Burg likes to call itself the town of towers, and as you approach across the flat Elbe plain, you can see why: medieval church spires and the remnants of old fortifications rise above the rooftops. It is a market town of some twenty-five thousand people, east of Magdeburg, and for most riders on the Prignitz ride it is simply a convenient place to refuel. But it has a few surprises.
The military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, author of On War, was born here in 1780, and a small museum in the town commemorates him. Burg also has an industrial tradition; it was known for its shoe and glove making, and the town lends its name to a well-known brand of crispbread that has been produced here for generations.
A few kilometres west of Burg, at Hohenwarthe, lies one of the most remarkable feats of engineering in Germany: the Magdeburg Water Bridge, which carries the Mittelland Canal over the Elbe on a steel trough almost a kilometre long. Barges sail across the river above the river, and you can walk or cycle along the towpath to watch them. It is a strange and wonderful sight, and it is well worth a short detour if you have time. The Elbe–Havel Canal also passes through Burg itself.
The landscape around Burg is flat and agricultural, with large fields, forests and the floodplains of the Elbe. The roads are generally good, straight and quiet, with occasional cobbles in the villages. The A2 motorway passes just south of town, connecting Berlin and the Ruhr. To the north, the roads lead towards the Altmark and Prignitz, with their vast open spaces, small villages and the dykes of the Elbe. Burg handles fuel, groceries and lunch without fuss. The weather is typical of central Germany: warm summers, cold winters and often windy on the open plains.