Below the village of Schelklingen the Swabian Jura gives up some of the oldest art in the world. In the caves of the Ach and Lone valleys, early modern humans carved ivory and bone about forty thousand years ago, among them a small female figure found in the Hohle Fels cave in 2008, which is among the oldest known sculptures of the human form. Flutes made from bird bone and mammoth ivory turned up too. UNESCO listed six of these caves in 2017 under the title of Caves and Ice Age Art of the Swabian Jura, and a museum in nearby Blaubeuren tells the story well.
The Ach is a short river, but it carves a lovely valley. The road runs beside it between steep limestone slopes, with beech woods overhead and white cliffs showing through the trees. At Blaubeuren the river meets the Blautopf, a spring pool of an astonishing deep blue, fed from a cave system and the subject of local legend. Climb out of the valley and the plateau opens into fields and juniper heath, with curving roads that make for relaxed, rhythmic riding. In spring the meadows are dotted with flowers, and in autumn the beech woods blaze.
Schelklingen has about seven thousand people and Blaubeuren nearly twelve thousand, so fuel and a decent meal are both easy to come by. Blaubeuren has an attractive old monastery with a late Gothic altar, and its half-timbered lanes make a fine place for a stroll. Ulm, the city with the tallest church spire in the world, lies a short ride to the east, and Ulm is a good choice if you want a real town for the evening.
Weather on the Alb can change quickly, and mornings are often cool even in summer, so a light layer is worth packing. The caves themselves are small and some require guided visits, so check ahead before you go. Even if you never go underground, the valley carries the feel of an ancient place, and the cliffs and cool air do the rest.