- Location
- Northern Germany
Last summer my wife took the kids to Hamburg for the day and when they came back full of excited tales my son made a random comment that triggered a series of events that lead to a plan. That plan was to take the train to Hamburg and this time, cycle home. It's roughly 160 km of cycling if you take the scenic way, which involves minimal roads and lots of forest as well as the Lüneburg Hiede that lies in between. The Lüneburg Heide is one of the largest features of the Northern German plain, a large area of heathland, geest and woodland that covers much of Northern Lower Saxony. The geest is a gentle rolling landform created from glacial till after the retreat of the last glaciers and has left behind a predominately sandy, gravelly soil. These poor soils were home to extensive forests, populated by Birch, Pine and Sessile Oaks. Later Neolithic farmers started to extensively graze the land and the animals would eat the juvenile trees, causing large gaps to appear in the forest cover, grazing resistant heather would colonise the over grazed areas and the heathland started to emerge. Successive generations of farmers have found ways to manage the poor soils and create farmable arable soils. The resultant balance of the three landscapes, heathland, woodland and farmland, has been in steady flux for thousands of years now and the whole area is regarded as a cultural landscape, rather than a natural one.
I plotted a route home across this landscape that used some of the European Divide trail, along with long distance walking paths and my own heathland ride from 2 years ago. It may not have the wow factor of a large highland region here, but with care you can create an amazing route that explores the blanks spaces on a map and has a real wild and remote feeling.
So with loaded bikes this Easter break, we set off from home to the train station, full of excitement for the adventure ahead. The weather was set fair for the days ahead, but whilst the sun was shining a bitter Northerly airstream was over us that would bring some seriously cold night time temperatures. We alighted from the high speed train in Hamburg's main station and orientated ourselves, the first destination was the Elbe river. Hamburg city centre isn't the most cycle friendly of German cities and we ended up riding the 3 kilometres to the river mixed in with lots of traffic and for safety we crossed junctions as pedestrians, pushing the bikes.
Stopping at the river we found a busy pedestrian path overlooking the water and took a breather before pushing the bikes towards a nondescript looking building. There are no bridges in the immediate vicinity, instead we were to take a much more novel route across. Around the side of the building was a large entrance into a cargo lift that would carry us and the bikes underground and into the entrance of the Elbe tunnel. This historic tunnel, built in 1907, provides pedestrian and bike access to the other side of the Elbe river, 500 metres away.
On the South side it's all quiet, there is a nice bike path that winds its way through the myriad waterways that form the South side of Hamburg. A cruise ship is docked at one berth and towers over everything, the scale is immense. Elsewhere a metal bridge meanders in a huge arc over a meeting of numerous canals, the place is a hive of activity. After a pleasant few kilometers on a lovely cycleway we come to the next major river crossing, the South Elbe. I was a little anxious about what I might find there, but the last thing I was expecting was a large pedestrian bridge, looking for all the world like a bridge designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a great way to cross the river.
So far we had been riding on tarmac through the Southern part of this great city, as we passed through the busy suburb of Harburg, that was about to change. After a challenging, busy junction and a short diversion to avoid a closed section, we alighted on the shores of Außenmühlenteich, a large lake that signified the edge of the city proper.
Beautiful gravel paths bring us around the Western shore and from there out into the countryside where we could look out onto open fields and take a quick lunch break in the spring sunshine.
A succession of forest paths now opened out in front of us, rising and falling between the trees, steep uphills followed by exhilarating downs, mysterious single track and wide open trails. Never quite knowing where the trails would take us next, the sense of adventure and exploration was brilliant.
We take frequent breaks in the sunshine, going at my son's pace, trying not to wear him out and keep the day fun and enjoyable. Food is an issue though, the home made flapjacks and energy balls are fine, but we're craving more and there's nothing out here. I've bought the Towwhee along, basically a glorified bungee cord that can connect the the two bikes and at times it gets deployed to tow my son along and give him a much needed rest along with a physiological boost. Then as we both start to flag we hit a really tough section, the foresters have been here wreaking havoc on the land, the trail completely vanishes and after vainly riding some of it, we give up and haul and push the rest of the way through.
Luckily it's only a short section, but the energy levels are really low now, we thankfully hit a nice flowing gravel track that takes us out of the woods and onto the edge of a town where to our delight we see a supermarket. We gratefully stop and load up on food, including a nice big cake each and sit on the edge of the car park topping up our sugar levels and watching life go by.
From here the next 10km pass pleasantly enough on a mix of quiet roads and forest tracks, one break in the forest we watch some deer run past us, startled by our presence. Then in the village of Seepensen we turn into a patch of forest that leads us up and onto the Hiede. It's been a constant refrain since we left the city, when will we see the first open Heathland and finally it's here. In the summer when the heather is in bloom it's a riot of colour here, but even today the muted browns look lovely in the spring sunshine.
It's absolutely lovely here, we're heading for the small peak of Brunsberg at a mighty 148m high and a few breaks later we make it and stop for some much needed rest.
