The best traffic-free bike rides around Groß Kreutz (Havel)

Between 1850 and 1959, clay was mined in the area. The clay obtained was used to produce bricks, which were transported by ship via the Havel to Berlin. Today, the approximately 35 former clay pits are filled with water and form a scenic labyrinth.

Between 1850 and 1959, clay was mined in the area. The clay obtained was used for the production of bricks, which were transported by ship via the Havel to Berlin. Today, the approximately 35 former clay pits are filled with water and form a scenic labyrinth.

According to an old historical tradition, the villagers meet every May 1st to bake together.

According to old tradition, the Oven Festival takes place every year on May 1st.

After years without any visible progress, a successful exhibition facility was built in 2015 and 2016 in the heart of Schenkenberg on the site of the former telegraph station, a lasting landmark for the entire town. Indispensable for this were the highly dedicated instigator Wolfgang Groch and a large number of selfless volunteers who lent their hands intensively and donated substantial sums of money.

Deetz Landfill (Class I Landfill) The Deetz Landfill is located in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district and covers an area of 112 hectares. It was commissioned in 1974 for the disposal of construction rubble, excavated soil, and dredged material from the former West Berlin. Disposal of the old landfill body was completed on July 15, 2009, and securing and remediation work began. Source: Senate Department for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection and the Environment

There are stretches where you feel as if the horizon is getting a little closer. The Trebelberg section of the Havel Cycle Path is such a place – a vast, open space between sky and Havel, land and air. Those who cycle here don't simply cycle – they glide, carried by the light, the wind, the gentle rhythm of the landscape. The incline is hardly worth mentioning, but it's enough to gradually reveal a different panorama: fields, ploughland, rows of trees in the distance. And at some point, when you reach the top – that view. Not a spectacle, not an Alpine spectacle. But a vastness that doesn't impose itself, but invites you: to stop. To be silent. To marvel. The Trebelberg itself, at 68 meters, is no giant, but it has a bearing. It doesn't make a thing of itself, but a lot of you. The view goes back over the Trebelsee, across to the Havel, which stretches silently through the countryside like a drawn line of patience. Along the path: fields, sometimes hay bales, sometimes a tree stand. And always patches of shadow between the rays of the sun. The air is clear, the path narrow – and yet you feel far away. Up here, you might understand what cycling in Havelland really means: not to be faster, but closer. To the countryside. To the light. To your own breath. The Havel Cycle Path at Trebelberg isn't a postcard scene, but a quiet camera angle on the essentials. And sometimes that's exactly what's needed to arrive.

You cycle through the quiet forest between Götz and Deetz; the path is narrow, the asphalt old and worn by life. And then it stands there – as if it had fallen from another world: the hollow tree trunk. No information board, no neon sign, no Instagram post. Just a tree. Or what's left of it. What looks like a mossy giant that has slowly retreated from time is in fact a monument. Not a monument in the traditional sense, but one made of wood, moss, and wind. Centuries have hollowed it out, insects, weather, and the course of events. And yet it still stands. Or again. Or simply like that. The shell is open; you can look inside, almost walk inside. Doing so suddenly hears completely different sounds – the whispering of the forest, the cracking of the wood, the echo of your own footsteps. It's as if you've briefly stepped through a gate – not into another world, but into a deeper perception. The bike path curves gently here, as if to avoid the tree, to give it space. And that moment remains: that even the asphalt pauses briefly here. The "hollow tree trunk" isn't a natural wonder in the tourist sense. But those who encounter it take away more than just a photo. Perhaps a question. Or simply the quiet realization that even transgression can have a form of dignity.