Finally! Corona restrictions have begun lifting in all Bundesländer across Germany. As they were being lessened to varying degrees in various places, C searched out which places would welcome campers. Brandenburg – not yet. Saxony – not yet. Lower Saxony? Yes! So we’re off to Niedersachsen for the Ascension holiday weekend (for this holiday last year we went to the Mecklenburg Lake District and planned our own paddle tour). Getting to the Lüneburger Heide (heath) has been on our hiking list for a while now.
Arrival
Wanting to camp and stay close to the national park, we left Berlin at 5:30 in the morning and arrived 4 hours later in Egestorf at the Regenbogen campground. If you travel directly to Lüneburg from Berlin it takes about 3 hours on the train, but you’re still a good bit away from the national park. The longest part of our journey was with the bus. It seemed to visit every village in the Heath before getting to our stop. Along the way we got to see that the entire region is filled with the most adorable homes!
Unbelievably Cute Villages
Like I mentioned above, the Heath has the cutest homes around! I am in love with brick houses and half-timbered houses, and here they’ve just combined my two favorite styles. Not only are the homes half-timbered and brick, but many of them also have thatched roofs. As if it could get more fairy tale? Having taken the bus twice through half of the Heath, I can definitely say this was not just a one off in Egestorf but consistently cute everywhere around the Heide.
Hiking
Lower Saxony is called such because it is so flat, but the Heath is an exception. Especially when compared to our usual hiking haunts in Brandenburg, this landscape is very appealing. It is filled with small hills, healthy forests, and heaths. There are benches everywhere to take a rest and enjoy the view. July and August are peak times for the Heide because this is when it blooms in gorgeous purple everywhere. This was easy to imagine as the plants themselves are a brownish purple. Even though we didn’t see the Heath in its full glory, there were many other spring blossoms to enjoy.
Egestorf Loop
Having already traveled 4 hours by train and bus, we chose a short 7 km hike for our first foray into the Heath. Starting at the church in Egestorf, we hiked past the bust of Pastor Wilhelm Bode onto Sudermühler Weg, following the trail to the right when we reached a bench. For the remainder of the hike we mostly followed the Nordic Walking trail 9L.
Birkenbank
We shortly reached our first heath and I was immediately impressed. Climbing a tiny hill allowed us to view the whole meadow which was covered in calf-high purple-brown bushes. The area is known as Birkenbank for the many birch trees which line the edge of the heath.
Continuing down the hill we went through a small swath of forest and discussed how awesome it is to be in a REAL forest and not just a monoculture wood full of half dead pine trees. The forests are filled with birch, European beech, various pines, and other kinds of trees.
Hof Sudermühlen
From here, the trail continued alongside a cobble stone street until we reached Hof Sudermühlen. There we came upon a group of horseback riders. The Heath is riddled with equestrian routes, which are much sandier than the hiking routes. Behind the mill we crossed our first stream, the Schmale Aue.
Bienenzaun
Next, we walked through some more heather fields where we saw another Bienenzaun (literally “bee fence”). The bee fence looks like a very long covered pavilion, but is uninviting with its lack of benches or picnic tables. Open on one long side, a shelf runs through the building and contains old fashioned looking beehives. The Heath has a long history with honey. On our second hike, we went by a local apiarist and picked up a jar of European beech with cherry honey.
Schmale Aue
Through another stretch of woods before crossing back over the Schmale Aue, we hiked on the Heidschnuckenweg. This is a famous long distance hike through Germany which starts in Hamburg and ends 223 km later in Celle. Heidschnucken are the sheep which graze in the heath (more on them later). Along the Aue, we hiked on a boardwalk under a leafy green canopy of trees.
Auberg
Close to the end of our hike, we took a detour to the Auberg. The Auberg is not only a beautiful heather-filled health, but also has a great view of the surrounding hills. We sat on the bench at the end of the heath and enjoyed the view and the sunshine.
Since the maps in our guidebook were so great, we didn’t head home through Egestorf, but instead through the woods back to the campground. It was a brief but exciting hike. We got to see lots of typical Lüneburger Heide landscapes in such a short while. I was totally enticed for the next hike!
Pastor-Bode-Weg
Over the next two days, we hiked sections of the Pastor-Bode-Weg. The portions we toured went from Wilsede through Egestorf and ended in Salzhausen. With our accommodation in Egestorf, we hiked the first half of the tour to Wilsede and then combined it with a loop through Undeloh. This made for a very long day, but a fantastic hike!
