Kiel · Plön and Preetz Morning Lakes

Short, green and best before lake traffic arrives.

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Why this ride

Short, green and best before lake traffic arrives. The best part sits around Preetz old town, Plön lake view, Bosau road, while the most useful town stop keeps the day practical instead of turning it into a fuel or food hunt. Check the OSM map, Google preview and GPX checkpoint order before departure; they use the same waypoint sequence. Ride it with legal pull-offs, patience through villages and enough daylight to stop without rushing.

Roadbook

1. Preetz old town scenic · 22 m

   Preetz is a lake town in the green middle of Schleswig-Holstein, and its old town squeezes between the Schwentine river and a pair of small lakes. Kiel is just fifteen minutes away, but Preetz has its own pace.

   The old town has one of the oldest institutions in the region: the convent of Preetz, founded in 1211 as a Benedictine house for noble women. After the Reformation it became a Protestant foundation for unmarried ladies of the Schleswig-Holstein nobility, and it still operates today, with a church of impressive size standing beside a quiet cloister. The convent once owned most of the land to the east, and it gave its name to the Probstei, the district of farming villages that its provost ruled. You can walk around the grounds, and the church is open for visits outside services.

   For riders, Preetz is a handy start or finish. The roads that radiate from it head towards the Holstein lakes, small, winding and lined with beech woods and meadows, with the surface generally good and the traffic light on weekday mornings. Bends are gentle and often hidden by the trees, so it pays to keep a steady pace. The Kellersee and the Plöner See, the biggest lake in Schleswig-Holstein, are within easy reach. In autumn, the beech woods turn a rich copper, and mist rises from the lakes at dawn.

   Fuel is available at the edge of town, and there are bakeries and cafes around the market, including a good one for a slice of plum cake and a mug of coffee. Schellhorn, a village a little over a kilometre away, has a pleasant lake shore. The region is known as Holstein Switzerland, a name given by nineteenth-century visitors who found the rolling hills and lakes reminiscent of the Alps, though the highest point is barely a hundred and seventy metres. The comparison is flattering, but the countryside is lovely in its own right.

2. Plön lake view sight · 28 m

   The Great Lake of Plön is the biggest lake in Schleswig-Holstein, and from this spot at the edge of the town you can see how much water the last Ice Age left behind. The glaciers that retreated from here some twelve thousand years ago scraped out hollows, dumped hills of gravel and clay, and left behind a landscape of lakes and rolling ridges that locals call Holstein Switzerland. It is a bit of a joke to anyone who has seen the Alps, since the highest hills are barely above a hundred metres, but the name stuck, and the landscape has a gentle charm of its own.

   The town of Plön, with some thirteen thousand people, sits on a narrow neck of land between two lakes, so its streets run up and down and every turn opens a view over the water. The point itself lies at twenty-eight metres above the sea, just above the shore, with the castle on the hill above you. Early morning, with mist rising off the lake and the first swans moving across it, is the time to be here.

   The roads around the lake are some of the best in the district, with long, easy bends through beech woods and past fields of rape, which flowers a startling yellow in May. Surfaces are mostly good, though some of the lanes are narrow and patched, and cyclists and families make them busy on summer weekends. Tractor mud and the occasional rain shower will keep you honest. Autumn brings low golden light and quieter roads.

   For fuel and food you are in luck, since Plön is large enough for stations, supermarkets and several cafés, and the lakeside has places to sit with a coffee and a smoked fish roll. Ascheberg and Bösdorf are smaller villages on the lake, with their own swimming spots and marinas. Be aware that swimming is popular and the water is clean, though shallow shores can be muddy, so bring flip-flops. It is a gentle, easy place to ride, and a good one to linger in.

3. Bosau road scenic · 26 m

   The Bosau road runs out onto a narrow peninsula in the Great Plön Lake, the largest lake in Schleswig-Holstein, and it is the sort of road where the surface of the water appears on both sides at once. This is the Holstein Switzerland, a name that exaggerates the hills but not the beauty: a landscape left behind by the glaciers of the last ice age, with rounded hills, hollows filled by lakes, and woods of beech that come down to the shore. The lake has islands, reedy bays and swans.

   Bosau itself is a village with an old church, Saint Peter's, standing on a rise by the water. It is one of the oldest in the region, built in the twelfth century on the site of an earlier mission church, and it was the home of the priest and chronicler Helmold of Bosau, who wrote a history of the Slavs and of the Christianisation of the lands east of the Elbe. His chronicle is one of the main sources for the period. The church, with its plain brick walls and simple interior, is a quiet, atmospheric place.

   The riding is relaxed and gentle, with long straight sections, mild bends and plenty of glimpses of water through the trees. The surface is mostly good, traffic is light in the morning and busier on fine weekends, when families head to the lake. Cyclists are frequent. The lanes in the area, lined with old trees, are among the nicest in the north, and the combination of lake, wood and farm creates a pastoral, unhurried feel.

   The town of Plön, about seven kilometres away, has a castle on a hill overlooking the lake and is the nearest place with a full range of services, including fuel. Bosau has a few thousand people and cafes by the water, where you can eat smoked fish and cake while watching the boats. In summer there is swimming, sailing and kayaking, and ferries run on the lake.

   Early morning on the water is the best time, with mist and a golden light. Spring and early autumn are the best seasons, and the evening air is quiet.

4. Back to Preetz old town finish · 22 m

   Back to Preetz old town closes the day.

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