Why this ride
A 160 km one-way ride from near Nördlingen, about 2 h 12 of riding. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Romantic Road: Nordlingen to Wieskirche
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 160 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 12
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Nordlingen
Nördlingen sits in the middle of a hole in the ground, and the hole was made from space. About fourteen and a half million years ago, a meteorite crashed into this part of southern Germany and left a crater about twenty-five kilometres wide, the Ries, now a gently bowl-shaped plain of fields, villages and low hills. Nördlingen was built inside it, in a perfect circle, and the medieval wall that surrounds it is almost round, the only fully preserved ring wall in Germany that you can walk along the top of. The walk takes about an hour.
Read the complete Nordlingen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nordlingen is where the day begins. Next is Augsburg.
2. Augsburg
Augsburg is older than almost everything else on the Romantic Road, and it knows it. The Romans founded a camp here in 15 BC and named it after Emperor Augustus, and for much of the Middle Ages it was one of the richest cities in Europe, thanks to the Fugger and Welser banking families, who lent money to emperors and popes. The Fuggerei, a walled quarter of small yellow houses built by Jakob Fugger in 1521, is the world's oldest social housing complex still in use, and the annual rent is famously less than a euro.
Read the complete Augsburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Augsburg comes up about 72 km into the recorded legs. Next is Wieskirche.
3. Wieskirche
The Wieskirche stands alone in a meadow in the Pfaffenwinkel, the priests' corner of Upper Bavaria, with the Ammergau Alps behind it, and it is the finest rococo church in Germany. From the outside it is almost plain: a long, white building with a modest tower and a red roof, set among fields with a few farmhouses nearby. The surprise is on the inside, where the whole space explodes into light, colour and movement, with a ceiling painted as an open sky, stucco curling like clouds and a pulpit and altars glittering with gold.
Read the complete Wieskirche 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 160 km.
Leg by leg
Nordlingen to Augsburg
Nordlingen → Augsburg is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Augsburg to Wieskirche
Augsburg → Wieskirche is 88 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.