Hiking through the Gränert Nature Reserve

Just outside the city of Brandenburg an der Havel, the route takes you through the Gränert Nature Reserve. The typical landscapes of the Mark Brandenburg region are highly varied, making the tour a truly fascinating experience of nature.

You start at the edge of the forest in Wilhelmsdorf and walk first through light pine forest to Neue Mühle. The former water mill is now a popular destination for a day out, with a beer garden, animal enclosure and playground. The new building, designed by film producer Horst Wendlandt in 1996, visually blends in with the old 15th-century tower. The former mill ponds are a hotspot for angling enthusiasts.

The little River Buckau lives up to its name (in Slavic: “beech stream”), running parallel to the hiking trail for a while through cool mixed beech woodland. Otters, crested newts and brook lampreys are all at home in this virtually unspoilt stream. With a few changes of direction, the trail continues through the forest to a spring called Silberquelle. Very close by is the so-called Diebesgrund: in bygone times this was said to have been the hideout of the thief Habakuk Schmauch, who robbed heavily-laden merchant traffic on the nearby Magdeburger Heerstrasse. Old beeches, fallen giant trees and imposing deadwood trunks line the path, giving the attentive hiker plenty to admire. You can cross the swampy hollow and still keep your feet dry by following a log road. Shady trees accompany you on your way to the lake Fauler See – including valuable biotope trees which are marked with a sign. At the lake, a busy family of beavers is constantly enlarging the body of water by means of damming. The numerous dead tree stumps rising out of the water are a bizarre sight indeed. Once you have left Fauler See behind you, it is not far to Kirchmöser and the end point of the hike at the railway station.