Maulbronn Monastery Complex and Fort site and civil settlement of Welheim-
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
172 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 50
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.
172 km from Maulbronn to Maulbronn, about 2 h 50 of riding. The stops in between: Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung, Fort site and civil settlement of Welheim and back through Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Maulbronn Monastery Complex
Maulbronn is what a medieval monastery looks like when nobody has knocked it down. Cistercian monks founded the abbey in the middle of the twelfth century, in a damp, wooded hollow of the Stromberg hills that no one else wanted, and the church, cloister, refectory, fountain house and encircling wall have survived to an extent that is rare north of the Alps. UNESCO listed it in 1993, calling it the most complete and best-preserved medieval monastic complex in Europe, and a walk through its courtyards shows why.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Maulbronn Monastery Complex is where the day begins. Next is Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung.
2. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung comes up about 41 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Welheim-.
3. Fort site and civil settlement of Welheim-
Welzheim sits up in the Swabian-Franconian Forest, a rolling upland of spruce, beech, deep stream valleys and old sawmills east of Stuttgart, and the Romans chose it for the same reason the forest still feels remote today: it was the edge. The Upper German-Raetian Limes ran dead straight through these woods, and Welzheim had not one fort but two, an east and a west fort, with a civilian settlement of traders, craftsmen and soldiers' families packed around them. The east fort has a reconstructed gate and a small archaeological park that gives you a good sense of scale, and the whole frontier line is part of a UNESCO site.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Maulbronn Monastery Complex. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Maulbronn Monastery Complex to Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung
Maulbronn Monastery Complex → Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung to Fort site and civil settlement of Welheim-
Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung → Fort site and civil settlement of Welheim- is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Welheim- to back through Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung
Fort site and civil settlement of Welheim- → back through Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung to Maulbronn Monastery Complex
back through Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung → Maulbronn Monastery Complex is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.