Hermann Hesse arrived in Maulbronn in 1891 as a fourteen-year-old seminary student, and left after seven months, having run away across the fields and been found in the cold. The boy became a writer, and the old Cistercian monastery turned up in his novels as the place where a young person's spirit is crushed or set free. The Hilsenbeuertal is one of the quiet valleys on the edge of town, and the upper pond there is a good place to think about all this, because it is still and shaded and has no interest in your opinion.
Maulbronn Monastery, founded in the middle of the twelfth century, is the best-preserved medieval monastic complex north of the Alps, and UNESCO listed it in 1993. The Cistercians settled here in a wet valley and made it work, building a network of dams, ponds and channels that fed the mill, the fish tanks and the kitchen, and kept the monastery supplied through winter and Lent. The ponds in the surrounding woods, including this one, are survivors of that system. Fish was a staple on the many fasting days, and carp and tench were raised in these waters for centuries. Some of the old stonework of the dams is still visible if you look.
The ride around Maulbronn takes you through the Stromberg and Kraichgau, a countryside of low wooded hills, orchards and vineyards in north-western Württemberg. Roads here are quiet, well surfaced and gently curving, with long views from the ridges and villages of half-timbered houses. Narrow lanes through the woods are shaded and damp, with moss on the edges, and in autumn leaves cover the tarmac in a slippery skin. Deer are common at dusk. The nearest place of any size is Maulbronn itself, which is small but has fuel, bakeries, a couple of inns and a good choice of Swabian dishes, such as Maultaschen, a kind of large stuffed pasta, and Spätzle.
The pond is within walking distance of town. Leave the bike and follow the path, and you may see herons, ducks and, in early summer, dragonflies skimming the surface. Visit in the early morning or at evening, when the light comes low through the trees. Spring is bright with new leaves, and October brings mist and colour. In winter the ponds sometimes freeze, and the path can be icy.