After a trip to the west of Hamburg on Saturday, we found ourselves on the sofa in the evening talking about where to go on Sunday. As so often, it ended with "I don't know, what do you think?" So we decided on a direction, this time it was north.

So we opened Komoot and started clicking and building our route. From a conversation with a friend, I remembered he really liked Wittmoor and Tangstedter Forst, and since neither of us had been there yet, that was definitely going to be part of our route. We added a few other places and ended up with about 70 km.

On Sunday, the next day, we got up around 8, had breakfast, and left the house.

The first part of our route took us along the Alsterwanderweg, first in the city, then slowly out of the town. Since it was already around 9:30/10, the path was already pretty crowded with people. Runners, people walking their dogs, you name it. It was still lovely but could have been more fun with fewer people (if only we had gotten up earlier).

The first place we stopped for a short break to grab a bite to eat was Hummelsee, located in the Hummelsbütteler Moor. We had been there a few times before, and this time we decided to just look at the Müllberg (English: garbage mountain) (yes, that's what it's called) and not go up it, like another time before.

After this short stop, we rode to Wittmoor, a wonderful place that I definitely want to visit again to take more photos. I didn't take too many this time as it was also quite crowded, but it should be just fantastic on a Saturday and at an earlier time of day. What a beautiful place.

Next up on the menu: Tangstedter Forst.

And what a beautiful place. A vast forest area. Even though there were also many people, it didn't feel that way because there are many options when it comes to trails. Definitely a place we HAVE to return to.

We had another quick snack stop at Wilstedt Lake or Costa Kiesa, as the locals call it. Usually, the lake is a pretty crowded swimming spot, but it's closed because of the Corona pandemic. So besides us, there was only one family and an elderly lady who actually went swimming. I got a lot of respect for her because the water must have been still pretty cold.

Our ride continued through the Henstedter Moor, but we had to pass 5-6 vehicles of the local fire department before we could enter the moor. We wondered why they were there, but there was nothing obvious. When the firemen were about to leave, we rode on.

Just a few minutes later you could smell smoke and the smell of something burning. Just a few hundred meters away we could see it, and it was sad. Parts of the bog were completely burned. The trees still looked fine for the most part, but most of the ground was black. It was a strange experience. On the one hand it was sad, but on the other hand it looked visually interesting, so I took the opportunity to take a few pictures while talking about how it might have happened.

As I write this, I have just learned that two teenagers were trying to prepare food with a camping gas stove, it tipped over and started the fire. The press says: "The teens, however, prevented worse by immediately calling the fire department themselves and, when police and firefighters arrived, ruefully reported their mishap." So, at least there's that. But in any case, this is a reminder to all of us who enjoy the outdoors to treat it with respect and to be careful at all times when dealing with it.

We continued, followed the railroad tracks on nice gravel for a while, crossed another forest, and passed another small moor area before heading back into town on the Kollauwanderweg, turning into Niendorfer Gehege, and heading home. What a great ride.