Peitz Karpfen route

The route begins at the historic Peitz town hall at Peitz market.

From the town hall, only a few meters to the fortress tower for the route. From the tower, you have a good overview of Peitz and the surrounding area. The museum provides interesting information about Margrave Johann of Küstrin, who founded fishing in Peitz. The route continues along Plantagenweg to the street 'Um die halbe Stadt' to Lindenstraße, past the Luisenruh manor house to Spreewaldstraße (junction 54). At the beginning of the 17th century, it was proposed for strategic reasons to convert the meadows between the small cemetery, the Garkoschke, and the town into a pond, which was also intended to hold carp. This plan was not implemented but proves that ponds were created for strategic purposes for the fortress and not only for carp farming. The route continues along Spreewaldstraße (the bike paths turn left behind the cemetery, but continue straight here). About 1 km beyond Peitz's town exit, you will find the historic windmill on the right. Turn left at the windmill. After a few meters, you cross the Malxe, a tributary of the Spree. The Malxe flows into the Upper Spree Forest with several branches of the Spree. Continue straight on the bike path to Garkoschke. In this sand dune, sand was excavated in the 1970s, resulting in a bathing lake where a healthy fish population can be found today. The route continues through the Ottendorf district. On the right lies the Hammergraben, a branch of the Spree created in the 16th century. Via the roundabout, Siedlungsstraße, Ackerstraße, and Dammzollstraße (junction 69), you reach the Peitz Hüttenwerk.

Peitz Hüttenwerk

The monument area houses gastronomy, the fishery operation, and the ironworks and fishery museum. This museum provides interesting insights, including inland fisheries. At the Hüttenwerk there is a lovingly designed and very worth-seeing bird garden. The Hüttenwerk is also the starting point of the Peitz boat ride on the Hammergraben.

Directly at the Hüttenwerk begins the most scenic part of the route, the so-called Maustmühlenweg. Here run, among others, the theme bike routes Gurkenradweg and Spreeradweg. We follow this bike path southward. On the left side are first the fish holding pond and later the Neuendorfer Oberteich. These two ponds are among the largest in Germany. Here, two-year-old stocked carp grow to become popular table fish. On the right flows the Hammergraben, also called Hammerstrom. This artificial arm of the Spree serves to irrigate the terraced ponds and also supplied the Hüttenwerk and other businesses with hydropower. There are also several smaller ponds on the right side. Between the Hüttenwerk and Maustmühle, the signs of the pond educational trail provide information about the ponds and fish farming. About halfway between Hüttenwerk and Maustmühle, on the left, is a silo facility for storing fish feed (grains). The feed is loaded directly onto special feeding boats from this facility.

Maustmühle

Maustmühle was an important mill site until the mid-20th century. A new water wheel and the name of the inn recall the former water mill. Attention! At Maustmühle, continue on the left (eastern) side of Hammergraben and follow the bike path's course. Directly behind the Maustmühle, the landscape becomes even more beautiful. The bike path runs on a very narrow dam between the Streckteich on the left and the Hammergraben until it reaches the Cottbus-Frankfurt (Oder) railway line. Please turn right here and continue following the Spreeradweg and Gurkenradweg. After a few meters (junction 47), again turn right and ride a short distance on the western Hammergraben side back. After a few meters, the bike path crosses the new Hammergraben. A few meters behind the wooden bridge, the Gurkenradweg and Spreeradweg are left. The Karpfen route continues straight here. It is clearly noticeable here that Hammergraben flows far above the ground level. After about 150 meters, the route turns left and leads into the village of Maust. On the right side of the path, you see an alder swamp forest, which was typical of the Peitz area's meadow areas until far into the 18th century.

In Maust, at Mauster Dorfstraße, the Karpfen route turns right. The route continues along Mauster Dorfstraße (always stay on the main street!) until the town exit. Here turn right into Teichweg. After a few meters, you see the Peitz pond area with smaller ponds on the left side of the path again. After about 1.5 kilometers, Teichweg ends at Maustmühle. Here you don't have to cross the Hammergraben, but continue straight back to junction 47. From here, the bike route runs about 5 km along the railway line to Peitz-Ost station. The tracks are on the right, the pond area and some agricultural fields and forest patches on the left. About 1 km behind the Teichland halt, you see the Neuendorfer Oberteich with an area of 222 hectares on the right side. It is the largest pond in Germany. On the right, the facilities of the Peitz-Ost freight yard begin. From here you have a good view of the Jänschwalde power plant. The power plant uses the warm water for fish farming. After one kilometer, you reach Peitz/Ost passenger station. If you want to arrive by train, you can also start the route here. From Peitz/Ost station, you reach junction 69 again after about 2 km via Alte Bahnhofstraße. On the left side of Alte Bahnhofstraße is the fish holding pond. It is the third largest pond in the pond area. From junction 69, you reach Peitz old town again via Fischerstraße and the starting point of the bike route.