Why this ride
A 425 km round trip from Maulbronn - roughly 5 h 00 in the saddle. On the way it passes Baden-Baden, Old Jewish Cemetery Worms and back through Baden-Baden. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Elfinger Pond and Old Jewish Cemetery Worms
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 425 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 00
- 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 78 km this is Bertha Benz Memorial Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 78 km
- Named road
- Bertha Benz Memorial Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Elfinger Pond
Elfinger Pond belongs to the same Cistercian water system as the others around Maulbronn, but its label travels with a surprising companion: a Roman watchtower, number twelve of thirty-nine on a ride devoted to the frontier of the empire. The Roman limes ran well to the east of here, so there is no Roman connection on the ground, only the odd fact that this hill country has been a place of lines and boundaries, in one form or another, for two thousand years. The ponds belong to a gentler kind of border, the one between wilderness and a well-run estate.
Read the complete Elfinger Pond write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Elfinger Pond is where the day begins. Next is Baden-Baden.
2. 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 comes up about 78 km into the recorded legs. Next is Old Jewish Cemetery Worms.
3. Old Jewish Cemetery Worms
The Heiliger Sand in Worms is the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Europe, with gravestones going back to the eleventh century. Weathered sandstone slabs lean at angles among the grass and trees, carved with Hebrew inscriptions, some barely legible after nearly a thousand years. Pebbles and small notes lie on many of them, left by visitors as a sign of remembrance, especially on the grave of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, a great scholar of the thirteenth century who died in captivity. Together with the synagogue and ritual bath of Worms and the Jewish sites of Speyer and Mainz, the cemetery forms the ShUM Sites, listed by UNESCO in 2021, recognising the Rhineland communities that shaped Ashkenazi Jewish culture in the Middle Ages.
Read the complete Old Jewish Cemetery Worms write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 215 km into the recorded legs you reach Old Jewish Cemetery Worms. Next is back through Baden-Baden.
4. back through 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 through Baden-Baden, late in the day. Next is Elfinger Pond.
5. Elfinger Pond
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Elfinger Pond write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Elfinger Pond. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Elfinger Pond to Baden-Baden
Elfinger Pond → Baden-Baden is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Baden-Baden to Old Jewish Cemetery Worms
Baden-Baden → Old Jewish Cemetery Worms is 137 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Old Jewish Cemetery Worms to back through Baden-Baden
Old Jewish Cemetery Worms → back through Baden-Baden is 136 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Baden-Baden to Elfinger Pond
back through Baden-Baden → Elfinger Pond is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.