Why this ride
A 342 km round trip from Bad Schussenried - roughly 5 h 40 in the saddle. On the way it passes Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura, Ödenahlen, Schreckensee and Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Olzreute-Enzisholz and Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 342 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 40
- 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
Ödenahlen → Schreckensee
35 km on Ödenahlen → Schreckensee.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 35 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Olzreute-Enzisholz
Some five thousand years ago, someone in Upper Swabia built a wheel out of a single maple plank, mounted it on an axle and used it to move loads across the soft ground near what is now Bad Schussenried. The wheel turned up during excavations at the moor settlement of Olzreute-Enzisholz and is among the oldest wheels ever found in Central Europe, dated to around 2900 BC. The settlement, a group of pile dwellings on the edge of a former lake, is one of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps listed by UNESCO in 2011, a transnational site across six countries.
Read the complete Olzreute-Enzisholz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Olzreute-Enzisholz is where the day begins. Next is Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura.
2. Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura
Forty thousand years ago, someone sitting in a cave above the Ach valley carved a tiny woman out of mammoth ivory, and someone else made a flute from the wing bone of a griffon vulture. Both were found in the Hohle Fels near Schelklingen, a few kilometres from where you are standing, and they rank among the oldest figurative art and musical instruments ever found. The caves of the Ach and Lone valleys were inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2017 as the Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura, and they changed how archaeologists think about the first modern humans in Europe.
Read the complete Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura comes up about 55 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ödenahlen.
3. Ödenahlen
The Federsee basin in Upper Swabia is one of those landscapes that hides its importance. It looks like a flat expanse of reeds, wet meadows and woodland around a shrinking lake, but beneath the peat lie dozens of prehistoric settlements, preserved because the bog kept the oxygen out. Ödenahlen is one of these sites, a Neolithic village on the edge of the moor, and the Federsee settlements are part of the UNESCO Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps. Wooden floors, house walls, wheels and everyday objects have been excavated here, and some of the oldest wooden wheels in Europe come from this region.
Read the complete Ödenahlen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 93 km into the recorded legs you reach Ödenahlen. Next is Schreckensee.
4. Schreckensee
The Schreckensee, the lake of terror, is a disappointingly peaceful place for such a dramatic name. It is a small kettle lake in the moraine country of Upper Swabia, between Ravensburg and Aulendorf, left behind when a block of glacial ice melted at the end of the last Ice Age. Its shores, now partly bog and reed bed, hide the remains of prehistoric settlements, and it is one of the German sites in the UNESCO listing of Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps. As at most of these sites, nothing is visible on the surface; the timbers and household waste lie preserved underwater and in the peat, waiting for future archaeologists.
Read the complete Schreckensee write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Schreckensee, about halfway. Next is Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen.
5. Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen
Unteruhldingen is where most people first meet the prehistoric lake dwellers of the Alps, thanks to the Pfahlbaumuseum, an open-air museum of reconstructed houses on stilts standing in the shallow water of Lake Constance. It started in the 1920s and has been adding houses ever since, and walking along the wooden walkways between thatched huts gives you a vivid idea of village life thousands of years ago. The real archaeological sites, like Stollenwiesen just offshore, lie underwater, a series of settlements preserved in lake mud and listed by UNESCO in 2011 as part of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps.
Read the complete Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen sits at 179 km, about halfway. Next is back through Schreckensee.
6. back through Schreckensee
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Schreckensee write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Schreckensee comes up about 214 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Ödenahlen.
7. back through Ödenahlen
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ödenahlen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 249 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Ödenahlen. Next is back through Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura.
8. back through Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura, late in the day. Next is Olzreute-Enzisholz.
9. Olzreute-Enzisholz
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Olzreute-Enzisholz 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 342 km.
Leg by leg
Olzreute-Enzisholz to Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura
Olzreute-Enzisholz → Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura to Ödenahlen
Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura → Ödenahlen is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ödenahlen to Schreckensee
Ödenahlen → Schreckensee is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Schreckensee to Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen
Schreckensee → Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen to back through Schreckensee
Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen → back through Schreckensee is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Schreckensee to back through Ödenahlen
back through Schreckensee → back through Ödenahlen is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ödenahlen to back through Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura
back through Ödenahlen → back through Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura to Olzreute-Enzisholz
back through Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura → Olzreute-Enzisholz is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.