Natural area between Mulde and Elbe
The bicycle trail begins in Trebsen on the Mulde as a branch of the Muldental bicycle trail and leads, among others, through the towns of Nerchau, Mutzschen, Wermsdorf, and Oschatz to Strehla on the Elbe. In Strehla, the path merges into the Elbe cycle path. The bicycle trail is (still) not signposted at the beginning from Trebsen, but the route can still be easily found with the map. The first information board about the cycling trail can only be seen in Mutzschen on the main street. The truly good signposting then begins from the exit of Mutzschen towards Wermsdorf near the Horstsee. From there, it is no longer a problem to follow the cycling route.
The area lies on the edge of the northwest Saxon porphyry hill country. In the west, there are numerous porphyry peaks, such as the Kapellenberg north of Mutzschen, which divide the terrain into elevations and valleys. To the east of the area, the landscape is mostly gently rolling to flat. Rising from it is the Collm with an elevation of 314 meters above sea level. Between the Elbe and Mulde is a large contiguous forest area, the Wermsdorf Forest. It was formerly called the Mutzschen Heath. This forest served as an electoral-royal hunting ground for parforce hunts and forest use during the times of the Dresden court. Later, fish farming was added. In 1963, the forest was publicly declared a landscape protection area, Wermsdorfer Forest. It has some natural monuments, such as the 1000-year-old lime tree in the Collm cemetery. In the Wermsdorf Forest and at its southern edge, there are many small and large ponds. They are artificial facilities from the 16th century. At that time, natural depressions were dammed to be used for fish farming. Today, the beautiful ponds serve not only fish breeding but also as idyllic recreation areas. The Collm, located at the northeastern edge of the Wermsdorf Forest, rises almost unnaturally 100 meters above the surroundings. The mountain, mostly composed of graywacke rock, is covered by a hornbeam-oak-beech forest.
