Bad Segeberg is the town with a limestone hill in the middle of a flat plain, and everything about it follows from that odd fact. The Kalkberg, a lump of gypsum and limestone pushed up by an ancient salt dome, rises sharply from the surrounding fields, and for a thousand years it has been the natural place for a fortress. Dukes and kings built castles on it and fought over it, and the stones of the last one are still scattered about its flanks. Today the hill's chief purpose is theatre: since 1952 the open-air stage at its foot has staged the Karl May Festival every summer, with galloping horses, gunfights and Winnetou, drawing hundreds of thousands of spectators from across Germany.
Under the hill is a cave system, and it holds one of the largest winter roosts of bats in Europe, which is why the cave is closed to visitors for part of the year. The town around it, some sixteen thousand people strong, has a spa heritage built on salt springs, a pleasant lake, the Great Segeberg Lake, and a long main street of shops and cafés. It is a handy place to arrive, because everything is close together.
For a rider, Segeberg is the final stop after a long day coming out of the Holstein lake country and the Mecklenburg border region. The last stretch of road is gentle and often straight, over low fields with long views to the horizon. The land is only slightly rolling here, so the Kalkberg stands out from far away, a landmark that tells you the end is near. Weekdays are quiet. On a summer evening when the festival is playing, the town fills up, and finding a parking spot near the hill takes patience.
There are several filling stations around the ring roads and supermarkets in the centre, and Klein Rönnau and Fahrenkrug, the nearby villages, have little more than a bakery. Finish the day with a plate of something hearty and a stroll along the lakeside, and watch the sky darken over the hill.