Tucked up under what feels like a warm, soothing cocoon of bedsheets that I shall never abandon, I wake up several times at night. I don’t really know why. I assume my mind was exposed to so much that it’s trying to process in desperation. I remember waking up and feeling like it’s almost day, but looking at the clock and realizing it’s still just 1 AM. What? Okay, well it’s still really dark after all.

Before I know it, I’m back to sleep and then actually being awakened by my actual alarm. I had set it to 7:00 but only got out of bed around 07:30. In disbelief over the fact that I have to walk again so far today. And completely excited at the same time.

To pack or not to pack before breakfast? I decide to risk it and just go have breakfast and pack later. I have to head out at 9:00 latest to catch a bus at 09:30 to a place called Zechlinerhütte. I cannot miss the bus under any circumstances, or I’ll have to wait till 11:30 for the next one to come. Nope, not happening!

But the desperate need for coffee is really strong… stronger than any logic my mind would’ve come up with at 07:30 in the morning. My desperate need for coffee is so strong that I already decide to have one of these sachet Tchibo coffees – and since I definitely cannot use the gas cartouche in a house that is (literally) made of wood, I decide to use the hottest faucet water possible.

And once again: fail! The water takes ages to get warm, and then it doesn’t even get warm enough to take a shower with. Okay… just… no coffee now then.

I walk down to the breakfast room. A color palette of mostly red, brown and yellow gives me a warm feeling. I am anyway happy to be able to have a warm meal and a hot coffee in my stomach. It’s still empty, everything is chill, and I slowly prepare mentally for the day.

I get all cozy with my coffee and food, realizing hmm, maybe I should hurry up a bit and indeed, it’s good that thought dawned on me, as packing everything up again was quite a challenge. Mostly it was the fear of forgetting anything, but also the challenge of having to figure out in 3 minutes what to do with all the food I impulsively bought yesterday after a long day of endless walking.

Okay, no panic. Focus. The cheese goes there, the muesli bars stay there, this bottle is useful, keep it. Done. This Rucksack really is badass spacey!

I run down and walk quickly towards the bus station. It’s 20 minutes away by foot. After I walk quite fast-paced for a while, I realize I have no reason to worry anymore. Slow down. Take it all in. The morning chill, the sunshine. And so I do.

Part of me is anxious, because I couldn’t figure out where to buy the bus tickets the day before. I had decided to figure it out today, and part of me expects that I can just buy it from the bus driver right away (in Berlin you can’t anymore due to Corona).

Still, maybe I’ll find a ticket machine anywhere. I see the main station getting closer. Yay, still got lots of time to spare. Oh, and it looks like there’s a ticket machine right over there! Let’s go to that. Very casually… pretending this man and woman smoking over there and standing like they own the place don’t make me feel unsure about myself. Yeah, no big deal, just going to buy some ticket. Phew… wait. It’s not a ticket machine. It’s a cigarette machine. Cool.

Makes sense why I thought these two look like they own the place. They probably do! Because this is not even the station. It’s some building with a restaurant or a game place or something. Huhhhh.

I spot a bus driving in. “Ich hab Feierabend” (basically: I’m done with work for today) is lit up on it. I decide to just ask the driver, although I’m shy. I don’t wanna disturb his Feierabend after all… okay, here we go.

“Darf ich Sie kurz was fragen?” (May I ask you a small question?) I’m already prepared to get an annoyed answer back, as the guy is just uttering “Ja, aber -” (yes, but) will he say “Ja aber schnell, ich hab Feierabend”? Nope. He was just nice and said “Ja, aber selbstverständlich!” (yes, but of course!)

Oh, Berlin. What have you done to me?

After I ask him if I can buy the ticket from the bus driver, it becomes clear that he will be driving the line that I want to take and he offers me to get into the bus already. I get so happy about the relief of it all working and sit back into the chair, the bus all empty around me, as he says “ich geh ne roochen.”

I only understand what he said when I see him lighting a cigarette outside. Okay, now I hear it.

So realizing that again everything worked just fine and I’m so relieved, I get into a bit of bliss, awaiting the trip to start. I see a bus stopping and people getting off, and I sit another hiker, just like me, with his big rucksack. I’m still so overwhelmed by myself doing this that I wish I could just go and high five him or something.

Okay, trip starts. Such a tiny city. Such a cute bus. Every time the driver brakes, the brakes screech very loud. And every time we reach a station, he calls it out to the people who wanted to get off there. How sweet!

