Why this ride
295 km from Speyer to Speyer, about 3 h 57 of riding. It goes by way of Hochenacker Pond, Baden-Baden and back through Hochenacker Pond. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Speyer Cathedral and Baden-Baden
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 295 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 57
- 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
61 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it — speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 68 km
- Named road
- Bertha Benz Memorial Route
Bertha Benz Memorial Route
For about 79 km this is Bertha Benz Memorial Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 79 km
- Named road
- Bertha Benz Memorial Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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
Speyer Cathedral is where the day begins. Next is Hochenacker Pond.
2. Hochenacker Pond
Hermann Hesse ran away from Maulbronn after seven months. He was fourteen, a pupil at the Protestant seminary housed in the old monastery, and one day in 1892 he walked out and was found a day later in a field, cold and hungry. He later turned the experience into his novel Beneath the Wheel, and the monastery has not forgotten. The seminary buildings are still a school, and the cloister is among the best-preserved medieval monasteries in Germany, listed by UNESCO since 1993. Johannes Kepler and the poet Friedrich Hölderlin also studied here, which tells you the standard.
Read the complete Hochenacker Pond write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hochenacker Pond comes up about 68 km into the recorded legs. Next is Baden-Baden.
3. 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
about 147 km into the recorded legs you reach Baden-Baden. Next is back through Hochenacker Pond.
4. back through Hochenacker Pond
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hochenacker Pond write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hochenacker Pond, late in the day. Next is Speyer Cathedral.
5. 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
Back at Speyer Cathedral. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Speyer Cathedral to Hochenacker Pond
Speyer Cathedral → Hochenacker Pond is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hochenacker Pond to Baden-Baden
Hochenacker Pond → Baden-Baden is 79 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Baden-Baden to back through Hochenacker Pond
Baden-Baden → back through Hochenacker Pond is 81 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Hochenacker Pond to Speyer Cathedral
back through Hochenacker Pond → Speyer Cathedral is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- ShUM Sites of Speyer and Baden-Baden · 295 km
- Hamberg Ditch and Baden-Baden · 325 km