Richtung Bodensee - RadReiseRegion Naturschatzkammern

A close encounter with water Fancy an exciting geology lesson? All you need is a bike and a bit of fitness to discover the foothills of the Alps with its many faces.

One of them is Lake Constance. Although you won't cycle to its shores on this tour through the natural treasure troves, its formation during the last ice age around 14,000 years ago is directly linked to that of the Allgäu hills. They form the Alpine foothills and, together with the Alps, form a unique unit. The first face appears just after the start of the historic town of Wangen. A picturesque, undulating land of young moraines, often alternating between wooded hilltops, ridges and hollows, which together appear like a green sea moved by the wind. Again and again you cross the Argen lifeline, the third largest tributary of Lake Constance, which has dug deep into the earth due to the steep gradient and created a wide bed. Several castles and ruins, such as the one in Neuravensburg, lie along its lower course. From here, a completely new face of the glacial landscape emerges: flat, fertile meadows with old, gnarled fruit trees surround the villages and hamlets. As you cycle, you can clearly feel how the gradient slopes down towards the lake before the route leads back into the rolling hills. As a result, there are only just under 130 meters of altitude to conquer over the 33 kilometers. A moving geology lecture without sitting still!