The word on the sign suggests a ship, but the offshore work here is a piece of earthwork, an outlying defence belonging to the old Danevirke system. The ground is south of the Schlei, the long narrow fjord that cuts inland from the Baltic to Schleswig, between the villages of Fahrdorf, Schaalby and Fleckeby. In practice, for a rider, the label is a pointer to a landscape rather than a single monument: low farmland, hedged fields, small woods and quiet lanes that run down to the water.
The Schlei is the best thing about this district. It is a drowned glacial channel about forty kilometres long, so narrow in places that it looks more like a river, and its banks are lined with reeds, small harbours and red-roofed villages. Fleckeby sits on one of the fjord's inlets, and Fahrdorf lies close to the old bridge that crosses toward Schleswig. Historically this was a frontier area, where Danish and German-speaking communities mixed, and the region changed hands several times before the borders settled after the plebiscites of 1920. That mixed heritage still shows up in the village names and in the food, which includes smoked herring and rolls with pickled fish.
The roads here are quiet and good for steady, relaxed riding. They are mostly straight with occasional bends where a stream or a patch of woodland interrupts the fields, and from time to time a gap in the hedge opens a view across the water. The wind off the fjord can be cool and stiff even in midsummer, so a spare layer is sensible. Cyclists and tractors are the main hazards. In late summer, when the fields are being harvested, you will find straw and mud on the road and a smell of dust and cut grain in the air.
For fuel, Schleswig, about ten kilometres away, has plenty of stations and supermarkets, and the villages here have bakeries and a few cafes that open mostly in the season. Eckernförde lies to the east on the coast. If you only have time for one thing, walk down to the water's edge at a quiet spot and watch the reeds move in the wind: the Schlei always seems to be thinking about something.