Why this ride
A 171 km round trip from Klingenstein - roughly 2 h 37 in the saddle. It goes by way of Lone Valley, Fort site and civil settlement of Aalen and back through Lone Valley.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ehrenstein and Fort site and civil settlement of Aalen
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 171 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 37
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Ehrenstein
Ehrenstein is a small district on the western edge of Ulm, in the Blau valley, where the little Blau river flows from its spring at Blaubeuren towards the Danube. In the 1950s and 60s, archaeologists found here the remains of a Neolithic village, built on the damp ground of the valley floor around six thousand years ago, with wooden houses, hearths and remarkably well-preserved organic material. The site is part of the World Heritage list of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, though there is nothing to see above ground today.
Read the complete Ehrenstein write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ehrenstein is where the day begins. Next is Lone Valley.
2. Lone Valley
The Lone is a small river in the Swabian Jura, east of Ulm, that often vanishes underground in dry weather, slipping into the limestone and leaving its bed empty. Its quiet valley, flanked by wooded slopes and limestone cliffs, holds caves where some of the oldest figurative art in the world was found. In the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave, fragments of a figure carved from mammoth ivory were pieced together into the Lion Man, a being with a human body and a lion's head, around forty thousand years old. In the Vogelherd cave, tiny ivory animals, a horse, a mammoth, a cave lion, emerged from the sediment.
Read the complete Lone Valley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lone Valley comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Aalen.
3. Fort site and civil settlement of Aalen
The largest Roman cavalry fort north of the Alps stood on the site of today's Aalen, in the eastern Swabian Jura. It was home to a regiment of a thousand horsemen, the ala II Flavia, the most prestigious cavalry unit on the Raetian frontier, and its walls enclosed a huge area, with barracks, stables, granaries and a headquarters building. Beside it grew a civilian settlement, with traders, craftsmen and families. Today the site is home to the Limesmuseum Aalen, one of the most important museums of the Roman frontier in Germany, with excavated foundations, reconstructions and a rich collection of finds. It is part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes World Heritage site.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Aalen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 85 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Aalen. Next is back through Lone Valley.
4. back through Lone Valley
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lone Valley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Lone Valley, late in the day. Next is Ehrenstein.
5. Ehrenstein
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ehrenstein write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Ehrenstein. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Ehrenstein to Lone Valley
Ehrenstein → Lone Valley is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lone Valley to Fort site and civil settlement of Aalen
Lone Valley → Fort site and civil settlement of Aalen is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Aalen to back through Lone Valley
Fort site and civil settlement of Aalen → back through Lone Valley is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Lone Valley to Ehrenstein
back through Lone Valley → Ehrenstein is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.