The Vier- und Marschlande, the Four Lands and the Marsh Lands, spread out to the south-east of Hamburg, and this starting point at the edge of the city is the doorway to them. For several centuries this has been the garden of Hamburg: a low, fertile floodplain of the Elbe where farmers grow vegetables, flowers and fruit under glass and in the open, and send them into the city's markets. The land is protected by dikes and drained by a network of ditches, and the old farmhouses, thatched and half-timbered, sit on mounds at the edge of the fields.
Rothenburgsort, the district just to the north, is one of the places where the city's industrial past is most visible. A neo-Gothic water tower, built in the nineteenth century and now empty, stands among the warehouses, and the old workers' quarter, almost entirely destroyed in the firestorm of 1943, has been rebuilt with plain, sensible blocks. The Elbe's many channels and locks run through the area, and boats work them day and night.
The ride begins in a tangle of bridges, railway lines and slip roads, and the first quarter hour demands attention. Once you are through, the road opens out on the dike, and it's a long, flat run through the marshes towards Bergedorf and the edge of the Sachsenwald. Corners are rare, but the views are wide, with great skies, grazing cattle and, in spring, fields of tulips and rape. The wind is the main player, and on the dike you feel every gust.
There is no shortage of fuel at the start, because the city has stations in every direction. Once in the marsh, the choice narrows, so fill up here and carry on. Bergedorf, a few kilometres to the east, has a castle, an old centre and plenty of cafés for a first coffee. Start early on a weekend, when the traffic on the city's exits is light, and the market gardens are just waking up. By the time you reach the Elbe's tidal banks, the city will already feel far behind.