The Salzweg: a circle near Storkow

Storkow is a small town in Brandenburg at the edge of the Naturpark Dahme-Heideseen, about an hour away from Berlin. There is a train station and you can get there with a transfer in Königs Wusterhausen. The second train is a very small one, on weekends mostly used by cyclists and hikers.

In the area near Storkow you can follow the yellow dot on the 8,5km long Salzweg. Then you can add a little detour to the viewing tower over the Groß Schauener See.

The Salzweg takes you through salt meadows, hence the name “Salt trail”. Instead of just fresh water, the ground here gets salty, which creates a landscape with a different kind of vegetation. Usually you find this in coastal areas where the land regularly gets flooded with sea water. Here, the salty ground is a remainder of the sea that covered the area millions of years ago. During the ice age the ground was disrupted in some places and therefore some areas are salty and others are not. Don’t ask me for the exact story…

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To be honest, I didn’t really notice the vegetation being so much different than in other places. It was just a pleasant walk, starting with the fields near the train station in Storkow. I was really enjoying the quiet walk until a big fly stung me. Good thing I brought my bug spray! In a cloud of bug spray I continued. I walked towards the small town of Philadelphia. It’s a strange name for a German settlement. The story goes that some settlers were on their way to Philadelphia, but decided to stay right here in Brandenburg and named the town in honor of their original destination.

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At Groß Schauen I diverted to the right instead of following the yellow dot. After walking along the main road for a while, I entered the forest near some fish restaurants. A pleasant path with lots of information signs led to the viewing tower. All the way I knew this big lake was close by, but I didn’t even get a glimpse until I climbed up the tower. The view was beautiful and it was very peaceful. I just heard some geese in the distance and the wind blowing through the trees.

After a short break at the tower I backtracked to Groß Schauen and continued on the Salzweg over small paths. The route brought me back to Storkow and past the beautiful old castle, that now houses a library and the tourist information office. At the town square there was a small market with second hand items. Storkow’s very small, but a popular and cute stop for cyclists. It’s nice to have a break here is you’re passing through.

On my way back I almost hopped on the train going the wrong direction. The trains in both directions arrive at the same time and this one hadn’t changed it’s sign yet and still said ‘Königs Wusterhausen’! I wasn’t the only one who got it wrong and quickly jumped off with the other confused people. That’s when the train switched its sign to ‘Frankfurt (oder)’. I think everyone figured it out before it was too late…