Hope everyone had a festive, enjoyable Christmas week? Just like many of you, I feasted way too much and now it’s time to shed the extra calories. And what better ways to do it in this mild winter than to walk and enjoy nature?
One easy route to explore is along the Löcknitz river, but let me first warn you that this river name is a confusing one. There are at least three Löcknitzes in Germany alone, and the one J & I walked along back in November is a right tributary of the Spree in the district Oder-Spree of Brandenburg, a stone’s throw away from Berlin.
We started our 8 km walk in Fangschleuse, which is accessible by regional trains from Berlin.
There’s a few loop walking/hiking options out of Fangschleuse, but J and I chose one that goes to Erkner so we could easily get home at the end of the walk.
Our first stop after 10 minutes was the German war memorial Grünheide, dedicated to the victims of war, fascism and tyranny.
From there we crossed the road, the river and entered a forest.
It wasn’t long before we encountered the first pond.
Spoiled for trail options.
A cute pink house that stands out among the browns and greys.
The paths were largely easy and comfortable to walk on because the foliage that carpets the ground. A pair of decent sports shoes should suffice, and you don’t need to be extremely fit to conquer the terrain.
It seems that sheep and their shepherd like to wander this way too.
One of the guards at the Froschbrücke is of course a frog.
We spotted Spiderman visiting Grünheide.
Some helpful signs along the way, in case your phone dies and Google Maps perishes with it.
We entered the Wupatz’ Lehrpfad area, an educational part of the Löcknitz valley. Here 16 stations of display boards and interactive modules help children and adults alike explore the local flora, fauna and landscape.
Parts of the educational trail belong to the 66-lakes hiking trail (66-Seen-Wanderweg in German) and the Way of St. James or Camiano de Santiago (Jakobsweg in German).
The full circular route measures 3.6 km around the Wupatzsee lake, but since it was getting dark we didn’t finish the whole round. Plan at least two hours if you wish to see everything here.
If you understand German, exploring this educational area could be a fun activity for the whole family.
From the eastern entrance of the Wupatz’ Lehrpfad it’s a 3 km walk to the Erkner train station, where we ended our stroll.
Check out the highlights of our route below.
