Preetz sits on a narrow neck of land between two lakes, the Postsee and the Lanker See, in the part of Schleswig-Holstein that the Germans call Holsteinische Schweiz. Holstein Switzerland is a generous name for a landscape whose highest points barely scratch a hundred metres, but the glaciers of the last ice age did leave behind something lovely here: a jumble of lakes, ridges, beech woods and little roads that follow every fold. Preetz is the gateway, a small town of about sixteen thousand people with a proper market square and a calm, practical air.
The town grew around a Benedictine convent founded in the thirteenth century, and the monastery church by the lake is still the quiet heart of the place. The community later became a noble ladies' foundation, which is the sort of odd survival you find a lot in northern Germany. It is worth ten minutes if the church is open. The surrounding streets are all red brick, low roofs and bicycles and on a warm day you are more likely to notice the ice cream queue by the water than any monument.
For a rider the appeal of this start is what lies in every direction. The lanes run gently up and down over glacial hills, with bends that are mostly tight and tidy rather than fast, and the surface is generally good, though farm tractors leave mud and crop remnants around harvest time. Stay alert at the many junctions where hedges block the view. Weekends in summer bring cyclists and cars looking for the lakes, so early starts pay off, and the best light comes in the evening when the fields turn gold and the water goes still. Spring, with rapeseed blooming bright yellow, is when the area looks most like a postcard, although the wind off the Baltic can still be cold.
Fuel is no problem: Preetz is large enough for stations and supermarkets, and nearby Raisdorf adds more choices on the road toward Kiel. Cafes around the market square serve coffee and cake in the German manner, which suits a lazy morning before you head out. The Baltic is only about twenty kilometres north, and you will smell it in the air when the breeze turns, a salty, seaweedy note that always means the day is going to be open and bright.