Lake Stechlinsee Circular Trail

Lake Grosser Stechlinsee, also known as “Der Stechlin”, stands out among the lakes of Brandenburg, embedded as it is in a hilly landscape. The water of the lake is so clear and pure, you can not only drink it – you could actually read in it at a great depth! As Theodor Fontane wrote in his novel Der Stechlin at the end of the 19th century: “Between shallow banks that rise steeply at single point, it lies there, surrounded on all sides by old beech trees whose branches touch the lake with their tips, pulled down by their own weight. Here and there some reeds and rushes grow, but no boats ripple the surface of the water here, and no birds sing. All is quiet.” The scene today is just as described by Fontane: the trees on the shore, mainly beech and pine, the sparkling water and the soft twittering of birds in between. Boats are few and far between and there are no motors – instead the sound of the wind in the trees; around the lake there are many spots where you can sit and listen to the natural stillness.Length: 14 kilometres (3 to 4 hours)Start/finish: Stechlinsee-Center in NeuglobsowLogo/route sign: Lake Stechlinsee Circular Trail logo, with the addition of the E 10 line, green line and red lineDirections:Public transport: Take the RE5 (Rostock) to Fürstenberg/Havel from Berlin central station (Hauptbahnhof). From here, take bus 839 to Neuglosbow (approximately 1 hour 45 minutes).Car: From Berlin, take the B96, L222 and L15 to Neuglosbow (approximately one and a half hours).Route: Neuglobsow, around Lake Großer Stechlinsee, NeuglobsowRoute description: Lake Stechlinsee Circular Trail starts at Stechlinsee-Center in Neuglobsow. Continue straight along Stechlinseestrasse, past the glass museum and on to the information panels by the lake. The trail can be followed in either direction. Following the signs of the circular trail and the E10 markings (blue line), keep to the right and follow the path, always keeping to the shore of the lake, as far as the so-called “Mordbuche” (“murder beech”) with its gruesome history. In early summer 1903 a tragedy occurred here. A wedding party concluded the celebration with a walk. The bride was the daughter of a head forester, and a young forester who was in love with the bride followed the couple. He shot the girl, who died a few days later, and then killed himself. Some men watched over the crime scene until the police arrived. One of them carved the scene in the bark of the beech, and the carving can still be seen today. 2 kilometres further on is the Sonnenbucht (“sun bay”) – the northern tip of the lake. Now heading south (marking here also: green line) you will come to the Blaue Kuh, a bay that extends in a westerly direction. Before you reach the site of the former nuclear power station, there is a sign indicating the location of Stechlin as described by Fontane. Soon after this there is a left turn. The red line marking as an orientation guide. After crossing a canal, which was once important for the water supply to the power station, the character of the path changes for a while. Leaving the shore, you now walk slightly uphill through a pine forest and then down to the Polzow Canal. Now the trail returns to the shore for a while. An expansive view of the water surface is restricted by the Ochsenkopfhölzchen peninsula. The facilities of the Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries and the German Weather Service are bypassed along wide forest paths. There is now a short distance to cover through a forest of beech and pine trees, then you reach the playground from where the tour started.Trail conditions/surface: not specifiedMaps/Literature: “Rad - Wander- und Gewässerkarte Rheinsberger Seen, Großer Stechlin”, 1:35.000, Verlag: grünes herz, Auflage: 8 (1. April 2014), ISBN-13: 978-3866361003, Euro 4.95