The ride ends where it began, at the foot of the Deister near Springe, with the long wooded ridge behind you and the plain of Hannover stretching away in front. After a day in the forests of the Solling and the quiet valleys of the Weser, the return is a gentle comedown, with roads that grow straighter and busier as the city gets closer. The ridge itself is a good landmark, a long dark line against the sky that tells you home is near.
Bad Münder am Deister, a spa town of nearly nineteen thousand, lies just to the south, and it has been known for its salt springs for centuries. The old centre has timber houses and a spa park, and it is a pleasant place to finish the day with a coffee. Further south along the Weser, a ride of less than an hour, lies Hamelin, the town of the Pied Piper. According to the legend, a stranger in colourful clothes led the rats and later the children of the town away with his music, a story that has been told since the Middle Ages and still draws visitors to Hamelin.
The road home runs through gentle farmland, with wide fields of wheat and sugar beet, and the last light of the day catching the church towers. The Deister's beech forest, which covers the ridge, turns golden in autumn, and the roads that climb through it are quiet and winding. Watch for deer at dusk, because they cross the road without warning, and for cyclists on the way back in.
Springe has plenty of fuel and food, and Wennigsen, a larger village six kilometres away, offers more of the same. It is a good place to stop, check your bike, and take a long look at the evening sky. The weather over the Deister can change quickly, so if clouds are building, put your waterproofs on before you set off for the last leg. It's an easy, comfortable finish, and the right kind of ending to a long day.