Hamburg opens up to the water. The Elbe runs through the city, the port covers a large chunk of it, and the harbour front is a long working landscape of cranes, container ships, tugs and ferries, with the sound of horns carrying across the water at night. The old warehouse district, the Speicherstadt, is a block of red-brick buildings on oak piles, built in the 1880s and now partly part of a UNESCO listing, with canals running between them and gabled facades reflecting in the water. Next to it, the HafenCity is a modern district whose centrepiece is the Elbphilharmonie, a concert hall in the shape of a glass wave on top of an old warehouse, opened in 2017 after many delays and a scandalous overrun in costs.
The city has a mix of moods. The Reeperbahn is a famous street of bars, clubs and theatres in St Pauli, where the Beatles played in their early years, and on a Sunday morning, the fish market opens at dawn and is a place of loud stalls, hot coffee and people coming home from the night before. The Alster, two lakes in the middle of town, is surrounded by fine villas and parks, where sailing boats cross the water in summer. Churches such as the Michel, with a green copper tower, dominate the skyline, and the old tunnel under the Elbe, built in 1911, still lets pedestrians walk under the river.
From Hamburg, the ride goes north-east toward Lübeck, the old Hanseatic capital, with a Gothic brick centre and its Holstentor gate. The road passes through the farmland of Schleswig-Holstein, flat, open and often windy, with brick villages, thatched farmhouses and long avenues. It is a relaxed ride, with moderate traffic and a good surface, and the sea is never far. In the city itself, traffic is heavy, parking is difficult, and a few tunnel and bridge routes can be blocked by incidents, so allow time for the Elbe crossings.
Fuel is easy outside the centre and on the main roads. Eat a fish roll on the quayside or a plate of Labskaus, a salty mash of corned beef and potato, and have a coffee in a harbour café. Summer is the high season, but spring and autumn are quieter, with sharp light on the water. Rain can arrive at any moment, so a waterproof layer is not optional.