The Federsee basin in Upper Swabia is one of those landscapes that hides its importance. It looks like a flat expanse of reeds, wet meadows and woodland around a shrinking lake, but beneath the peat lie dozens of prehistoric settlements, preserved because the bog kept the oxygen out. Ödenahlen is one of these sites, a Neolithic village on the edge of the moor, and the Federsee settlements are part of the UNESCO Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps. Wooden floors, house walls, wheels and everyday objects have been excavated here, and some of the oldest wooden wheels in Europe come from this region.
To understand it, go to the Federseemuseum in Bad Buchau, which tells the story of the moor settlements and has reconstructed houses outside. A boardwalk stretches across the reeds to the open water, and in spring and early summer the moor is full of birdsong; it is one of the important wetland bird sites in southern Germany, and you may hear bitterns booming or watch marsh harriers quartering the reeds.
Riding in Upper Swabia is gentle and open. The roads between Biberach, Bad Buchau and Bad Schussenried run through rolling farmland and small woods, with onion-domed church towers marking each village. This is Baroque country, and the Oberschwäbische Barockstraße links some extraordinary churches. Steinhausen, just a short ride away, has a pilgrimage church by Dominikus Zimmermann often called the most beautiful village church in the world, and it is hard to argue once you stand under its pastel ceiling.
Fuel and supplies are easy in Bad Buchau or Biberach an der Riß, a pleasant town of around thirty thousand with a well-preserved old centre. Expect speed cameras and tractors. Summer evenings are the best time to be here, with the sky reflected in the bog pools and the smell of hay drifting off the meadows, and a beer from one of the many small Swabian breweries waiting in town.