Cycling around Berlin lakes

I am totally impressed at how easy it is to travel with road bikes on the city trains and quickly get out into the surrounding greenery. Berlin is surrounded by lakes and canals and these lakes are dotted throughout some very lush and green countryside. The green forest of Grunewald is only 15 mins away from central Berlin, just past Charlottenburg, accessible via both S and U Bahn lines. You can almost cycle off the train directly onto a quiet 20km cycle loop through the forest and alongside the Wannsee. At the southern end of the loop, it is possible to cycle out along a causeway to a tiny elite island, which has great views back across to the mainland. The road along the lake has a couple of slight inclines which makes it a little mmore challenging and rewarding, for an after work cycle.

It is also fun to take the RegionalBahn 1 stop out to Bernau to explore what was rural East Germany. Here the land is flat, the farms are gigantic without any dividing fences or hedgerows and the roads are shaded by 2 lines of giant trees perfectly spaced along both sides. These allees were so practical for their time, providing shade for horses and their carriages, but they are clearly challenging any road expansion plans, but it seems that new motorways are being built separately to preserve these small roads. So it makes cycling enjoyable. Several villages have evidence of the large and expansive buildings of the old LPGs (Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossesenschaft) or communal farms. It was good to see them still being used to house some of the many pigs grown in this country. We cycled 50km through Lanke, Prenden, Ruhlsdorf, Marienwerder and along the shores of the long narrow Werbellinsee to Joachimsthal. We cycled along the north of the lake and returned on the other side to enjoy some smoked fish and a quick swim at Altenhof. We were a bit late returning along some less well used roads through Eberswalde and Biesenthal and so we had to catch the train home... not such a bad outcome after all!