Thursday, July 26: Hot and sunny, a little wind, very few clouds
Hiking: 33.3 km
Kevin’s (room in student dorm shared flat in Berlin, €22.7 a night, will be a bit of a challenge)
Was up very early, despite all the attempts of the host to darken the windows (dark drawer, venetian blind, curtains), as the room had become quite hot. Down at breakfast, the only other guest was there as well indulging in his habit of addressing the phone. Anyway, breakfast was three bread rolls, coffee, and the usual assortment of sausage and cheese. I put one bread roll away for lunch, proceeded to pay, and was down at the market square getting a GPS fix before 9:00.
The walk around town to the north should really be done the day before, as it is only about 2.0 km longer. The street to come back down is Rosa-Luxenburg-Str., and that is quite well marked. I took hydration breaks at Springbach-Mühle and Lütte, and lunch was on the plan just outside of Dippmannsdorf. Here there is a further pub which is now called “Paradies”. The sandy track is quite hard to negotiate as dry as it is, and the Scots pine and/or larches throw about as much shadow as the eucalypt. In the meantime there were denser forest areas which were cooler.
From Ragösen the track follows a stream (upper reaches dry today) on both sides, with a bit of windfall to negotiate. At the “top” is an artesian well, and the countryside opens up a bit. I had gotten there around 2:00, and decided to press on to try to reach the bus that was to leave at just after 3:30. I could see a fire was burning (turns out to be near Fichtenwalde, not far from where the track passes through tomorrow, although to judge from the photos, the fire is to the east and south of the village), and I pressed on through the very open countryside. Some farmers were stacking up their hay bales (heavy machinery), and they later passed me on my way into Golzow. As the castle track finally left the E11 (at around km 26.7, leaving 6.3 km, not 6.5 as signed), I decided to calculate ETAs to see if the bus could be reached, and dispense with the final hydration in the process.
The track made way to road and the village sign turned up in due course. I was ETAing at 15:30, 15:31, 15:32 and had in my head that the bus left at 15:38. Arrived at the main street and check my notes only to find out that the bus must just have left a minute before. Tried asking a passerby where “Anger” was, but no meaningful response (from the accent could/should have been a local, but even then). Identified that I was one stop south of Anger (the main village stop) and was just about to pack up and head there when the bus turned up (four minutes late). I ran towards it, some attentive motorists allowed me to cross the street, the bus stopped, although the driver was none too happy about it (claimed that if he was late and I was not at the stop, then he had no obligation to take me on; but the bus was completely empty). Anyway sorted that out, got a ticket, and with sweat now gratuitously pouring from every pore I enjoyed the more than hour long trip to Potsdam, whilst trying to rehydrate. Much traffic, nearly all of it in the opposite direction to where we were heading, and from the look of it plenty of tourist haunts. Found the train to Wannsee, got the connection to Schlachtensee, found the directions that I had to get to the student village, stopped off on the way to buy another litre of water.
Interactive Map
Found the house, but not Kevin’s shared flat. Went up to the first floor and on ringing a random doorbell found an Egyptian student who knew that the room I was looking for was there, and tried contacting Kevin. No response from him for a long time and I was beginning to contemplate alternatives. He eventually turned up closer to 7:00, gave me the key and wifi password, promised to find me a towel and then left. This will be a tough assignment. I will have to pretend that I am on the Dusky once more. The room itself is quite clean, but bare, the rest of the place beggars description. It’s even BYO toilet paper.
I got to work getting the internet access, crunching today’s hike, then sorting out a shopping list and was soon down at the supermarket to get the stuff together. No news from Kevin. Found a Greek place nearby, but they were on holidays, then took off for the modest sounding Adria Grill on Potsdamer Chaussee, which in reality was a Croatian place whose Robbers plate (three real cevapcici, two absolutely tender pork medaillons, a chewy skewer, chips, rice, salad) together with a beer came to just under €17. Heaven. That leaves an Indian place and a Vietnamese one for the final days. At least that.
All in all the place here doesn’t live up to the basic hospitality required for airbnb. I could stay a couple of days at Robert’s: He was there, made breakfast, saw that you had a towel and something to do. This guy just seems to want to save some rent before moving on, and so doesn’t have any interest in his guest’s wellbeing. So that is going to be one or two stars, a first.
