the path of the “white gold”
a medieval trade route
Alte Salzstraße
cycling along the Elbe-Lübeck Channel
A long-distance cycle route tells the story of salt, which was once as precious as gold. On the saddle of our bikes, we follow in the footsteps of a medieval trade route. It must have been an arduous journey for the carters of old. They carried their precious cargo from the salt works in Lüneburg to the port of Lübeck - initially by the difficult overland route, later on the oldest man-made waterway in Northern Europe.
Today, time travel on the Old Salt Road - Alte Salzstraße - is comfortable: the long-distance cycle route leads from Lauenburg to Lübeck along the Elbe-Lübeck Canal. As a blue artery, the successor to the former Stecknitz Canal runs through the middle of the Duchy of Lauenburg. Seven locks regulate the difference in height. Every summer, the waterway is the main protagonist of a four-week cultural festival: the Kultursommer am Kanal.
91 km
the long-distance cycle route between Lüneburg and Lübeck follows the traces of the white gold.
1900
after five years of construction the almost 62 km long Elbe-Lübeck Canal was opened.
4
weeks, the Elbe-Lübeck Canal is celebrated with the anual cultural festival ‘Kultursommer am Kanal’.
