The Rems valley runs east from Stuttgart towards the edge of the Swabian Jura, and Unterböbingen lies just outside the village of Böbingen, with Heubach three kilometres on and the long wooded wall of the Alb rising behind. The ground here is gently rolling farmland, orchards, small fields and the occasional church spire, the kind of country that looks entirely ordinary until you remember who once held it.
The Romans did, and they held it with care. A Roman fort stood at Unterböbingen on the Raetian frontier, and beside it grew a civil settlement, the vicus, where traders, craftsmen and soldiers' families lived under the protection of the garrison. That pairing, fort and village, is how the empire built almost everywhere on its edges. The frontier line itself, the Limes, was listed by UNESCO in 2005 together with its German sections, and it is easy to follow by road if you like quiet, unglamorous history.
On the bike this is a gentle, almost pastoral area. The B29 follows the Rems and carries commuters, so avoid it at rush hour; the smaller roads that climb out towards Heubach and the Rosenstein are far better, tight little bends through beech woods with the escarpment looming. The Rosenstein above Heubach has a ruined castle site and caves, and from the Albtrauf the view drops all the way to the Hohenstaufen, the hill that gave the medieval Staufer dynasty its name. Schwäbisch Gmünd and Aalen are the bigger towns either side, and both have fuel and a decent meal.
Heubach, with just over ten thousand people, is the practical stop for fuel, bakeries and cafes, and Böbingen itself has a few shops. Spring brings blossom over the orchards, autumn the colour on the Alb, and the road surfaces in the valley are good almost everywhere. Winter can bring ice on the shaded climbs, so be wary before ten in the morning.