Schleswig is a town that stretches along the head of the Schlei like a ribbon, and the section of the Danish defences marked here lies on its southern and western side. This is where the long Main Wall met the edge of the water and the Viking harbour town of Hedeby, and the connecting wall was built to link the two so that no one could slip through the gap. On the ground it appears as a low, grassy bank crossing meadows and the edges of woods, only a few kilometres from the old town.
The town of Schleswig itself is well worth the time. The fishermen's quarter, called Holm, is a tiny village of low cottages on a former island in the Schlei, with its own small chapel and a cemetery on a spit of land, and the narrow lanes smell of smoke from the herring smokehouses. The cathedral, St Peter's, has a brick tower more than a hundred metres tall and houses a carved wooden altarpiece by Hans Brüggemann from 1521, a huge piece of late Gothic woodwork. On the north side of the town, Gottorf Castle stands on its island, once the seat of the dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf and now a museum.
Riding here is gentle. The roads wind around the end of the fjord with small ups and downs, passing through villages and between hedged fields, and the surface is generally good. The traffic in Schleswig can be busy at midday, particularly near the bridge, and weekends in summer bring day visitors. A pleasant way to link the sights is to ride along the Schlei shore on the quieter side roads, stopping at small harbours where boats are tied up and the reeds rustle.
For fuel, Schleswig has all the stations and supermarkets you need, and Fahrdorf, a short way along, has smaller shops and a bakery. The smell of smoked fish is a good clue about lunch, since a bread roll with smoked herring or a plate of fried fish is easy to find near the water. The best light is in the evening, when the fjord turns pink and the towers of the town stand out against the sky.