Kiel · Holstein Switzerland Lakes and Coffee Roads + Kiel · Rendsburg, Schleswig and Viking Roads

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Preetz old-road gate

   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.

   Read the complete Preetz old-road gate write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Preetz old-road is where the day begins. Next is Plön castle lake.

2. 2. Plön castle lake

   Plön castle stands on a hill above the lake and the town, a pale, solid, rather formal building that looks as though it was designed to impress someone, which it was. Duke Joachim Ernst of Schleswig-Holstein-Plön had it built in the early seventeenth century, and the dukes of Plön lived here until their line ran out in the eighteenth century, when the Danish crown took over. Later it became a Prussian military school, and today it is a private boarding school, so you can look at the exterior and the terraced gardens but not walk through the rooms.

   Read the complete Plön castle lake write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Plön castle lake comes up 41 km in. Next is Eutin lake road.

3. 3. Eutin lake road

   Eutin is a small town that carries itself like a larger one, thanks to a history of bishops and dukes. For centuries it was the seat of the prince-bishops of Lübeck, who made the place their country residence, and later it belonged to the Dukes of Oldenburg. Their legacy is a moated castle beside the Großer Eutiner See, with a landscaped park around it, and a town centre of cobbled lanes, a market square and brick gabled houses. The composer Carl Maria von Weber was born here in 1786, and every summer an opera festival is staged on the lake in his honour, with the castle gardens as a backdrop.

   Read the complete Eutin lake road write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   82 km in you reach Eutin lake road. Next is Bad Malente coffee stop.

4. 4. Bad Malente coffee stop

   Malente is a spa town that sits between two lakes, and it has the quiet manners of a place that has been taking care of visitors since the nineteenth century. The Dieksee lies to the west and the Kellersee to the east, and between them runs a canal and a path, lined with chestnut trees and villas, with boat landings and cafes. The old spa quarter, Gremsmühlen, has a park, a spa house and a fine collection of wooden villas with turrets and balconies.

   Read the complete Bad Malente coffee stop write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Somewhere to get off the bike, 122 km in. Next is Selent waterline.

5. 5. Selent waterline

   Selent is a village of barely thirteen hundred people at the northern tip of its lake, and the lake is the reason to come. The Selenter See is the second largest in Schleswig-Holstein after the Great Lake of Plön, a long, clear, slightly wild sheet of water fringed with reeds and woods, and the road runs along its shore for much of the way. The place sits at thirty metres above sea level, on a low glacial ridge, and the lake lies just below it.

   Read the complete Selent waterline write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Selent waterline sits at 163 km, about halfway. Next is back to Preetz old-road.

6. 6. back to Preetz old-road

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Preetz old-road gate write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 408 km. Next is Rendsburg bridge.

7. 7. Rendsburg bridge

   The Rendsburg High Bridge is a railway viaduct that does something unusual: it hangs a gondola from its steel framework, a transporter ferry swinging just above the water of the Kiel Canal. The bridge opened in 1913, built so that trains could climb high enough for ships to pass underneath while the town below stays connected across the canal. The railway loops around the town to gain height, so the whole structure reads like a giant iron ribbon laid over the landscape. It is the sort of engineering that makes people stop and stare, and bikers are no exception.

   Read the complete Rendsburg bridge write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   245 km in you reach Rendsburg bridge. Next is Haithabu sight.

8. 8. Haithabu sight

   Haithabu, known in Danish as Hedeby, was the greatest Viking trading town in northern Europe, and its site lies on the shore of the Haddeby Noor, an inlet of the Schlei, only three kilometres from the town of Schleswig. From the eighth century to the eleventh, ships from Scandinavia, the Baltic, the Frisian coast and even the Islamic world met here, because the town sat at the narrowest point of the Jutland peninsula, where goods could be hauled overland between the North Sea and the Baltic, avoiding the stormy journey around Denmark.

   Read the complete Haithabu sight write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Haithabu sight, late in the day at 8 m. Next is Schleswig old town.

9. 9. Schleswig old town

   Schleswig lies at the head of the Schlei, a long, narrow inlet of the Baltic that reaches inland like a fjord and gives the town the feel of a harbour that forgot the sea. The old part is a gentle, slightly sprawling affair: a cathedral with a tall brick spire visible from the water, a baroque castle called Gottorf on an island across the way, and, down by the water, a remarkable fishermen's settlement called Holm, a little village of small houses grouped around a churchyard and a tiny chapel.

   Read the complete Schleswig old town write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Schleswig old town sits at 326 km, late in the day. Next is Eckernförde bay.

10. 10. Eckernförde bay

    Eckernförde Bay is a long, narrow arm of the Baltic that cuts into the coast of Schleswig-Holstein between the Danish Wohld and the Schwansen peninsula, and the little port of the same name sits at its head. The water is shallow, the beaches are wide and sandy, and the whole place has the relaxed air of a north German seaside town, with a promenade, a harbour full of boats and a smell of smoked fish. The altitude here is a modest eight metres, and the horizon is all sea and sky.

    Read the complete Eckernförde bay write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Eckernförde bay comes up 367 km in. Next is Back to Rendsburg bridge.

11. 11. Back to Rendsburg bridge

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Rendsburg bridge write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Finish at Back to Rendsburg bridge. That is the ride.