Saturday, July 28: Still very hot, one thunderstorm in the early evening, a little cooler
Hiking: 37.2 km
Kevin’s
I managed to get up on the dot of 8:00 and breakfast (one roll with sausage, coffee) was had, lunch made and everything packed up for the day in 40 minutes. I was down to the station a little earlier and correspondingly earlier into Potsdam, where I had a bit of a look around. Bus to Ferch was fairly full, but the going was smooth and we were soon in the place itself. A march around the block brought me back to the bus stop where the walk proper begins.
Must be a lovely place to spend a summer in. The village center was signed, so if that were doable in the time you could climb up to it, or you could remain on the level and aim for the stop at the camping ground, another ten minutes along.
Fairly soon there was a climb, no matter what, to the Weitekiekenberg, with a tower on top, if any more climbing was needed. After that a railway station was reached, followed by a short stretch along the road. Everything was a little greener than the last days, and the reason was the upcoming lakes, all post-glacial pools set in a sandy landscape that covers a gigantic aquifer, and supplies the necessary moisture. Apart from green it was also a little cooler in the forest, but not because of the prevailing temperature. I had lunch at the Caputher See, then it was through town to Einstein’s summer residence, which was exactly along the track. Albert wasn’t at home. Then the way down to the next lake.
Slide Show
Click on the image to stop/start the animation
Up until now signs and signposts had been in reasonable condition, but now a slow decline set in. There was road construction at the Templiner Forsthaus and that took a couple of minutes to negotiate. Then the signs became fewer and further apart. I mistook one sign at the rail bridge and followed the wrong tack for about 1 km and had to turn back. For the next couple of kms there were white-red-white signs, but none with blue in them. I marched on nonetheless, and the signs with blue started reappearing just as I entered Potsdam. Here the southwards route of the E10 branches off (another track to try).
It was very difficult trying to find and follow the signs across the main station, but eventually I reached one park, then the Babelsberg Park, where the track takes a very different route to that noted in wandermap.net. Across the Glieneke Bridge (was that all? About 10 m in length) there was sporadic signing, then none at all.
Plenty of people in all sorts of water equipment on the river, but very difficult to decide how to move forward, The people on the track (cyclists, hikers) must have come from somewhere, and be going somewhere. At one point I turned back for a short section, then I decided to push on. One sign appeared, and about five minutes later another. I overtook a couple of walking aids (they couldn’t have to go much further, nor could they) and suddenly there was a map with the further route of the E11 up to Potsdamer Allee, which I photographed to guide me back home.
And it was getting late. Using the camera as my guide I made it through to the motorway interchange, and then underneath it. Pretty soon I was at the supermarket for tomorrow’s shopping, then back in my digs where I stripped off, took a proper shower, collected all the clothes for washing and after a few false starts got the washing machine going for 40 minutes to depong everything, except the fresh undies and pyjamas I was wearing. While that was going on, I mapped the track (far more than should have been) and looked out for the change in weather that is finally due today.
Interactive Map
Picked up the washing and hung some stuff on a clothes horse in the lounge and some other stuff in my room. Then it was time for dinner, just as some rain was setting in. At Rasas (Wasgenstr. 55) I had Murgh Malai Tikka (chicken breast cubes tandoori style with plenty of vege on the hot plate, rice, various sauces) and Naan for €17. Quite a lot and I had to leave a bit of cabbage and some rice on the serving vessels. But excellent. In the meantime the few raindrops had turned into a maelstrom (won’t make much difference, however) and lightning played for a bit. Looks like a second front is approaching us.
Lesson for tomorrow is to carry maps on the camera, just in case the signs run out. Will have to think of a way of doing this by then. Said and done.