Egestorf to Wilsede
From our campsite, we hiked through the woods until we reached the Pastor-Bode-Weg. Pastor Bode was one of the first people to care about nature protection in Germany. He began to collect donations to purchase up the heath and create a natural park. We crossed over the same boardwalk as the day before and then turned right to cross over the Radenbach, also over a boardwalk.
Throughout the 5 kilometers to Wilsede we wandered among beautiful Heide landscapes. On the way, we passed through some paddocks which contain horses and cows, more specifically Wilseder Rote and Dülmener wild horses. Before entering the village, we hiked along the Hutewald which was full of large trees but with nothing growing on the ground. This came to be because of allowing livestock to graze in the forest. The pigs, horses, and cows ate the saplings, undergrowth, and low hanging leaves which created this interesting forest.
Wilsede-Undeloh Loop
This 17 kilometer hike incorporates several of the Heide’s higlights including the Wilseder Berg and Totengrund. I also enjoyed seeing more of the cutest brick and half-timbered buildings.
Wilsede and the Totengrund
Arriving in Wilsede felt like entering an open-air museum. All of the houses are totally adorable! Among the handful of buildings are a gift shop, hotel/restaurant, and a café. You can even get a ride in a horse-drawn carriage.
To visit the Totengrund, we took a detour from our trail, which was also following the Heidschnuckenweg, to the left. The Totengrund is a cliff overlooking a valley dating back to the ice age. The protection of this area can be credited to Pastor Bode for buying up the area with other nature protection fanatics in the early 1900’s. If not for him, this land and the Wilseder Berg would be full of villas and weekend homes or reforested heath.
After the Totengrund, we made our way down to the Steingrund, another heath. Next highlight on tour was the Wilseder Berg – the highest mountain in the Heide at 169m. There is a great view from the top and many benches from which to enjoy it. Also at the top of the Wilseder Berg is a plaque dedicated to Carl Friedrich Gauss, a famous mathematician, for his work in the Triangulation of the Kingdom of Hannover (trigonometry in action!).
Heidschnucken
From the Wilseder Berg we wandered towards Undeloh. We hiked mostly through more stretches of heide as the skies began to darken. The trail meandered along the edge of a forest and crossed one final field before Undeloh. Before getting into town, we took a break on a bench and could see and hear some sheep maaaaa-ing on the horizon. The noise seemed to be getting louder. Were the sheep getting closer? Oh yes they were! The Heidschnucken were hurriedly walking, jumping, bleating, and grazing their way towards us.
Eventually we could see a shepherd with his staff and a dark colored dog following behind the flock. Some more curious ones (especially the few goats sprinkled throughout) come over to check out what we were grazing on. A pair of riders wanted to get through the flock, but their horses refused. The shepherd made a few calls and the dog maneuvered the sheep off the path to let them pass. It was amazing, authentic Heide experience!
Undeloh
In Undeloh, the skies began to rain down on us. We stopped at a picnic bench next to the Heide Visitor Center to put on our rain jackets. In doing so, C noticed a man in work overalls selling honey. We had read so much about the bee fences and Heide honey that we went over to check it out. Our guide book had also told us that with the reduced production in the heath that the bee’s gold will cost you a pretty penny and they were not kidding! Some jars (like the large jar of white pine honey) went for as much as 25 euros! That is precious stuff. There were all sorts – creamy, runny, savory, and various trees and plants.
The rain wasn’t enough to keep our jackets on for the whole hike back. We went through a large section of heath before arriving back to the Schmale Aue and returning to our campsite in Egestorf.
What a weekend! All of that and we have only discovered a portion of the beauty which can be found hiking in the Lüneburger Heide. Since the heath blooms in July and August, I’m really hoping that we’ll get to go back to see the Heide in all its wonder. Have you already visited the Lüneburger Heide? Any tips for our next visit? 🙂
We stayed at the Regenbogen Egestorf Campground and really enjoyed how close it is to the park. We were able to complete both of these hikes without public transportation. From July through October the Heide Shuttle can take you to various points around the park and allows you to see more. If traveling to the campground via public transit, search for Ginsterweg, Egestorf or Abzw. Döhle, Egestorf.
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