Second Stage “Lower Lusatian Mining Tour”: Lauchhammer - Calau

This stage is all about natural landscapes and industrial culture. From Plessa you cycle past the Grünewalder Lauch to Grünewalde through the Lower Lusatian Heath Nature Park. In Lauchhammer you can visit the art casting museum and the bio towers. The bio towers with their two glass viewing pulpits afford magnificent views. They are the only things remaining from what used to be an enormous coking plant.
A detour takes you to the F60 exhibition mine. The world’s largest mobile technical plant is now a landmark of the Lausitz region. The 500-metre-long steel structure of the former overburden conveyor bridge is affectionately known as the “Lying Eiffel Tower”. The route continues through the Calauer Schweiz plateau with its colourful mixed forests, moors and stream valleys in the Lower Lusatian Heath Nature Park. The stage finishes in Calau, which is where the word “Kalauer” originates from.Length: 60 kilometresStart: Plessa, Finish: CalauLogo/route sign: The route logo is the red record devil.How to get there: Take the RE2 from Berlin central station to Cottbus. From there you take the RB18479 regional train to Ruhland and from here you continue with the RB28753 (Falkenberg / Elster) to Plessa (about 3 hours).Return journey: From Calau take the RB24 (Eberswalde) regional train to Berlin Ostkreuz. Continue from here by taking the S5 to Berlin central station (about 2.5 hours).Route: Plessa, Lauchhammer, Klettwitz, Meuro, Freienhufen, Barzig, Lug, Gosda, Cabel, Werchow, Calau
​Points of interest/background information:Plessa: Elster mill, adventure power stationGrünewalde farm mill museumLauchhammer: Art casting museumZwietow: former post mill, old millCalau: Local history museum Possible combinationsPrince Pueckler Cycle PathEine Heidetour ins violette Naturschauspiel (Heathland Tour into a Purple Spectacle of Nature)Along the Stork’s PathSchradeln (Schraden Cycling Tour)To the “Plinsdörfern” Villages and the New LakesTrail conditions/surface: The tour takes you along a completely newly created cycle path with an asphalt covering.Maps/Literature: “ADFC-Regionalkarte Niederlausitz mit Tagestouren-Vorschlägen. Mit kompletter Niederlausitzer Bergbautour und Fürst-Pückler-Radweg”, 1:75.000, Bielefelder Verlag, Auflage: 1 (1. April 2009), ISBN-13: 978-3870734664, Euro 6.80