June has given us some amazing weather in Berlin. Last summer I spent so much time studying and deprived myself from truly enjoying the most beautiful time of year in Berlin. Although I am still serious about finishing my studies this year and need to dedicate some serious time to my thesis, I don’t want to miss this summer. So I fully intend to allow myself a bit more entertainment and what better way to do that than heading out into beautiful Brandenburg with a group of amazing co-workers.
For a place so close to Berlin, the way there was a bit long. We took a train to Bernau and transferred to a bus to reach the Wandlitzsee train station. Wandlitz has two beautiful lakes, of which we explored the Liepnitzsee. I’d passed it on my 66 lakes trail and had been wanting to come back ever since. I finally made it and it lived up to all expectations! It was the perfect hiking day, with a few clouds in the sky, but most of all, lots of sunshine. Because the lake is surrounded by forest, the temperature is always pleasant.
The walk around the lake is about 12 km and it’s pretty easy going. The same path is used by trailrunners and occasionally mountainbikers, but even on a Sunday it wasn’t too busy at all. The first part of our walk took us through the forest, but we were quickly rewarded with great views of the lake, from a higher part of the shore. As we descended and saw the first bathing spots, we could barely resists jumping in. But we wanted to get some walking done before going for a swim.
The lake has a little island in the middle and a small ferry stops at the north and south shores of the lake to take people across. When we were eating our lunch at the southern ferry stop, we debated if we wanted to take it or head over to the swimming spot close to the end of our walk. We opted for the latter. All along the trail we found small swimming spots where people had made themselves comfortable, spanning hammocks between trees and laying out towels. We headed to the bigger beach, where it was obviously somewhat busier, but there was still plenty of space.
After a quick change we dipped our toes into the water. Step by step I went deeper, feeling the chills through my whole body. Although cold, the water was very pleasant after a while and this particular lake is one of the clearer lakes in the area. We swam up and down a bit, finding warmer spots along the way, jokingly asking who had created the warm patches of water. Afterwards, the sun warmed us up.
In the middle of the beach we found a tiny bird, fallen from a nest we couldn’t see. At some point, the bird was sitting on my colleague’s shoe, mouth wide open. Mum had flown in, still trying to feed her offspring. When we left, we tried to put the bird on the side, so that nobody would step on it. However, as soon as it was there, it hopped back out onto the sand. It was a cute display of nature, but we knew the bird probably wouldn’t survive very long.
Before we left the lake, we took a group picture and then followed the last 2 km back to town. We sat down at the Asian restaurant, that also happened to be a biergarten, for a well deserved drink. On our return journey the regional train was packed. Most of us could not even squeeze in anymore and we decided to wait 10 minutes for the next one. It happened to be a nicely airconditioned ICE with plenty of free seats! It was a calming and refreshing finish of a perfect day. I hope there will be more of these.
