Bergen sits on the edge of the Lüneburg Heath, where the sandy, open heather country meets the pine forests and the farmland of the Aller valley, and it is a quiet town with a heavy history on its doorstep. A few kilometres to the north-west lies the memorial at Bergen-Belsen, where a Nazi concentration camp stood, and where tens of thousands of people died, among them Anne Frank and her sister Margot, in early 1945. The site is a place of remembrance, with a documentation centre and a large cemetery, and many visitors come to pay their respects. It is a sobering place and deserves time and quiet.
The country around the town is also home to a large military training area, one of the biggest in Germany, which has had the unintended effect of preserving large areas of heath from development. Access to the training grounds is restricted, but the roads and tracks around the edges pass through some beautiful scenery: heather, juniper, birch, and pine, with wide skies and few houses. Hermannsburg, a village a few kilometres to the south-west, was the seat of a Lutheran mission society, founded in the nineteenth century, that sent missionaries to Africa and elsewhere.
The riding is calm and pleasant. The roads are mostly flat, with long straights and open bends, running between pine plantations and fields, and the surface is generally good. The heath is best in late summer, when the heather blooms, and in autumn, when the birch leaves turn gold. Traffic is light, though weekends in August can bring cyclists, walkers, and tourists. Watch for military vehicles on some roads, and for deer and wild boar at dusk. Sand can drift across the surface after dry, windy days.
Fuel, supermarkets, and cafes are available in Bergen, and Hermannsburg is a smaller place, about nine kilometres away, with a few places to eat. If you have time, visit the memorial first, and then take a break at a cafe in town. Spring and autumn are the best seasons, with fresh air and soft light, and winters are cold and grey, with frost and sometimes snow. Bring a rain layer, since the weather can change quickly in the flat country, and take care on sandy side roads.