Gear Testing On The Road

Actually my idea was pretty good: I wanted to take advantage of three days off and go for a hike near Berlin on a trail called "66-Seen-Weg". Since everything but my clothes is new I thought I give it a go before I take it all with me to Ireland in three weeks.

It may be the end of March but northern and eastern Germany are still in winter's tight grip with temperatures barely above zero during the day and snow everywhere. Still I packed all my gear into my backpack as if I was going to Ireland right now and took the S-Bahn to Straußberg.
Apart from a pair of pants I don't have any gear for a hike in winter. So I just put on everything I have and hoped it would serve.

First field test: GPS device. Got off the train and started the device. I had uploaded the maps and tracks before, but had trouble getting a connection to the satelites. Changed the satelite setting and bam! It didn't show my position in the US anymore. Now I was in Petershagen according to the device. Huh? I was so pretty damn sure, that I was in Straußberg. I mean I just got off the train!
To tell a long story short: it took me half an hour of walking around "Straußberg" to realize that my GPS device was right! I went back to the train station and had a look at the map there. Shit. There were actually three stations labeled "Straußberg".
Alright. I was almost 10km south of were I wanted to start and missed a lake already. Hm. Decided to go north anyway walk halfway around Herrensee and then back on the other side on the waymarked trail and stay from that point on.

The sky was ladden with heavy grey clouds and still the crunching snow, the frozen lake, the quiet, the peace and the solitude... it was just amazing.

Herrensee

Herrensee

After finishing the round trip I entered the nature reserve "Lange Dammwiesen". What was a snowy path with a few footsprints before turned now into ankle deep snow and I was the one who left the first footprints. The going was quite strenuous especially with my heavy backpack.
The path went along a train track and after 15 mins took a right turn into the woods. Still I was all alone. Saw two people on cross country skis in the distance but they vanished quickly.

Eventually the path wound along wide meadows which looked so beautifully with sparse black trees on the white ground and rolling low hills in he background. Still being all alone with the scenery it was almost magical!

I passed by Kleiner Stienitzsee and Stienitzsee with the latter one being quite large and finally arrived at Rüdersdorf after plowing through the snow for six hours. As the non-visible sun was setting it was getting remarkably colder so I decided against camping since my sleeping bag is not made for such low temperatures. Need to test my tent, sleeping bag and the gas stove another time.
Walked half an hour to the bus station and was lucky to get a bus to the nearest S-Bahn and within an hour I was home.

Although the weather upset my plans to hike for two days and to test all my gear for Ireland, it was still a very nice walk. My backpack is big enough for all I need, my new boots stood their ground even in snow and I know now how to use my gps device.
Brandenburg is beautiful in winter although working my way through the snow with the backpack and all was very exhausting and my knees really hurt that evening. Still I feel ready for Ireland!