Why this ride
Out of Glinde, one way: 298 km, roughly 4 h 43 in the saddle. The stops in between: Lauenburg, Schwerin castle sight and Plauer See water stop. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Mecklenburg Lakes and Schwerin Arc · short arc
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 298 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 43
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Hamburg east gate → Lauenburg fuel gate
44 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it — speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 44 km
Schwerin castle sight → Plauer See water stop
Water arrives beside the road and stays for 88 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go. Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 67 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Hamburg east gate
This one is a boundary rather than a destination: the place where Hamburg stops being a city and the roads become something a rider might enjoy. The east side of the metropolis frays out through Stormarn district, with Stapelfeld just a few kilometres away, and the motorway and the main roads funnel in toward the centre. For a returning rider, it is a moment to take stock, check the fuel and slow down after a long day of countryside.
Read the complete Hamburg east gate write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hamburg east is where the day begins. Next is Lauenburg.
2. Lauenburg fuel gate
Lauenburg is where the Elbe stops being a big river and starts being a working waterway with serious ambitions. The town stretches along a steep bank, with the old town clinging to the hill and the lower town, the Elbstrasse, running along the water's edge, and the river below is wide, brown and busy with barges. For centuries this was a toll town, collecting dues from the traffic that moved between Hamburg and the Baltic, and the Elbe-Lübeck canal begins nearby, which once carried salt from Lüneburg to the sea.
Read the complete Lauenburg fuel gate write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lauenburg is the fuel stop for this leg. Next is Schwerin castle sight.
3. Schwerin castle sight
Schwerin castle is a fairy tale in brick and gilt, and it is built on an island. The palace of the Mecklenburg dukes stands on a small island in the Schweriner See, linked to the town by a bridge, with turrets, towers and a golden dome reflected in the water. The present building, a romantic mix of Renaissance and Gothic styles, was built in the middle of the nineteenth century to a design that drew on the French chateaux of the Loire, and it is now the seat of the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. UNESCO listed the castle and its gardens in 2020.
Read the complete Schwerin castle sight write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 129 km into the recorded legs you reach Schwerin castle sight. Next is Plauer See water stop.
4. Plauer See water stop
Plau am See sits at the western end of the Plauer See, the third-largest lake in Mecklenburg after the Müritz and the Schweriner See, in the heart of the lake district that stretches across the north-east of Germany. The town of nearly six thousand has a small old centre, a harbour, and a lift bridge over the river Elde that is a local landmark, and it is a sensible stop for fuel, ice cream and a swim. Malchow, about fifteen kilometres to the east, has seven thousand people and sits on an island between two lakes, joined to the shore by an old swing bridge.
Read the complete Plauer See water stop write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Plauer See water stop, late in the day. Next is Wismar harbour food.
5. Wismar harbour food
Wismar is the Baltic port that spent a century and a half as a piece of Sweden, and it still shows. Between 1648, when the Peace of Westphalia handed it to the Swedish crown, and 1803, when it was pledged to Mecklenburg, the town was a fortified Swedish outpost, and two stone heads at the harbour entrance, the so-called Swedish Heads, are a reminder of the time.
Read the complete Wismar harbour food write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Finish at Wismar harbour food. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Hamburg east gate to Lauenburg fuel gate
Hamburg east gate → Lauenburg fuel gate is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lauenburg fuel gate to Schwerin castle sight
Lauenburg fuel gate → Schwerin castle sight is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Schwerin castle sight to Plauer See water stop
Schwerin castle sight → Plauer See water stop is 67 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Plauer See water stop to Wismar harbour food
Plauer See water stop → Wismar harbour food is 102 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.