Day 44: Thu 31 Jul - Potsdam to Berlin, 36km; total tour ride: 1,292km

13-20 deg C, overcast and drizzly until after breakfast, then cloudy but no rain, to raining on and off for the rest of the afternoon 

Ride total G: 1,324km

Ride total W: 1,292km

Walk G: 5km; total: 342km

Walk W: 6km; total: 308km

Like we said yesterday, we could have easily stayed in Potsdam for another week, in fact it wouldn’t be a problem to live there for a while. However, that’s dreamin and we have a plane to catch in mid September, so onward we peddled. 

Rain was forecast for today but we awoke to high clouds and no rain. Despite the fact that we had a short ride to complete today (36km) we didn’t hang about too long after breakfast. Getting out of the city was, as normal, a piece of cake, due entirely to the lovely German cycling infrastructure. Not far from the city we rode across the famous Glienicker Brücke (Bridge of Spies). In no time at all we were on a beautiful quiet backroad cruising through a massive forest. 

Stopped for a brew sitting on a log in a forestry car park. But as the weather was looking a little more ominous, we didn’t linger for long. On the outskirts of Berlin (12km from our hotel) we got onto an off-road cycle path that went in a straight line all the way to the city centre. But the rain didn’t let us off that easily, just as we approached a bridge underpass about 4km from the hotel, the sky opened up and it came down heavily. Great timing, we just stopped under the bridge, along with some other people who weren’t that keen on riding in the rain and waited. It rained long enough for us to eat our lunch and have a chat to the people coming and going under the bridge. 

Eventually the rain stopped altogether so off we cycled on very wet roads. The birds didn’t mind, plenty of puddles for them to have a bath in. In about 25 minutes, just as it started raining again, we arrived at the covered entrance of our hotel. We were nearly two hours early for check-in but that was no hassle at all, they were happy to let us in. Wheeled the bikes through reception, into the lift and straight down to the car park and locked them up; warm and dry. 

After letting another shower of rain pass over, we headed out on foot. Of course there’s only one place to head for when it’s your first time in Berlin (W) that’s the Brandenburg Gate, 1.2km away. The second place was the Berlin Wall and the third was a Thai Restaurant for Pad Thai. The third one may not be all that iconically Berlinian, but it hit the spot. 

Did some more wandering - Potsdam Plaza, Berlin Mall and Checkpoint Charlie (400m from hotel) from a distance. As the weather wasn’t getting much better, and we’d experienced about as much excitement as we could handle in one day, we retreated to the hotel room for the evening.  

The famous Glienicker Bridge

Not far out of Potsdam

Grunewald Tower

19th-century brick tower standing over 180 feet, with an observation deck overlooking the forest

This loomed out of nowhere, in the middle of nowhere 

Go to Berlin, they said, you will really enjoy it, hmm…….

Lunch stop under the bridge waiting for the rain to ease 

NH Collection Berlin MITTE am Checkpoint Charlie, room #541

Our most salubrious view ever!

The front of the hotel

Ride Route and stats

Some of the different paths we road today

The path out of Potsdam 

Paths in Berlin 

He either doesn’t know, or doesn’t care!

Chocolate!

A different shaped building in Berlin 

Brandenburg Gate, our first glimpse this tour

Global Tower Berlin, adjacent the Berlin Wall

Pieces of the Berlin Wall, will go back to capture all the words

The Centre at Potsdamer Place

Not sure what all these blow-up animals are about, but they are cute

Mall of Berlin, clever play on words

Thank you for reading the blog. If you would like to make a comment, please do as we love to hear your feedback. If you do it without the hassle of signing in, please include your first name at the end, so we know who is commenting. Cheers G&W.