Tour 1: From the Elbe to the Sachsenwald forest
- Length of the tour: 58.5 km
- Altitude metres: 380 hm
- Maximum gradient: 9 % (short section in Escheburg)
- Surface: Asphalt; a few hundred metres of sand in the Sachsenwald forest
The cycle path begins behind the Deichtorhallen and leads us car-free up the Elbe. We leave the Hamburg-Berlin cycle path at the Tatenberg lock and follow the prettier route along the Tatenberg dyke. In Kirchwerder we join the "Radwanderweg Elbufer" cycle path, which we leave shortly before Geesthacht heading north. We cycle straight through the shady Sachsenwald forest to Friedrichsruh, where the "Iron Chancellor" Otto von Bismarck rests in his mausoleum. We spend the night in the historic Grander Mill on the banks of the River Bille.
Tour 2: Eulenspiegel, canal and marzipan
- Length of the tour: 72.2 km
- Altitude metres: 535 hm
- Maximum gradient: 6 %
- Surface: Asphalt; from Berkenthin to Lübeck on a firm sandy path along the Elbe-Lübeck Canal
On low-traffic side roads through the rural Duchy of Lauenburg, we reach Mölln, once the workplace of Till Eulenspiegel, where we rumble over rough cobblestones. A tarmac track takes us to Ratzeburg, picturesquely situated on an island in the middle of dark lakes. The final stretch from Berkenthin offers relaxed straight-ahead riding. We approach the Hanseatic city on the sandy track next to the Elbe-Lübeck Canal, whose church spires greet us from afar.
