Mölln is a small town in the Lauenburg Lakes, southeast of Lübeck, and it carries one very odd claim to fame. According to local tradition it is where the famous prankster Till Eulenspiegel died of plague in the fourteenth century, and his gravestone is built into the wall of the church of St Nicolai. The stone shows an owl and a mirror, which is what his name means in German. A fountain on the market square shows him as a cheerful figure, and the town's tourist trade is lightly sprinkled with jokes about it.
The town itself is a pretty, compact place on a hill between lakes, with a medieval core of narrow streets and old brick and half-timbered houses. In the Middle Ages Mölln was a staging point on the Old Salt Road that ran from Lüneburg to Lübeck, and in the fourteenth century the city of Lübeck even took over the town for a time to protect the route. A canal known as the Stecknitz canal was built nearby to carry salt by barge, and traces of it remain. It is a good place to walk and wander before you ride again.
For riders, Mölln is a sensible refuelling point, with eighteen thousand people and fuel stations on the main roads, supermarkets and restaurants. Parking near the centre is easy, but the old streets have cobbles that are rough and slippery after rain, so be careful in the lanes. The lakes around town, the Schulsee, Stadtsee and several others, give pleasant views, and a stroll along their edges is a good way to stretch your back after a long morning in the saddle.
The roads in and out of Mölln are among the better ones in the region. They run through the Lauenburg Lakes Nature Park, a country of low hills, beech forest and still water left behind by the last ice age, with smooth tarmac and gentle curves. Traffic is moderate on weekdays and busy on warm weekends, when day-trippers from Hamburg arrive. Early morning gives you the best of the lakes, with mist on the water and the roads nearly empty.