Szczecin Lagoon Cycle Route - Stage 5 [Anklam – Ueckermünde]

V Anklam - Ueckermünde [36 km]

The section runs mainly along separate bicycle paths, some of them have a gravel surface. Marking of the trail: good, common course with the trail Oder-Neiße-Radweg (D-12), The signs of the Stettiner Haff-Rundweg appear sporadically.

The Hanseatic city of Anklam was destroyed during World War II by the American air force, which wanted to destroy the plane factory operating here. One of the surviving monuments is the Church of St. Nicholas with a 45-meter tower. Anklam is therefore known not for its beautiful architecture but an interesting aviation museum. Otto Lilienthal, an aviation pioneer, and designer of the first gliders, was born here. It is not an ordinary, boring museum, but rather a story about dreams and how to fulfill them. After all, the history of flying is also about Icarus or the blacksmith Wieland from the Nordic sagas. We can find an overview of often fantastic ideas for flying machines, but most of all, reconstructions of modern airplanes' ancestors. Otto Lilienthal was the first man to fly into the air in 1891 with the help of a glider he constructed. His experiences had a tremendous influence on the design and appearance of the aircraft's wings, and the Wright brothers said he was their direct inspiration. His Berlin-based company producing "universal gliders" was the first to produce aircraft machines. Lilienthal died 5 years after his first successful flight, falling from a height of 15 meters.

After Anklam, the asphalt road turns into gravel, which can take us to the ferry crossing mentioned in the previous stage. Without turning towards it, we continue our journey through the Anklamer Stadtbruch reserve. These are vast, picturesque backwaters that were restored to nature after the flood in 1995, when a great storm broke the embankments and water flooded meadows and forests. Currently, the landscape is returning to the state of balance, and the forests planted by man are slowly dying. It is a bird paradise that we can admire from the bike path. The best place to observe birds is the lookout tower 2.5 km in front of the picturesque village of Bugewitz. From here, dirt roads will take us to the beach in Mönkebude. We continue by cycle paths to Ueckermünde, from where every Wednesday (and on Sunday during summer holidays) a ship leaves for Kamminke near Świnoujście, should we suddenly want to return to the sea. The ferry departs at 10.30 am, in Świnoujście it is at 1.00 pm. The return cruise starts at 4:00 PM and ends at 6:30 PM.