Second Stage “Lower Lusatian Mining Tour”: Plessa - 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: 66 kilometres
Start: Lauchhammer
Finish: Calau

Logo/route sign: The route logo is the red record devil.

Arrival: From Berlin main station take the RE2 to Cottbus. From there take the RE18 to Ruhland and from here continue with the RB49 (Falkenberg / Elster) to Lauchhammer (approx. 2.5 hours).
Departure: From Calau take the RB24 (Eberswalde) to Berlin Ostkreuz. From here continue with the S5 to Berlin Central Station (approx. 2.5 hours).

Route: Plessa, Grünewalde, Lauchhammer,  Kostebrau, Klettwitz, Meuro, Freienhufen, Barzig, Lug, Gosda, Cabel, Werchow, Calau
Detour to the F60 visitor mine in Lichterfeld: Klettwitz, Herrnmühle, Annahütte, Henriette, Sallgast, Klingmühle, Lichterfeld

Please note that the route is currently being revised. A revised route will be available for the 2024 season.

Points of interest/background information:

• Lauchhammer: Art casting museum, art foundry, bio towers
• Lichterfeld: F60 visitor mine (detour), NABU (German environmental organisation) Grünhaus project office
• Klettwitz: EuroSpeedway Lausitz, Schacht Klettwitz mining monument
• Meuro: “Blauer Bagger” technical monument, Hörlitz observation tower
• Zwietow: former post mill, old mill
• Werchow: Goldborn, the largest natural spring in the Niederlausitz region
• Calau: Local history museum, Calauer Schweiz region 

Possible combinations

• Prince Pueckler Cycle Path
• Eine Heidetour ins violette Naturschauspiel (Heathland Tour into a Purple Spectacle of Nature)
• Along the Stork’s Path
• Schradeln (Schraden Cycling Tour)
• To the “Plinsdörfern” Villages and the New Lakes

Trail conditions/surface:
mostly asphalted cycle paths and cycle roads, some sections also on side roads, unpaved paths or paved roads, some root break-ups, few gradients

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