Why this ride
A 276 km round trip from Lorch - roughly 3 h 48 in the saddle. The stops in between: Lone Valley, Building remains of south of Pfahlheim and back through Lone Valley.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch and Building remains of south of Pfahlheim
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 276 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 48
- 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. Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch
Lorch, in the Rems valley east of Stuttgart, sits on a historic seam. Just outside town, the Upper German Limes, which ran as a palisade and ditch from the Rhine, met the Raetian Limes, the stone wall running east to the Danube, and the Romans built a fort here to watch over that junction and the valley road. The fort lay beneath what is now the old town centre, and its outline, together with traces of the civilian settlement that grew around it, is marked in places in the streets. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site, and a reconstructed watchtower stands on a hill nearby.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch 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 78 km into the recorded legs. Next is Building remains of south of Pfahlheim.
3. Building remains of south of Pfahlheim
The name of the village gives the game away. Pfahlheim, a part of Ellwangen in the Ostalb, takes its name from the Pfahl, the stake line, which is what generations of farmers called the Roman frontier that ran through their fields. Here, at the edge of what is now Baden-Württemberg, the Upper German Limes and the Raetian Limes met, and the building remains south of the village are one of many small components of the UNESCO-listed Upper German-Raetian Limes. The frontier ran almost dead straight across this country for long distances, ignoring hills and streams in a way that still baffles people. There is very little to see on the ground today, perhaps a low bank or a signboard, but the line can be traced by eye if you know where to look.
Read the complete Building remains of south of Pfahlheim write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 137 km into the recorded legs you reach Building remains of south of Pfahlheim. 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 Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch.
5. Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch to Lone Valley
Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch → Lone Valley is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lone Valley to Building remains of south of Pfahlheim
Lone Valley → Building remains of south of Pfahlheim is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Building remains of south of Pfahlheim to back through Lone Valley
Building remains of south of Pfahlheim → back through Lone Valley is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Lone Valley to Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch
back through Lone Valley → Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.