The best cycling routes around Hemdingen

The small lake by the forest is so beautiful

Waldbühne Ellerhoop

The Himmelmoor was once the largest raised bog in Schleswig-Holstein, originally covering around 600 hectares. Peat was extracted here from 1780 until 2018. Even before the extraction was halted, the Himmelmoor was gradually being renaturalized and rewetted. There are two circular hiking trails where you can learn about the bog, a hiking trail that follows the trail of the peat railway, and, since 2012, a bridleway around the bog. Several viewing platforms offer an overview of the plots. On some weekends, tours are also available on the peat railway, a historic trolley railway. Parts of the Himmelmoor are an EU-protected fauna and flora habitat (FFH), while others are a landscape conservation area or nature reserve of the Pinneberg district.

Peat cutting, i.e., the above-ground extraction of peat, is no longer economically viable today. Peat as a fuel has largely been replaced by other high-energy fossil fuels. Many large-scale peatlands suitable for industrial extraction have now been drained. New peat cutting areas are only permitted under strict conditions. Raised bogs have an important regulatory effect on the water balance due to the large amounts of precipitation they can absorb. The preservation of the original habitats serves landscape conservation and species protection, as most species of peatland flora and fauna are considered threatened or critically endangered. Bogs grow extremely slowly; an intact peat body increases in thickness by only one millimeter per year. It therefore takes a thousand years for a one-meter-high layer of peat to form. Thus, bog areas recover very slowly during restoration attempts.

The Himmelmoor, one of the most beautiful moors in the Hamburg metropolitan region, can be explored on a 3.8-kilometer-long moorland nature trail. Along the trail, there are interactive stations and information panels where you can learn fascinating facts about the moor's flora and fauna, as well as its history. From several viewing hills, visitors can enjoy impressive views of the expansive moorland landscape.

The reclamation of the Himmelmoor began around 1780. Its edges were divided into 1,000 to 5,000 square meter plots and transferred to farmers from neighboring villages for peat extraction. Industrial peat extraction began in the 1870s. Peat was now also extracted from the center of the moor using machines. Peat excavators extracted the black peat, compressed it, and divided it into sods. Turning the drying sods was increasingly done by machine, as was the collection of the dry peat. The low-energy fuel was packaged and loaded at the peat works.

easy flat tour

From April to October, the exhibition is open every first and third Sunday and on public holidays in the old peat works at Himmelmoorchaussee 61 in Quickborn. It features pictures and old maps, presenting, among other things, the historical peat extraction process, the tools and machinery used, the climate impact of moors, and the diverse flora and fauna of the Himmelmoor Nature Reserve. Depending on the weather, short, spontaneous tours can be arranged. Admission is free, and donations for volunteer work are always welcome. https://www.hamburg-tourism.de/sehen-erleben/veranstaltungen/veranstaltungskalender/open-torfwerk-am-himmelmoor/