Büsum is where Dithmarschen meets the North Sea, a small resort and fishing port that spent a few centuries as an island before the sea gave up and the land joined it to the mainland in the sixteenth century. These days it is a cheerful and slightly salty place, full of day-trippers and holidaymakers, with a harbour that still has a working fleet of shrimp cutters. The little grey shrimp, known locally as Krabben, are the thing to eat here: sold from stalls on the quay in paper cones or stuffed into a bread roll, with the smell of diesel and seaweed thrown in free.
The harbour is the heart of it. Red and blue cutters lie against the quay, nets hang drying, and the gulls watch everything with professional interest. When the tide goes out the area around the harbour shows its true nature as a stretch of Wadden Sea mud, and a walk to the dike will show you the long, flat coastline that never quite decides whether it is land or water. Seals and many wading birds use these flats, and on the right day you may see a seal trip from the harbour heading out.
Getting here is half the point. The roads from Heide and Meldorf run dead straight across the flat farmland, between ditches and dikes, with wind turbines for company. It is easy riding, but on a bad day with a strong westerly it is also tiring riding, with the front wheel nudged constantly. Summer weekends bring queues and crowded parking, so plan for midweek or an early start. The cobbled bits and sandy edges near the harbour need a little care.
For services the town is small, with fewer than five thousand residents, but it has what a visitor needs: places to eat, shops and parking. If you need a proper fuel station, remember the nearest bigger town is Meldorf, fourteen kilometres away, and it is wise to tank up there before the coastal detour. A late afternoon here, with the tide coming in and a hot fish roll in your hand, is a good way to end a day of dike riding.