It's only 8 km from here to our overnight halt, but it's late in the day and my son is at his limit. These last 8 km are really tough, trying to keep his spirits high with tows and food, we make our slow way on to the village of Handerloh. Wild camping is illegal in Germany, even more so here on the Heide, however, there is a website called 1nite tent, where folk offer a place to pitch in their gardens and we are heading to one now. Finally we roll exhausted into our hosts garden and they couldn't be more friendly and welcoming. I was just expecting a pitch on their lawn, but instead they welcomed us in and offered us food and hospitality, an amazing experience that left a deep impression on my son.
Overall today we covered an amazing 52 kilometers and a height gain of 432 metres.
I plotted a route home across this landscape that used some of the European Divide trail, along with long distance walking paths and my own heathland ride from 2 years ago. It may not have the wow factor of a large highland region here, but with care you can create an amazing route that explores the blanks spaces on a map and has a real wild and remote feeling.
So with loaded bikes this Easter break, we set off from home to the train station, full of excitement for the adventure ahead. The weather was set fair for the days ahead, but whilst the sun was shining a bitter Northerly airstream was over us that would bring some seriously cold night time temperatures. We alighted from the high speed train in Hamburg's main station and orientated ourselves, the first destination was the Elbe river. Hamburg city centre isn't the most cycle friendly of German cities and we ended up riding the 3 kilometres to the river mixed in with lots of traffic and for safety we crossed junctions as pedestrians, pushing the bikes.
Stopping at the river we found a busy pedestrian path overlooking the water and took a breather before pushing the bikes towards a nondescript looking building. There are no bridges in the immediate vicinity, instead we were to take a much more novel route across. Around the side of the building was a large entrance into a cargo lift that would carry us and the bikes underground and into the entrance of the Elbe tunnel. This historic tunnel, built in 1907, provides pedestrian and bike access to the other side of the Elbe river, 500 metres away.
On the South side it's all quiet, there is a nice bike path that winds its way through the myriad waterways that form the South side of Hamburg. A cruise ship is docked at one berth and towers over everything, the scale is immense. Elsewhere a metal bridge meanders in a huge arc over a meeting of numerous canals, the place is a hive of activity. After a pleasant few kilometers on a lovely cycleway we come to the next major river crossing, the South Elbe. I was a little anxious about what I might find there, but the last thing I was expecting was a large pedestrian bridge, looking for all the world like a bridge designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a great way to cross the river.
So far we had been riding on tarmac through the Southern part of this great city, as we passed through the busy suburb of Harburg, that was about to change. After a challenging, busy junction and a short diversion to avoid a closed section, we alighted on the shores of Außenmühlenteich, a large lake that signified the edge of the city proper.
Beautiful gravel paths bring us around the Western shore and from there out into the countryside where we could look out onto open fields and take a quick lunch break in the spring sunshine.
A succession of forest paths now opened out in front of us, rising and falling between the trees, steep uphills followed by exhilarating downs, mysterious single track and wide open trails. Never quite knowing where the trails would take us next, the sense of adventure and exploration was brilliant.
We take frequent breaks in the sunshine, going at my son's pace, trying not to wear him out and keep the day fun and enjoyable. Food is an issue though, the home made flapjacks and energy balls are fine, but we're craving more and there's nothing out here. I've bought the Towwhee along, basically a glorified bungee cord that can connect the the two bikes and at times it gets deployed to tow my son along and give him a much needed rest along with a physiological boost. Then as we both start to flag we hit a really tough section, the foresters have been here wreaking havoc on the land, the trail completely vanishes and after vainly riding some of it, we give up and haul and push the rest of the way through.
Luckily it's only a short section, but the energy levels are really low now, we thankfully hit a nice flowing gravel track that takes us out of the woods and onto the edge of a town where to our delight we see a supermarket. We gratefully stop and load up on food, including a nice big cake each and sit on the edge of the car park topping up our sugar levels and watching life go by.
From here the next 10km pass pleasantly enough on a mix of quiet roads and forest tracks, one break in the forest we watch some deer run past us, startled by our presence. Then in the village of Seepensen we turn into a patch of forest that leads us up and onto the Hiede. It's been a constant refrain since we left the city, when will we see the first open Heathland and finally it's here. In the summer when the heather is in bloom it's a riot of colour here, but even today the muted browns look lovely in the spring sunshine.
It's absolutely lovely here, we're heading for the small peak of Brunsberg at a mighty 148m high and a few breaks later we make it and stop for some much needed rest.
It's only 8 km from here to our overnight halt, but it's late in the day and my son is at his limit. These last 8 km are really tough, trying to keep his spirits high with tows and food, we make our slow way on to the village of Handerloh. Wild camping is illegal in Germany, even more so here on the Heide, however, there is a website called 1nite tent, where folk offer a place to pitch in their gardens and we are heading to one now. Finally we roll exhausted into our hosts garden and they couldn't be more friendly and welcoming. I was just expecting a pitch on their lawn, but instead they welcomed us in and offered us food and hospitality, an amazing experience that left a deep impression on my son.
Overall today we covered an amazing 52 kilometers and a height gain of 432 metres.
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