My turn comes. I’m the last one in the bus, as he tells me we’ve reached Zechlinerhütte. I thank him nicely and wish him a nice day, and as I walk away we even wave to each other again. How very mundane, yet uplifting an experience.

What a great feeling to have saved me these 6 km of walking from Rheinsberg!

I’m standing at the side of some crossing, where there are construction works. They (the construction works) are even marked on komoot. As komoot itself is still waking up too, I get attracted by this old building with “Zechlinerhütte” written on it, both on a sign and again in mosaic.

It does not solve the mystery of what the Zechlinerhütte actually is, but I save the answer for another day. I want to see more now!

Like this fantastic view on the Schlabornsee…

…or this beautiful enormous tree, blending perfectly with the surrounding.

And so the walking starts, in very good spirit. I enjoy the feeling of nature itself still waking up to a new day, as the early morning sun rays fall on the trees, the fields, and layers of cobwebs… that from a distance I like to admire.

A bridge leads over a nice canal… Zootzenkanal. I get to be part of a conversation between a mom and her kid about mopeds for just a few seconds… realizing that I misunderstood what a moped is all my life long.

I’m led to walk on this path, between very interesting trees. Part of their roots are above the ground, and I wonder if that’s just their kind or if something happened to cause that. For some reason I keep hearing crying trees in my head. They have something… tragic about them.

I’m already in love with the path. Every few meters it looks entirely different. And the sun.

And before I know it, after having walked through the quietest forest, I am at the first lake of the day: Giesenschlagsee(n).

Basically they are three lakes which are connected and they’re all called Giesenschlag, but there’s a small one, a middle one and a big one or something.

This is what they look like on the map.

After the first hour or so, I’m already taking my first longer break. Today, I do feel the 25 km from yesterday.

At least I can have a banana-chocolate yoghurt I impulsively bought yesterday in peace… and shortly close my eyes and meditate on the trip.

Oh, how I would’ve loved to swim already!

I made it here, too!

Has anyone ever seen a black snail before? That sure was my first time.

I am really overwhelmed by the beauty of the path. It’s well-paved this time and every few meters I see a “long-distance-path” sign. I am relieved, knowing that this is a popular path, and I have it confirmed by seeing overall three people during my walk in this area. That is a soothing effect I would have never expected to have from seeing people. But hei, it’s good to keep surprising yourself.

And I took another break…

And another one. This time taking off the extensions of my trousers. It was suddenly so hot. As soon as you’re out of the shade and into the sun, everything feels at least five degrees warmer. But I didn’t care, because the path was beautiful. It was half bike path, half hiking path, and it went along a field.

A little art project?

This sign says that this field is grown organically. No pesticides are used. It made my soul happy.

The next longer break I took at a viewpoint over Vilzsee. I absolutely loved it and the path. In some part of it, you walk along a forest-y hill and below you see the water with canoes in it. And once I was up there, it felt so much like I’m at the sea, I really had to constantly remind myself that I am not. Yet!

Realized after getting up that I’d been sitting on a heart all this time. <3

Do you see me?

Views over Müritz-Havel-Wasserstraße

I passed through some village called Fleeth. And these chicken were following me everywhere. And this poor black chicken had feet which didn’t grow well, but then it did something funny. It pushed its head so far through this metal fence that I really think it thought it could fit through. It made me chuckle loudly and decide it’s best I keep walking before I let that chicken kill itself.

I don’t know what these fruits were, but they were all over the ground, squished, squished, squished.

Another tree that caught my attention. It’s like an abstract natural manifestation for suffocating love.

And lastly I found myself walking next to a sea of corn… the plants were bigger than me. I had never seen them so up close, but I appreciated getting the chance to look at corn precisely. This one here is a special example of a rather imperfect one, one that, again, caught my attention.

Despite my somewhat slower pace, I arrive to Mirow well on time. Tired, hungry, but fulfilled and happy. I make a mental note to myself: double check that you entered the correct hotel address as a destination. It is not fun to read “10 m” left, only to realize the hotel is in an entirely different street… at least it was not an entirely different city. :-)

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Trip stats:
19,1 km – 4 hrs 3 min (in motion) – 4,7 km/h average speed – 170 m elevation

If you’re interested to see the path I walked on Komoot, here you go:
https://www.komoot.de/tour/261430178