Why this ride
From Darmstadt it runs 390 km to Darmstadt; allow about 6 h 43 of riding. On the way it passes Ruine Altenmuster, Speyer Cathedral, Aalkisten Pond and Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Exhibition grounds 1901 and Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 390 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 43
- 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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Castle Road
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 53 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 53 km
- Named road
- Castle Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Exhibition grounds 1901
In 1899 the Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse did something unusual for a ruler: he invited a group of young artists to Darmstadt and gave them a hill to build on. The Mathildenhohe, a low rise on the edge of the old town, became an artists' colony where architects, painters and designers could live, work and experiment. The first great exhibition, in 1901, was called A Document of German Art, and the houses and studios built for it were part of the show. UNESCO listed the colony as a World Heritage site in 2021.
Read the complete Exhibition grounds 1901 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Exhibition grounds 1901 is where the day begins. Next is Ruine Altenmuster.
2. Ruine Altenmuster
Lorsch Abbey, founded in the eighth century, became one of the most powerful monasteries of the Carolingian empire, with vast estates, a famous library and the patronage of Charlemagne himself. Its first home, however, was not on the site of the later abbey, but a short distance away, on an island in the Weschnitz river, a place known as Altenmünster, the old minster. The ruins of that first foundation, a few low walls in a meadow, are a quiet counterpoint to the abbey's most famous building, the Torhalle, a gatehouse with a façade of red and white stone panels, one of the few surviving examples of Carolingian architecture. The abbey and Altenmünster together have been on the UNESCO list since 1991.
Read the complete Ruine Altenmuster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ruine Altenmuster comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Speyer Cathedral.
3. Speyer Cathedral
Some buildings impress you with height, others with mass. Speyer Cathedral does it with both, rising from the left bank of the Rhine with six towers and a long, rhythmic nave of red sandstone. It was begun around 1030 by the emperor Conrad II, the first of the Salian dynasty, and is generally considered the largest surviving Romanesque church in the world. Its crypt, a forest of sturdy columns and striped arches, holds the tombs of several emperors and kings, which tells you how central this town once was to the Holy Roman Empire.
Read the complete Speyer Cathedral write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 87 km into the recorded legs you reach Speyer Cathedral. Next is Aalkisten Pond.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung.
5. Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung
In 1927, on a hillside overlooking Stuttgart, a group of the most radical architects in Europe built an entire housing estate in a few months as an exhibition of what modern living could look like. The Weissenhof Estate, organised by the Deutscher Werkbund under the direction of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, brought together Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Hans Scharoun, J.J.P. Oud and others, and their flat-roofed, white-walled houses became a manifesto for the International Style.
Read the complete Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung sits at 195 km, about halfway. Next is back through Aalkisten Pond.
6. 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 comes up about 245 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Speyer Cathedral.
7. back through Speyer Cathedral
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Speyer Cathedral write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 303 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Speyer Cathedral. Next is back through Ruine Altenmuster.
8. back through Ruine Altenmuster
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ruine Altenmuster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ruine Altenmuster, late in the day. Next is Exhibition grounds 1901.
9. Exhibition grounds 1901
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Exhibition grounds 1901 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 390 km.
Leg by leg
Exhibition grounds 1901 to Ruine Altenmuster
Exhibition grounds 1901 → Ruine Altenmuster is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ruine Altenmuster to Speyer Cathedral
Ruine Altenmuster → Speyer Cathedral is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Speyer Cathedral to Aalkisten Pond
Speyer Cathedral → Aalkisten Pond is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Aalkisten Pond to Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung
Aalkisten Pond → Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung to back through Aalkisten Pond
Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung → back through Aalkisten Pond is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Aalkisten Pond to back through Speyer Cathedral
back through Aalkisten Pond → back through Speyer Cathedral is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Speyer Cathedral to back through Ruine Altenmuster
back through Speyer Cathedral → back through Ruine Altenmuster is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ruine Altenmuster to Exhibition grounds 1901
back through Ruine Altenmuster → Exhibition grounds 1901 is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.