The name of the village gives the game away. Pfahlheim, a part of Ellwangen in the Ostalb, takes its name from the Pfahl, the stake line, which is what generations of farmers called the Roman frontier that ran through their fields. Here, at the edge of what is now Baden-Württemberg, the Upper German Limes and the Raetian Limes met, and the building remains south of the village are one of many small components of the UNESCO-listed Upper German-Raetian Limes. The frontier ran almost dead straight across this country for long distances, ignoring hills and streams in a way that still baffles people. There is very little to see on the ground today, perhaps a low bank or a signboard, but the line can be traced by eye if you know where to look.
To make sense of it, ride a few kilometres west to Rainau-Dalkingen, where the remains of a Limes gate have been protected under a modern glass structure, and to the Limes park at Rainau-Buch, with a reconstructed fort outline and a lake. The Aalen Limes Museum, built on the site of the largest cavalry fort north of the Alps, is also within easy reach.
The Ostalb landscape is gentle and rural, a rolling patchwork of fields, meadows and woods with small villages and onion-domed churches. The roads are quiet, mostly well surfaced, with gentle curves and good sightlines, though tractors and cyclists are common. Further west, the Swabian Jura rises into steeper country with cliffs and castles, including the Hohenstaufen and the Hohenrechberg, two conical hills crowned with castle ruins that gave the Staufer emperors their name and their home ground.
Ellwangen, nine kilometres away, is a fine Baroque town with a castle, a Romanesque basilica and the pilgrimage church of Schönenberg on a hill above. It has fuel, shops and plenty of places to eat. Swabian food is filling and comforting: Maultaschen, Spätzle with cheese, roast pork and cider. Spring, when the fruit trees blossom, and autumn, when the woods turn golden, are lovely times to ride here.