Deutschland-Trail Gravel-Edition: Help plan the route for the Deutschland-Trail

Sandra Schuberth has already mapped out the rough route of the Germany Trail Gravel Edition. The detailed planning is still pending - and we need you for that. On 16 August, Sandra sets off on a bikepacking tour through Germany. In search of the most appealing gravel paths and single trails, Sandra sets off from the border triangle of Germany, France and Luxembourg to Munich. A prologue takes Sandra from Amnéville in France to the border triangle, where the 5th stage of the Tour de France Femmes 2024 ends. The starting signal for the Germany Trail is then given at the border triangle. And because locals know the best trails and gravel routes, your commitment is needed: join in and help Sandra plan the route!

This is the route

The rough route has been finalised and the daily stages should look something like this:

1. Stage, 16 August: From the border triangle to Saarbrücken (125 km, 1500 m elevation gain)
2. Stage, 17 August: From Saarbrücken to Zweibrücken (95 km, 800 m elevation gain)
3. Stage, 18th August: From Zweibrücken to Neustadt an der Weinstraße (105 km, 1000 m elevation gain)
4. Stage, 19th August: From Neustadt an der Weinstraße to Neckargerach (120, 1500 m elevation gain)
5. Stage, 20 August: From Neckargerach to Stuttgart (100 km, 800 m elevation gain)
6. Stage, 21 August: From Stuttgart to Schwäbisch Gmünd (110 km, 1500 m elevation gain)
7. Stage, 22 August: From Schwäbisch Gmünd to Augsburg (150 km, 1500 m elevation gain)
8. Stage, 23 August: From behind Augsburg to Munich - max. 75 kilometres

How to submit route suggestions

Sandra needs your help to find the most beautiful gravel tracks, forest paths, dirt tracks and single trails and at the same time not to miss any highlights. Submit your suggestions. Plan your suggested route so that it can be ridden with a gravel bike and some luggage if possible. It can be steep, it can be bumpy - one or two highlights can certainly only be reached this way.

And now let's go!

1. plan your route

For your planning, use the DK tour portal or Outdooractive. Plan your route there to become part of the Deutschland-Trail Gravel-Edition. Save your finished plan in your profile.

2. make a tour out of your route

Planning is the basis for a tour, plans are private and cannot be published. The next step is to turn your planning into a tour so that you can publish it and plan a tour together with Sandra. To do this, click on "Convert to tour" above your planning. As soon as you turn your plan into a tour, the original plan will be removed.

One advantage of the separate planning and tour processing steps is that you have a clear overview of the current status, i.e. the point at which you are currently processing.

3. name and describe the tour

Now fill in the Title, Short description and Description fields before you save the tour. We'll explain how in a moment. Because if your route suggestion - whether a section or the entire stage - is named and described according to a certain pattern, you make it easier for Sandra to keep track of which section it is.

The title should consist of "Deutschland-Trail route suggestion stage" + number of the stage + either "section" or "entire stage", depending on the stage

In the short description write the following:

• From: Start location of your section
• To: Destination of your section
• Highlights: Highlight 1, possibly Highlight 2, possibly Highlight 3, ...

This is what it looks like in the DK tour portal and in Outdooractive:

4. publish tour

Have you filled in the title, short description and description if applicable? Great! Then you're almost at the end of the process. Move the slider under Status to Publish and save your tour.

5th joint tour with Sandra

Now there's just one last step left: the tour has to get to Sandra. The DK tour portal and Outdooractive offer the "plan together" option for this. Once your tour has been saved, you can now navigate directly to the tour. Above the tour you will find a menu with various buttons. Click on the three dots to the right. A menu will now open in which you can select "Plan together".

Now you need to specify a date and time for the tour together - base the date on the previous one Route planning (see above) and then simply enter any time, perhaps your favourite time - the main thing is that the field is filled in. Now click on "+ Add participant" and search for Sandra Schuberth. Click on the right Sandra Schuberth and continue by clicking on "Done".

No further details are required, so you can click on Save straight away. By clicking on Done, Sandra will receive an e-mail with the tour invitation. The suggested route will then be included in the route planning for the Germany Trail Gravel Edition.

Of course, we cannot consider all suggestions, as there will certainly be several suggestions for the same section. But:

Ride along - this is how it works

You can also accompany Sandra for a whileshe would be delighted. Also subscribe to our newsletter and stay up to date.