Pattensen is a small town on the southern fringe of Hannover, in the Calenberger Land, where the flat plain of the city meets the first gentle swells of the hill country that runs south toward the Weser. Its old centre has half-timbered houses and a medieval church, and the streets have a sleepy, slightly farm-like atmosphere even though the suburbs of the city are barely a few kilometres away. For a rider wanting to head south, this is the right place to start, because the main roads out of the city are behind you and the quiet roads begin almost at once.
The ride is named for Hann. Münden, a town about a hundred kilometres to the south, where the Werra and the Fulda come together to form the Weser. A stone at the point where they meet says that the two rivers lose their names and become one, and the old town, with more than seven hundred half-timbered houses, is among the best preserved in Germany. The town has a legend about Doctor Eisenbarth, an itinerant surgeon of the early eighteenth century who is said to have performed daring operations, and a costumed play recalls him in summer. Three rivers, in fact, include the Weser, and the confluence makes the valley wide, green and calm.
On the way you ride through a succession of low wooded ridges and river valleys. Between Hannover and Münden lie the Leinebergland, the Solling forest and the Reinhardswald, a large woodland of old oaks that is said to have inspired some of the Grimm fairy tales. The roads are generally smooth and winding, with lots of gentle bends in beech forest, and traffic is light outside weekends. Surface can be patchy in the forest, particularly after winter, and leaf litter makes autumn mornings slippery.
Fuel is easy at Pattensen and in the suburbs, and the small towns along the way have stations and bakeries, but the forests have few services, so fill up when you can. A good lunch stop is one of the village inns serving schnitzel or the regional Braunschweiger sausage.
Weather in Lower Saxony changes, and a clear morning can turn damp by afternoon. The light on the hills in late May, when the beeches are freshly green, is lovely, and so is October, when the forest turns copper.