Day 52 - 8 Novembe 2012 - Rehagen to Berlin - 65k

 We really enjoyed our time at the 'Eiseck Pension' at the tiny village of Rehagen, which is on the southern approach to the great city of Berlin. It had been very 'touch and go' the previous evening. When we arrived at Sperenberg last night which is just to the south of Rehagen, the only Hotel in town had closed for the winter. It was just on dark and we were not sure what to do. We even had thoughts of having to spend a night in the tent in the 'wild'. However, at Sperenberg we were advised (by the owner of the 'closed' Hotel) of the 'Pension' at Rehagen. It was a mere 3k to him, but to us it was a long way on a dark road at night without our lights (which were all packed away). We made the dash in the dark anyway. Rehagen, now that we can see it in the light of morning, is so small there would hardly be 200 people all up with a handful of scattered shops. The Hotel owner showed me on my map the location of the 'Pension', but when we arrived there, it was a 'Bacerie' (a hot bread shop) which we thought just maybe they have rooms. When I enquired, both women inside (no english of course) denied any knowledge of a 'Pension' in town, telling me to go to 'Sperenberg' (from where we had just come in the dark). I left the 'Bacerie' feeling a little frustrated. We made the decision to risk the road to the next major town of Zusson which was a further 9k, and we started to head north.

We had only gone a mere 300mtrs to the edge of town and here, all lights and as large as life with a huge sign out front, is the Rehagen 'Cafe & Pension'. The young lady who runs the place was startled when I walked through the door, covered with mud from the muddy experiences of the day. She could not have been more lovely though. The ground floor was all cafe, but she took me upstairs to show me the room to see if it was suitable (we were happy to sleep in a tent in the wild!), and of course it was a home away from home. She showed me the separate kitchen of which we had free use to make tea and coffee, and also eat dinner (which was lunch that we didn't have along the way).

So, the morning has dawned. It was overcast (normal) but apparently no rain today. Julie stopped me from going the 300mtrs back down the road to give the ladies at the 'Bacerie' a lesson in tourist information on the tiny village in which they live. 'Pension' is the same word in english as in German, and I used 'Zimmer' also. I did not have Julie's permission, so we headed north out of this lovely tiny village towards Berlin. Incidentally, our lovely lady had a beautiful breakfast table prepared for just us in her large cafe, a breakfast for royalty. We have been enormously blessed by the sheer grace and hospitality of people along the way. 

The official cycleway tracked most of the way either using the road, or alongside the road. Nevertheless, we still had some lovely sights, especially the trees and forests that lined the road. We were fanned by a slight breeze to our backs, and our map showed that, theoretically, we were descending in altitude all the way to Berlin (a whole 50mtrs or so over the course of 65k!). We also still had our tricky spots. The cycleway was very poorly signed all the way to Berlin, and it is not as simple as just following the road. The cycleway was taking us to the very south of Berlin, and then by a circuitous route around towards the west and then the long way through the outer suburbia to the final destination at the famous Brandenburg Gate.

The track today was lovely, although being so close to Berlin, thre was a lot more signs of outer suburbia that accumulates the closer you get to any city. However, we enjoyed the numerous experiences of the lovely forest sections eventhough they were close to the road which was now getting busier with traffic the closer we got to the big city.

We passed through numerous villages and also the lovely 'Mellensee', the long lake that was beside us to our right but hidden by the wall of trees and buildings. In no time we covered the 9k to Zossen, but quickly passed through, the cycleway now basically the footpath through this much larger and busy town. We took to the road to avoid people and the ups and downs and stops and starts of the footpath. Julie was again in good form today, feeling much better after suffering from the freaded 'lurgy' for the past few days. We had to constantly reference our map with landmarks to ensure we were on track due to the very poor cycleway signage.

The road at times nevertheless took us through some beautiful farmlands just to the south of Berlin. The countryside was as flat as a table, and with the breeze behind us it made for glorious cycling. We have found the traffic to be almost entirley gracious. Cars will sit patiently behind if they don't have a clear view, contrary to the behavious of vehicle traffic in Australia. Bikes are an highly respected part of the culture here in Europe. We have never felt in danger while on the roads anywhere, although there have been times on windy days when passing trucks have almost 'belted' us off the road with their strong force when they pass. Obe day I lost my cap twice due to the sheer blast of air of passing trucks.

Some days ago I replaced the brake pads on my bike also, having also replaced brakes on both Julie's and Sarah-Janes bikes back in the Czech Republic. The grit and gravel over the 2000k's of cycle tracks have done heavy damage to the otherwise long wearing brake pads. Today I mentioned to Julie that I had no rear brakes, so the tour manager insisted we stop and do some minor maintenance on the principle that to ride a bike weighing 45kgs withour a rear brake was not a good idea. I just needed to adjust the cabling so that my new brake pads had grip again. It felt more secure knowing I now had brakes working both front and rear. All was now good for the traffic of Berlin.

We passed quite a few churches today which are always attractive, and quite often one of the oldest buildings in the villages. This one had a beautiful bell tower which was worth preserving in our photo album.

Along the busy road on the approach to Berlin we had time to do a little experimenting with our photographic techniques. This is called rear photography from a moving bike. It wasn't easy to perfect the first time as you can see. Of course we didn't do this in traffic. This is taken over my head from the front but needed some practice to make perfect.....

Better, but not quite perfect yet......

Much better this time........

