CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
166 km from Thayngen to Thayngen, about 3 h 23 of riding. On the way it passes Wangen-Hinterhorn, Bodman-Schachen / Löchle, Konstanz-Hinterhausen and back through Bodman-Schachen / Löchle. It crosses from Switzerland into Germany - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 24 km this is Grand Tour of Switzerland, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Just outside Thayngen, almost on the German border, a small wetland hides the remains of Neolithic villages that stood here more than five thousand years ago. The sites known as Weier I to III were built on the edge of a former lake or moor, now mostly filled in, and excavations revealed well-preserved timber houses, tools, pottery and food remains that give a detailed picture of early farming communities. They form part of the UNESCO listing of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, though as with most such sites, there is little to see above ground today beyond the landscape itself.
Read the complete Weier I - III write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Weier I - III is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Wangen-Hinterhorn comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 53 km into the recorded legs you reach Bodman-Schachen / Löchle. Next is Konstanz-Hinterhausen.
There is nothing to see at Konstanz-Hinterhausen, and that is precisely the point. Below the surface of Lake Constance, along the shore near the city, lie the remains of prehistoric pile dwellings: wooden posts, floors, pottery and food remains preserved in the mud for thousands of years. They are part of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, a World Heritage site that spans six countries and over a hundred locations. Archaeologists dive to study them, but the rest of us have to make do with the view of the lake and a bit of imagination.
Read the complete Konstanz-Hinterhausen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Konstanz-Hinterhausen, about halfway. Next is back through Bodman-Schachen / Löchle.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bodman-Schachen / Löchle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Bodman-Schachen / Löchle sits at 105 km, about halfway. Next is back through Wangen-Hinterhorn.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wangen-Hinterhorn write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Wangen-Hinterhorn comes up about 144 km into the recorded legs. Next is Weier I - III.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Weier I - III write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Weier I - III closes the day.
Weier I - III → Wangen-Hinterhorn is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wangen-Hinterhorn → Bodman-Schachen / Löchle is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bodman-Schachen / Löchle → Konstanz-Hinterhausen is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Konstanz-Hinterhausen → back through Bodman-Schachen / Löchle is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bodman-Schachen / Löchle → back through Wangen-Hinterhorn is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Wangen-Hinterhorn → Weier I - III is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.