Neuruppin is where Theodor Fontane was born, in 1819, in the pharmacy his father ran on the main square, and he began his famous walking tours of Brandenburg with the county around the town. The architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, who would shape so much of Berlin, was born here too, in 1781. For a town of thirty-two thousand people, that is quite a pair of local boys.
The town lies on the long, narrow Ruppiner See, a lake that stretches several kilometres north-west, with a promenade, boat landings and cafes along the shore. It is a calm, handsome town with a grid of wide streets, and the lakefront is the natural place for lunch. Most restaurants have terraces overlooking the water, and fish is the safe choice: zander, smoked eel or fried perch, with potatoes and a cold beer or a glass of local wine.
The riding to and from Neuruppin is gentle, through the lake district of the Ruppiner Land, with pine forest, reed beds and small villages. The roads are well surfaced and the traffic is light outside the town, and the lake views appear in fragments between the trees. If you want a longer day, Rheinsberg, with its palace on a lake, lies about twenty-five kilometres north. It was the home of the young Frederick the Great when he was crown prince, and the place where he is said to have been happiest.
Practical matters are easy: fuel and supplies are available in town, and parking near the lake is straightforward on weekdays. At weekends in summer, the waterfront fills with families and cyclists, so go early if you want a table.
The light on the lake in the late afternoon is lovely, a soft silver that suits the calm of the town. Sit with a coffee, look across the water and think of the boy from the pharmacy who ended up writing the great novels of the Mark.