Düsseldorf has two reputations that do not always sit comfortably together: fashion and beer. The Königsallee, a wide boulevard with a tree-lined canal down the middle, is lined with expensive shops, and the city is a hub for advertising, trade fairs and business. Yet the old town, the Altstadt, is crammed with traditional brewery pubs serving Altbier, a dark copper top-fermented beer poured fresh from the barrel into small glasses by waiters called Köbes. The stretch is often called the longest bar in the world, and on a Friday night it seems like it.
The city sits on the right bank of the Rhine, and the riverfront promenade is a favourite place to walk and watch the barges. The Rheinturm, a television tower with a clock made of lights, gives views over the river, and the Medienhafen, an old port converted to offices and restaurants, has odd buildings by Frank Gehry that look like crumpled paper. The poet Heinrich Heine was born here in 1797. There is also a large Japanese community, and you will find excellent ramen and sushi in the streets near the station.
The riding starts in the middle of Germany's most densely populated region, and the first part is a matter of patience. Motorways, ring roads and industrial areas fill the horizon, and traffic is heavy at rush hour. The Rhine valley itself is flat, though a short ride east brings you to the Bergisches Land, with wooded valleys, reservoirs and twisting roads, and to the north-west the lower Rhine has its own gentle rural charm. Low-emission zones apply in the city, and the speed cameras are many. Do not underestimate the distances either: the Ruhr area, with the Zollverein coal mine, is only about forty kilometres to the north-east.
Fuel is plentiful in a city of over five hundred thousand, and breakfast cafes and bakeries are everywhere. It is a good place to start early, to be out of the urban sprawl before the commuters arrive. If you finish here in the evening, a glass of Altbier in the old town is the right way to close the day. The smell of the place is a mixture of river water, malt and exhaust, which is oddly comforting.