Pestenacker is a field in Bavaria with a secret under it. Around five and a half thousand years ago, Neolithic farmers built a settlement on the damp ground near the Lech, and the waterlogged soil preserved timber, tools and household remains that would have rotted elsewhere. It belongs to the family of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, inscribed by UNESCO in 2011, a group that also includes the Roseninsel in Lake Starnberg to the south. What you see at the surface is modest, since most of the evidence is below ground, so the interest here lies in imagining.
The area is flat and rural, part of the Lech valley and the Fünfseenland edge, with fields of maize and barley, tidy villages and church spires with onion domes. The nearest small town of any size is Geltendorf, with about five thousand people, and Landsberg am Lech lies not far to the west, a handsome old town on the river with a wide market square and plenty of cafés. Both have fuel and supplies. Weil and Egling, closer to the site, are small.
For a rider, this is easy, relaxed country. Smooth farm roads with long straight sections and gentle bends link the villages, and on clear days, especially when the warm Föhn wind blows, the Alps stand along the southern horizon like a painted backdrop. Traffic is mostly local and agricultural, so expect tractors in harvest time and cyclists on summer weekends. Mornings in May and September are best, when the light is clear and the fields are green or golden.
The landscape's best secrets are the quiet ones. The Neolithic people who lived here farmed wheat and barley, kept cattle, and hunted in the surrounding forest, and they left behind a record of everyday life instead of monuments. Read about them before you come, bring a map and a flask, and let the flat, calm country do the rest. Afterwards, a stop in a village inn for a Bavarian lunch of roast pork and dumplings is a fine way to end the visit.