Nature-Focused Bicycle Hike with Sonja Schürger
In 1805, *Streifzüge durch das Rügenland* was published. In letters to a friend, Johann Jacob Grümbke—the son of a doctor from Bergen, a tutor, and a self-taught scholar—vividly and entertainingly describes the diversity of his impressions and experiences immediately following his hikes through the island. He is interested in nature and the landscape, local history, and the customs and traditions of the inhabitants. The ever-changing interplay of colors and forms in nature, observed from numerous vantage points, inspires him to create watercolors and pen-and-ink drawings. He wrote this book “to be of use to his contemporaries, and in part to leave a monument for posterity that might teach them what Rügen was like in his father’s time.”
220 years later, we want to follow in the footsteps of Johann Jacob Grümbke on various cycling tours, observing and experiencing the diverse atmospheric qualities of Rügen’s landscapes.
The well-maintained bike path leads around the Kubitzer Bodden, offering sweeping views of the cultivated landscape and the shoreline, and passes by the Drammendorf Lowlands. This polder landscape has been rewetted and regenerated, resulting in a vast shallow-water landscape with sandbars and gravel islands, surrounded by salt marshes. Many waterfowl and wading birds—some of them rare—such as great egrets, lapwings, and common terns gather here, especially during the spring and fall migrations. The route then continues through old tree-lined avenues, offering ever-changing views of the Bodden and the diverse shoreline, leading to the picturesque church in Landow on the silted-up harbor bay.
Part 4 | Salt marshes near Drammendorf | Landow | Participation fee: 20 euros
