Steffen Albrecht

Not my best idea, cycling 42 km through almost shadowless rural Stormarn in an extreme summer heat wave. And here I was thinking I could escape the oven in the city, but even in the middle of nowhere out there in the country it was 38 C (that's 100.4 F…

More scenic Schleswig-Holstein countryside, made a bit risky by plenty of speeding motorbikers cutting corners where they can't see. Took the train to the starting point and back again. This has really increased my reach.

Took the train both outbound and back, for the first time, to see some new things, those new things being almost exclusively somewhat uniform but really peaceful rural Schleswig-Holstein. Mostly narrow well-paved country lanes almost without motor traffic, and all in really nice weather

First bike trip this spring, starting small and visiting mainly places I'd been before. Not such a good idea to leave the beaten track in Höltigbaum nature reserve, because deep in the forest, betwen a ditch, a fence, and a pond, I found myself faced with the nastiest version of…

Started with overcast weather and met a few people going up to the first pass, Degollada de la Manzanilla. Passing into the wilderness beyond, there was nothing but mountains and pine forests all the way to the horizon, until I descended from the second pass, Degollada de Rosiana, and returned…

One-way from Norderstedt-Mitte (outbound U1), Sunny but a nasty chilly headwind almost all the way. Lots of nature and quiet back-country roads, mostly even paved. Also some decidedly trashy areas with run-down shacks and discarded furniture etc. along the road, particularly close to the airport.

There is a surprising amount of really remote-feeling, quiet nature on the rims of this posh city quarter. :-)

Another one-way, taking the U1 and A2 to Ulzburg-Süd and returning home by bike. Started with nice weather and few people in the picturesque Oberalsterniederung, but then for the second half the sky turned grey, there was a nasty head wind (just my luck to have a rare SE wind…

Quiet country lanes, some even closed for motorcars, forest trails, and some more cycle paths on former railway rights-of-way. Took the U1 to Großhansdorf and returned by bike swinging round the Großensee which however has no particular characteristics that would recommend it as a destination (honestly, in spite of its…

This time I took the train on the outbound leg so to have the stressful part behind me once I started biking. Saw a lot of really peaceful, nearly car-free hinterland that made me quite forget I was still in a city of 2 million. Returned through in a different…

Fascinating contrast. The Niendorfer Gehege (hard to translate btw, it signifies a fenced-in area, usually wooded, where you keep animals, so "deer park" probably comes closest) is extremely crowded on the weekend, there's a family with kids behind every tree. Then you pass through into the Feldmark and suddenly, while…