight for a few minutes, until we passed the Grabowseebrücke in the direction of Grabowsee. At Grabowsee we made our first real rest since it was lunchtime. We found a beautiful spot right on the north shore, which is also perfect for swimming. From there we took the Malzer Weg to Schmachtenhagen. On this path there were a few unpaved bike lanes, as well as a bit of cobblestones, but nothing dramatic! From Schmachtenhagen you can easily go further, e.g. to Wandlitz and back to Oranienburg. We wanted to take it easy on our first tour, spend a lot of time at the lake and not get back home too late. In addition, as a blogger I need a bit more time on such excursions, as we often stopped to take pictures: P So in Schmachtenhagen we took Schmachtenhagener Dorfstraße south and then turned right onto Oranienburger Chaussee. The bike path on the right ends at some point then you have to quickly change to the other side of the road. On the other side there is a wide bike path that is separated from the road and leads along the edge of the forest. Despite the main road to the right of us, it was still idyllic!

The only slightly bumpy path with cobblestones:

Here you can see what the bicycle lane looks like on the Oranienburger Chaussee. Although it follows along a busy road, it is very well demarcated and with the forest to our left it was still a nice section:

At Magnus-Hirschfeldstraße we turned left to reach the Lehnitzsee / Lehnitz lake. We cycled directly to the bathing beach called White Beach Lehnitz – Weißer Strand Lehnitz to chill for a long while at the lake. Actually, we planned to explore Lake Lehnitz properly, as there is a small dirt track around the lake, which you can also cycle on. But we chilled so nicely, picnicked and enjoyed the relatively warm water. Since we knew it would probably rain in the evening and we did not want to get home too late, we went directly to the S-Bahn stop Lehnitz when we were done swimming. From there we took the sbahn back to the city!

Summarized:

• Start S-Bhf Oranienburg
• Bernauerstraße towards Oranienburgschleuse
• Bike path on the left of Oder-Havel-Kanal towards Klinkerhafenbrücke
• Over the Grabowseebrücke / Grabowsee bridge
• Stop at the north shore of Grabowsee
• Malzer Weg until Schmachtenhagen
• Schmachtenhagener Dorfstraße heading south and then right onto Oranienburger Chaussee
• Left onto Magnus-Hirschfeldstraße 
• Weißer Strand Lehnitz
• Back via S-Bhf Lehnitz 

You see, it was not a mega-long trip. Due to the many stops and swimming fun at Lehnitzsee we were still out and about a total of 8 hours, including the train journey from Kreuzberg to Oranienburg and back. It was a beautiful, relaxed and chilled outing, but we still managed to see a lot. I tried to write everything down as well as possible for you, but everything is without guarantee 🙂 Of course, you do not have to do the tour the same way. Our tour was relatively short but perfect for beginners. If you have questions, let me know.

PS, Important, please read: Incidentally, I would like to publish blog posts about such micro-adventure more often. I hope that’s also interesting for you. Although I have some exotic travel guides on the blog (for example from Cambodia, Japan, Costa Rica, Cape Town, Bali or Thailand), traveling such far distances is not really sustainable. I know that. Therefore, I would like to write more about the topic of slow travel and sustainable travel on my blog. But I’m also looking forward to your feedback, because of course, exotic travel photos from the beach or jungle are always appealing. So let me know how you like our photos from Brandenburg! 🙂

Here are a few more photos from our trip: