Nature trail Gifhorn-Winkel

The approximately 3.5-kilometer circular route in the rural district of Winkel in Gifhorn leads through a diverse landscape shaped by the Ice Age, consisting of flat areas and low hills. The hills were formed from riverbank dunes of the Aller glacial valley post-ice age, while the flat areas come from former lower terraces from the interglacial period.

The old town center of Winkel is situated on one of these lower terraces, while newer residential areas have mostly been built into the dune landscape. Today, the flat areas are used as fields, the wetter areas as meadows and pastures. The depressions contain small peat areas overgrown with scrub vegetation, known as "Moorschlatts."

In earlier times, the dunes were covered with heather, which has largely been replaced by pine forests due to the decline in heathland sheep farming.

Along the circular hiking trail, 15 informational and interpretive panels describe the existing vegetation and highlight the functions of the forest and the unique features of this landscape.

The hiking trail "In the Footsteps of Hermann Löns" partly follows the Gifhorn-Winkel Nature Trail.