It's Sunday, 8 o'clock; we knew that we wanted to ride the bike today but still had no plan where to go. I had two options in mind: For the upcoming Orbit360 series, two routes were planned in the Hamburg area. Since one of the routes included a place we had biked many times before, the Holmer Sandberge, we decided on the other. Our friends Johanna & Timo had scouted this route, and I had seen exciting photos of it. Since we did not want to ride 190 km, we edited the route and ended up with just under 100km variant.

After we had breakfast, at least I had, since Jana didn't really feel like eating much this morning, we wanted to get ready. Well... Jana was. I had to go in search of my socks first. You know that situation? You look in the drawer for that pair of socks, but you just can't find them. You keep searching, and suddenly the socks appear right in front of your eyes? How blind can you be? So be it. Let's just download the route for the Wahoo, and off we go.

Since we wanted to leave the city to the east side, we had to cross it first, but fortunately, that's not quite as annoying on a Sunday as on other days. Via the Oberhafen Connection, we headed out via Moorfleet and the Allermöher Wiesen in the direction of... Wait, wait; first, there was this tree lying across the path, but somehow lying is the wrong expression; it was hanging over the track, not low enough to just climb over, not high enough to just walk under. What seemed comparatively easy for Jana was the first reason I grumbled about what this was all about. I slid the bike underneath, took the camera off my back, and then somehow squatted and crawled through. That must have looked pretty stupid to observers.
Soon after, we took our first small break at a lake near Neuallermöhe.

We continued through Neuallermöhe, artificially created, kind of boring, but in a way also quite lovely, at least the houses with access to water and a canoe in the garden. Quite nice. Did I take a picture? No, of course not.

Briefly missed the turnoff, turned around, and crossed under the highway on a narrow, dark footbridge. And then continued on gravel.

Shortly after, we entered the stunning forest around the Dalbek Gorge. Where there is forest, there are trees, and where there are trees, there...? That's right, there are trees on the paths. And not too scarce. In addition, a mini brook.

On the last climb, we pushed the bikes up, as it was pretty nasty. First a nice descent on gravel, then a turn of 90 °, and suddenly it was uphill. Unfortunately, people were standing in the middle of the bend precisely at this moment, so we had to slow down to 0. Jana was already struggling with her allergies and breathing that day, so we took a short break after the climb. She had her vegan jerky all to herself. For some reason, I just don't like that stuff.

This was followed by a charming forest section with climbs and descents. Wonderful. I could have stopped and taken photos at pretty much every corner, but we wanted to keep going.

In retrospect, I would have liked to spare myself what followed, but I was probably too impulsive on the road that day. Somewhere in Geesthacht, a beefy guy lectured me from his car that there was a cycle path. Although I confirmed that I was aware of this, on his request to use it then, I responded out of reflex with a "shut the fuck up," and so it ended with him offering me, as you would expect, a punch in the face. Fortunately for me, he then probably had another thought and drove off. But up to the point where we parted ways, I wasn't sure he wouldn't reconsider at the next intersection. Well, I was lucky, and maybe next time, I will be quiet or find a more diplomatic answer...

We then took a kilometer-long private road to the following stop location: the Krümmel nuclear power plant.

Krümmel Nuclear Power Plant is a German nuclear power plant located in Geesthacht. It was commissioned in 1983. The reactor was the second largest of its kind in commercial operation worldwide. It has been shut down since 2011 due to public protests.

Standing above the power plant, it wasn't a queasy feeling, but it was kind of strange.

After that stop, we continued through a forest in the direction of Besenhorster Sandberge. Not without again getting into a brief conflict with an SUV driver who thought the road belonged to her. Somehow that was not my day in connection with people in cars. So be it.

I was curious about the Besenhorster Sandberge because there are still parts of the ruins of a former dynamite factory. I had seen them in photos and really wanted to take some pictures there, too.

Unfortunately, it was relatively crowded, and other photographers with models were at work there. So the situation did not give both the calm and space for more photos. Anyway, we can go there again at any time.

The overall scenery is very fascinating, as nature is reclaiming the area here. During World War II, the roofs of the buildings were covered with vegetation to protect them from attacks, but now you can even spot trees on the tops. Really interesting.

After the somewhat more extended break in the Sandberge, we headed back towards Hamburg. As beautiful and relaxing as the old Marschbahndamm is, as you simply ride through greenery for many kilometers without cars, it can also be boring because you only go straight ahead for what feels like eternities. Perhaps this monotony has also led to the fact that I complained more about my tired legs and back pain. The camera on the back is just not always so optimal. Let's see, we will test alternatives.

There is not much more to tell about the way back, and we did not take any more photos.

ROUTE DETAILS

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