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8.4 kilometer loop in Brandenburg which featured lakes, forests, and the abandoned Schloss Dammsmühle. [Tour Link]

This hike focused on three lakes (including Mühlenbecker See) and the abandoned neo-baroque Dammsmühle Castle.

Dammsmühle is right on the mill pond and although the renovation scafolding ruined the mood, it is still a perfect spooky backdrop. Originally built in 1650 a s a hunting lodge, the list of former residents ranges from Napoleon and the SS to the Red Army.

From January to July 1943, 20 to 25 prisoners from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp were used for construction and maintenance work.[4] Shortly before the end of the war, the commander of the Wehrmacht Army Group “Vistula” defending Berlin, Colonel General Gotthard Heinrici, set up his headquarters here. After the war ended in 1945, the castle was occupied by the Red Army. Initially used as a hospital, the building later became a rest home and casino for Soviet officers.