The dot lies south of Hannover in the valley of the Leine, near Sarstedt and Giesen, where the plain of the Hildesheimer Börde begins. This is one of the most fertile regions of Germany, with deep black loess soil that grows wheat, sugar beet and vegetables, and the horizon is a long line of fields, wind turbines and church spires. It is not a place for bends, but for easy kilometres, and it is where the ride, having visited the Kyffhäuser mountains in Thuringia, finds its way home.
The Kyffhäuser, far to the south-east, is a small range with a large legend. A huge monument, finished in 1896, stands on the ridge in honour of Kaiser Wilhelm I, and below it, a cave is said to hold the sleeping Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who will wake when the ravens stop circling the mountain and restore the empire. The road up to the monument has tight hairpins through beech forest, a short and lively contrast to the plains.
Nearer to the dot, there are historical sights worth a few minutes. The neo-Gothic Marienburg castle, a short distance to the south-west near Nordstemmen, was built in the 1860s by King George V of Hanover as a gift to his wife, and it looks like something from a fairy tale, with towers and turrets on a wooded hill. Hildesheim, to the south-east, has a thousand-year-old rose bush on its cathedral wall and a restored old town.
Riding in the Börde is quiet and open. The roads are straight, with long views, and crosswinds can be strong. In harvest season, sugar beet trucks and combine harvesters share the lanes, and mud on the road is common, so be careful on corners. Sarstedt and Giesen are ordinary small towns with limited charm, but they have what you need.
Fuel and food are easy. Sarstedt has several stations and supermarkets, and bakeries open early, selling the sort of dark bread and sweet pastries that Lower Saxony does well. Hannover is only twenty minutes up the road. The best time is in late spring, when the fields are green and the rape is yellow, or at harvest, when the air is full of straw and dust.