Hike to the Crane staging grounds at Linum (18 to 20 km hike)

Let's walk through the flat landscapes of the Rhinluch and visit the village Linum to watch the cranes flying to their roosts in the sheltered shore zones at dusk.

In autumn of each year, cranes gather in groups in order to prepare for the flight to their wintering grounds. They have very special preferences for the areas where they gather: They need to find big amouts of food, such as corn. Additionally, they also need wide but very shallow water basins for roosting. The landscapes of the Rhinluch around the village Linum seem to provide these conditions perfectly. At least, huge groups of cranes gather here every year - up to 70,000 cranes have been counted on a single day.

We meet on Saturday at 11:06 at the train station Kremmen. The station is on the RE6 line. Likely, you need to take the S25 to Hennigsdorf and change to the RE6 there.

In Kremmen, we will hop on the replacement bus to Beetz-Sommerfeld, which departs at 11:16. For the case we should miss the bus, we will walk from Kremmen.

From Beetz-Sommerfeld, we will walk through the Rhinluch to Linum. There, we will have some time to discover the village, have a coffee or meal or do some shopping at the local farmers markets.

30 to 45 minutes before dusk, we can go to the place where the cranes approaching their roosting grounds can be watched best.

If you are interested to learn a bit more about the cranes, you can join one of the guided tours offered at Linum (German language, 10 Euros). See here for more information:

http://www.kraniche-linum.de/event/kranichfuehrung-214/

After the the cranes finished their approach, we will still have some time until the return bus departs. We can spend that time by having a hot drink or dinner at a local restaurant:

https://www.linum-storchenklause.de/restaurant-1/

We return from Linum by bus at 19:30. The bus 758 will take us to Neuruppin, where we can hop on the RE6. You should be back in Berlin around 21:30.

Important things to note:

• Managing expectations: As cranes value their privacy, you won't be able to see the roosting grounds from a close distance. You will need binoculars to get a remote glimpse of these grounds. The main sight is the cranes flying and landing at the roosting grounds. Possibly, we will also see some cranes feeding on the fields during the hike.
• This is an average hike. Still, you should wear suitable shoes.
• You are all responsible for yourself. None of us is crane operator or something like that.
• There won't be too many Späties along the route, so have enough water and food with you.
• Please note that the number of participants is limited, because at a certain size a group gets virtually unmanageable. As the demand may be higher than the number of available spots, please be fair and only RSVP if you are sure that you can make it. If you learn later that you cannot take part, please update your RSVP accordingly.