Bicycle tour Curslack - Kirchwerder - Hoopte - Marschacht - Geesthacht - Altengamme - Curslack
A day trip - ca. 50 km (ca. 33 miles)
I started right after breakfast - it is not just a little thing like go and buy some groceries or so. I started at home; pass the church St. Johannes in Curslack. By the way, if someone should go pass there take the chance and have a look at the church. Like every church in the "Vierlande" it is worth to have a look. More about it later on an extra page.
From the church I entered the dyke turning right (careful, car drivers seldom pay attention that you have got right of way). I followed the dyke to the roundabout and then turned left into the street "Odemanns Heck" (I once lived here). The street cross the river "Dove Elbe" (= deaf Elbe) and I had to cross the "Neuengammer Hausdeich" another dyke. From here onwards the track is an old railroad line. The railroad libne went from Bergedorf to Kirchwerder in a nearly straight line. So I just followed it crossing he "Neuengammer Hinterdeich", the bridge over the "Gose Elbe", the "Kirchwerder Elbdeich", from here to the old station "Kirchwerder" it is a wide asphaltic way. Then it is a cycle/hike path again. Somewhere between the old station and the "Elbdeich" I med two horsemen (or better horsegirls) who had been on a riding rallye across the Vierlande. Finally I reached the old dyke close to the Elbe in Kirchwerder/Zollenspieker, turned left and cycled to the next corner from where I could see the "Zollenspieker Fährhaus". Now I turned right and cross the "Elbdeich" and entered the place in front of the ferry terminal. At the weekend it is a meeting place for motorbikes and you can see many interesting bikes here. Of course I cross the Elbe with the ferry (www.faehre-zollenspieker.de), it is always a highlight. And the price is okay, 1,50 € for an adult plus 1 € for a bikecycle, children pay 0,50 €. You can also use the ferry with a car. At the other side of the river you are in Hoopte in Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) - aarrgh, foreign country! But it is possible to go here without passport. Here I turned left and followed the road towards Laßrönne. After a while (boundary of Laßrönne) the road turns right over a bridge. Direct at the end of the bridge is a playground and place for barbeque on the lefthand side. Here I turned left and followed the concrete path direct behind the dyke. The whole time the path follows the dyke to a road called "Schleusenbrücke". I passed a village with the name Uhlenbusch (yes, it is a real place not a fiction from TV) and the "Stover Rennbahn", a racecourse for horses. Here I had a break to get something to drink. And what was the first thing I saw here? A Norfolk Terrier. I am always pleased when I meet one. Finally I reached the bridge crossing the Elbe again and the lock canal bridge close to Geesthacht. At the side of the bridge is a small path from the dyke up to the road across the Elbe. The bridge is also a damming structure and next to it the biggest fish pass in Europe. But I have not been there yet perhaps I should go there next summer with my Mum. Then I cross an part of land called Elbinsel (Elbe island) and then the canal. With some luck you can see the lock working. Now I had finished the bridge (it is a real long one). Here I left the road and turned right into the Horster Damm towards Hamburg. Oh, by the way, as I cross the Elbe again I came to Schleswig-Holstein, another federal state of Germany. Just before the dyke in Altengamme is great plan grassland and in autumn it is always used for fly a kite. Now I was back in Hamburg. Thank God there was no wind, my thigh began to burn. Hold on!! It is not far anymore. So I moved on, straight across the roundabout and at the bus station left into the Altengammer Bahndamm, another old railway line. I cycled also straight ahead to the Altengammer Hausdeich, passing the Altengammer church St. Nikolai, if someone of you does the trip and has still enough energy, have a look, I know it since many, many years. At the Altengammer Hausdeich I turned right and followed the dyke. Careful, in the Vierlande everybody is speeding on the dykes, what means, a car is doing at least 50 km/h, sometimes more, even it the road is small. After I had cross the Curslacker Heerweg I was close to the church again, I could see the tower and was from only 150 m from my destination, finally at home.
Here some impression from the tour:
St. Johannis to Curslack "my home church"
The trail between Neuengamme and Kirchwerder
Horses on a rallye across the Vierlande
The ferry across the river Elbe
Sheep at the dyke (south side of the river Elbe)
Search for the pheasant! It is there - I swear
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