Why this ride
A 345 km round trip from Baden-Baden - roughly 4 h 53 in the saddle. On the way it passes Aalkisten Pond, Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 and back through Aalkisten Pond. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Baden-Baden and Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 345 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 53
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Bertha Benz Memorial Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 75 km this is Bertha Benz Memorial Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 75 km
- Named road
- Bertha Benz Memorial Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden is so nice they named it twice, as the old joke goes, though the doubling actually comes from distinguishing it from other places called Baden. Romans soaked in its hot springs, and the remains of their baths lie under the old town, but the town's golden age came in the nineteenth century, when European royalty, aristocrats, writers and gamblers flocked here to take the waters, stroll the avenues and lose fortunes at the casino. Dostoevsky, Turgenev and Brahms all spent time here. Baden-Baden is one of the eleven Great Spa Towns of Europe, listed together by UNESCO in 2021.
Read the complete Baden-Baden write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Baden-Baden is where the day begins. Next is Aalkisten Pond.
2. Aalkisten Pond
The name sounds like a joke, Eel Boxes, but it is a literal description. The Aalkistensee is another of the ponds that the Cistercian monks of Maulbronn built to hold fish, and a kiste was a wooden box or a pen in which eels were kept alive. The monks needed fish for the many days of the year when meat was forbidden, and a monastery that held land and water could supply its own table and sell the surplus. The Maulbronn system, with its dams, channels and sluices, was a clever piece of hydraulic engineering for the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and it works on the principle of gravity and careful levels.
Read the complete Aalkisten Pond write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Aalkisten Pond comes up about 75 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68.
3. Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68
Between Öhringen and Mainhardt, the Upper German Limes does something a Roman engineer must have been proud of: it runs dead straight for many kilometres, up hill and down dale, ignoring the terrain as if drawn with a ruler on a map. The watchtower sites numbered along this section lie on that line, in the Hohenlohe country of northern Württemberg, between the open farmland around Pfedelbach and the dark wooded hills of the Swabian-Franconian Forest.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 173 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68. Next is back through Aalkisten Pond.
4. back through Aalkisten Pond
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Aalkisten Pond write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Aalkisten Pond, late in the day. Next is Baden-Baden.
5. Baden-Baden
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Baden-Baden write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Baden-Baden. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Baden-Baden to Aalkisten Pond
Baden-Baden → Aalkisten Pond is 75 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Aalkisten Pond to Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68
Aalkisten Pond → Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 is 98 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 to back through Aalkisten Pond
Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 → back through Aalkisten Pond is 97 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Aalkisten Pond to Baden-Baden
back through Aalkisten Pond → Baden-Baden is 75 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.