Why this ride
A 223 km round trip from Steckborn - roughly 4 h 10 in the saddle. On the way it passes Bodman-Schachen / Löchle, Schreckensee, Siedlung Forschner and back through Schreckensee. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Wangen-Hinterhorn and Siedlung Forschner
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 223 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 10
- 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
Bodman-Schachen / Löchle → Schreckensee
The ride follows Bodman-Schachen / Löchle → Schreckensee for 55 km.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 55 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Wangen-Hinterhorn
When the water of the Untersee, the western arm of Lake Constance, was unusually low in the winter of 1853 to 1854, people around the Swiss and German shores noticed wooden posts sticking out of the mud. They were the remains of prehistoric pile dwellings, villages built on the lakeshore thousands of years ago, and the find sparked a wave of research and a craze for lake-dwelling romance across Europe. Wangen, on the German shore of the Untersee, was one of the first sites studied, and Wangen-Hinterhorn belongs to the World Heritage inscription for prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, though there is nothing to see above the water.
Read the complete Wangen-Hinterhorn write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wangen-Hinterhorn is where the day begins. Next is Bodman-Schachen / Löchle.
2. Bodman-Schachen / Löchle
Lake Constance takes its German name, Bodensee, from this village. Bodman, at the western tip of the Überlinger See arm of the lake, was the site of a royal palace in the early Middle Ages, and the name of the place spread to the water. Below the village, in the shallows at Schachen and Löchle, lie the remains of prehistoric pile dwellings, part of the transnational World Heritage Site of Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, inscribed in 2011.
Read the complete Bodman-Schachen / Löchle write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bodman-Schachen / Löchle comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Schreckensee.
3. 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
about 84 km into the recorded legs you reach Schreckensee. Next is Siedlung Forschner.
4. Siedlung Forschner
Long before the Federsee became a moor, it was a lake with villages along its edge, and the villagers built on wet ground. In the Bronze Age, people here set their houses on timber platforms and foundations at the water's edge, and as the lake slowly silted up, the waterlogged peat sealed their remains. Wooden posts, tools and pottery survived in astonishing condition. The Siedlung Forschner, named for the farmer on whose land it lay, is one of the excavated settlements, and it belongs to the group of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps that UNESCO listed in 2011.
Read the complete Siedlung Forschner write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Siedlung Forschner, about halfway. Next is back through Schreckensee.
5. 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 sits at 141 km, about halfway. Next is back through Bodman-Schachen / Löchle.
6. back through Bodman-Schachen / Löchle
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bodman-Schachen / Löchle write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Bodman-Schachen / Löchle comes up about 194 km into the recorded legs. Next is Wangen-Hinterhorn.
7. Wangen-Hinterhorn
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wangen-Hinterhorn write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wangen-Hinterhorn closes the day.
Leg by leg
Wangen-Hinterhorn to Bodman-Schachen / Löchle
Wangen-Hinterhorn → Bodman-Schachen / Löchle is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bodman-Schachen / Löchle to Schreckensee
Bodman-Schachen / Löchle → Schreckensee is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Schreckensee to Siedlung Forschner
Schreckensee → Siedlung Forschner is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Siedlung Forschner to back through Schreckensee
Siedlung Forschner → back through Schreckensee is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Schreckensee to back through Bodman-Schachen / Löchle
back through Schreckensee → back through Bodman-Schachen / Löchle is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bodman-Schachen / Löchle to Wangen-Hinterhorn
back through Bodman-Schachen / Löchle → Wangen-Hinterhorn is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.