First Stage “Lower Lusa­t­ian Min­ing Tour”: Sen­ften­berg - Plessa

On the first stage, there is Lake Sen­ften­berg and plenty of indus­trial her­itage to dis­cover. From Sen­ften­berg, you cycle along Lake Sen­ften­berg to Niemtsch. Lake Sen­ften­berg is the best exam­ple of suc­cess­ful recul­ti­va­tion. Guests can expect excel­lent bathing beaches, numer­ous water sports facil­i­ties, mari­nas and the AmphiThe­atre. A detour takes you to the gar­den town of Marga, Ger­many's first gar­den city, once built as a colony for min­ers, it is con­sid­ered the most beau­ti­ful Lusa­t­ian work­ers' hous­ing estate.
You cycle via Schwarzheide to Lauch­ham­mer and get to know the Grünewalder Lauch recre­ational area with its camp­site, leisure facil­i­ties and restau­rants. Here you also cross part of the Nieder­lausitzer Hei­de­land­schaft nature park. The stage des­ti­na­tion is Lauch­ham­mer - the town of art cast­ing with the art cast­ing museum and the bio-tow­ers. The bio-tow­ers in Lauch­ham­mer are a unique indus­trial mon­u­ment. In the past, they were used for waste­water treat­ment in the for­mer large cok­ing plant.

Length: 55 kilo­me­tres
Start: Sen­ften­berg
Fin­ish: Lauch­ham­mer
Logo/route sign: red devil with bicy­cle
Route: Sen­ften­berg, Großkoschen, Niemtsch, Schwarzheide, Grünewalder Lauch, Koste­brau, Lauch­ham­mer

Arrival: From Berlin main sta­tion take the RE7 to Sen­ften­berg (approx. 2 hours).
Depar­ture: From Lauch­ham­mer take the RB49 to Sen­ften­berg. From here take the RE7 to Berlin Cen­tral Sta­tion (approx. 3 hours)

Points of inter­est/back­ground infor­ma­tion:

• Sen­ften­berg: Cas­tle and fortress with min­ing tun­nels and exhi­bi­tion ‘Expe­ri­ence - Min­ing - Lake Dis­trict’, Lake Sen­ften­berg, town har­bour, new stage the­atre
• Großkoschen: Schiefer Turm obser­va­tion tower
• Brieske (detour): Marga gar­den city
• Lauch­ham­mer: art cast­ing museum, art foundry, bio-tow­ers, Grünewalder Lauch recre­ation area with camp­site
• Koste­brau: cycle tours and hikes on the his­tory of min­ing with infor­ma­tion boards

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: 

• Upper Spree­wald-Lausitz dis­trict, 1:50,000, Sach­sen Kar­togra­phie GmbH, ISBN 978-3-86843-058-5
• Lusa­t­ian Lake­land, 1:50,000, Sach­sen Kar­togra­phie GmbH, ISBN 978-3-86843-021-9
• Nieder­lausitz/Lausitzer Seen­land, 1:75,000, ADFC regional map, BVA Ver­lag, ISBN 978-3-87073-783-2