This one is the 'under the left arm' angle, showing Julie faithfully staying on my tail. However, it probably will not win a photographic competition!

Once we started to see the road signs to Berlin, we were starting to get a little excited, although not really looking forward to the long way through suburbia to the centre of the city. We were still some 30k short of Berlin, with the cycleway twisting and turning in and out of small sideroads, footpaths and sometimes dedicated cycle track. We were watching the map very closely now because we did not want to end up lost.

Eventually we came to the very southern boundary into the city of Berlin. It is a definite city limits boundary, at which point the cycleway took a track around in a westerly direction which very closely followed the outskirts of the Berlin city boundary, almost as if it was a wall. It was forested most of the way. The track was rarely nice bitumen but mostly packed gravel, dirt, broken cement or sometimes heavily cobbled sections that took us into streets on the edge in order to negotiate railway tracks, drains and main road crossings. Gradually though we were being manouvred for a more direct city approach to the 'Mitte' (centre) of Berlin to the famous Brandenberg Gate.



Incredibly, Berlin suburbia was a mere few hundred metres to our right. We were being skirted around the edge, which seemed hours before we were eventually turned into the streets along the ancient towpath of the 'Towkanal'.



It was a relief to finally turn from our semi-circular westerly direction around the southern/south western perimetre of Berlin, to be turned in a northerly/slightly north easterly direction into the city, riding the original towpath for a long way along the 'Towkanal'. Frustratingly, we had obly gone a few kilometres and workmen had blocked the path for tree removal, requiring us to find our own detour. It was a relief to finally cross the bridge across the 'Towkanal' which also gave us the first sights of the spires of the inner city of Berlin.

We followed the 'Towkanal' for quite some distance, which was basically a very long park, a tunnel of the same golden oaks and elms that we have been enjoying for seven weeks now in Europe. It was actually a pleasant way to enter Berlin, although this eventually came to an end when we had to turn away from the lovely 'Kanal' and negotiate our way for yet another hour though busy streets, railway crossing and encroaching rain and darkness. We stayed glued to our map. It was too risky to get lost now.



Incredibly, it was probably 2-3 hours of negotiaing our way into Berlin from the time we arrived at the very southern extremity of the city limits. It was now approaching 4pm, with the skys dark with threatening rain and the general sense that darkness was not far away. We were getting excited however knowing that very soon the 'cycleway' (which was now city streets with peak hour cars, buses, taxis and lots of commuter bikes) turning left, then right, then straight for two blocks, then down a path, then back to main road, under railways, across motorways but still getting closer to the Brandenburg Gate in the centre (Mitte) of Berlin. We were a mere 1-2 k away when we discovered this partial wall. Was it part of 'the Wall'? We weren't sure, but we were actually tracking now on the actual boundary that was once the Berlin wall. We took the photo in any case with a view to checking later, but we were on the very street leading to the Brandenburg Gate (which we could now see) and this 'wall' lined up perfectly with the line (a street) of the original wall.

We arrived at the Brandenburg Gate. It was a thrilling experience to ride right up and through it so we could take the official 'arrival' photo. Sadly, it was raining and of course quite cold, about 4-5degrees but the weather could not dampen our spirits. While posing for the photo, a very friendly traveller from Holland was also taking my photo. He came over and introduced himself, took several more photos and promised to send them. He was very friendly traveller just like us, but given the rain and the conditions our meeting was all too brief. We will of course return to the Brandeburg gate during our three days in Berlin. You can see how the tiny bike is dwarfed by this immense structure which was the scene of the first moves by the Societ occupiers to close the access from west Berlin. By 1962 some 1.6million Germans had 'escaped' from east to west Berlin. The Wall was to prevent this leakage, and close off access for some 30 years.

We still had the challenge to find the street of our Hostel, the 'Heart of Gold' Hostel. Fortunately it wasn't far away, but everything was so much bigger and further in the rain and the busy traffic than the simplicity of the map. We crossed the Spree River bridge, and from there it was 2nd right, down a long laneway to this surpringly large and busy Hostel. We had arrived. It was just after 4pm on a wet and cold afternoon. We were delighted to have arrived, and feel as if our eight weeks cycle tour has culminated in Berlin. We will be here for three days, taking the train south to Wurzburg, then cycling the final three days along the River Main to Frankfurt in order to take the Qantas plane home to Australia in exactly one week's time.

We feel incredibly blessed as we not only look back over today's incredible achievement to be able to manouvre ourselves on our loaded bikes through the complexity of the long entry into the centre of the city of Berlin, but over the past 52 days of exploration and discovery from the seats of our bikes across some five European countries. Our pilgrimage by bike is not yet finished, but to arrive in Berlin after some 2250k of challenging has gone far beyond our normal expectations. To arrive by bike beneath the massive arches of the Brandenburg Gate is an experience almost too incredible to be true for two Aussie cycle tourists.

We are reminded of the promise of God contained in the 'benediction' of St Paul's letter to the hunble christians at the church at Ephesus so long ago, and yet still so current for us. He speaks of the eternal God, the same one who put the stars in place, and the world in its orbit as the same one who promises to do 'immeasurably more' in our lives than we could ever dream or imagine. St Paul says "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever" (Ephesians 3:20-21).

As we rest tonight in this city with so much history and with so much yet to be unfolded to us, we rest knowing that when our lives are in the secure hands of the eternal God, we can expect our lives to be blessed by the 'immeasurably more' of what God