Walldürn sits on the high, rolling plateau where the Odenwald meets the Bauland, a gentle landscape of fields, woods and small towns in the northeast of Baden-Württemberg. The Romans came here in the second century AD, when the Upper German Limes was pushed forward to a new line running almost straight through the countryside, and they built a small fort at Walldürn with a civil settlement beside it, where soldiers' families, traders and craftsmen lived. The remains of a bath house have been excavated and conserved, and the line of the frontier, with its watchtowers and palisade, runs nearby. The Upper German-Raetian Limes, more than five hundred kilometres long, became a UNESCO site in 2005.
Walldürn is best known in Germany for its pilgrimage. Since the Middle Ages, pilgrims have come to the town to venerate the Holy Blood, a relic associated with a legendary miracle in the fourteenth century when a priest spilled consecrated wine on a corporal cloth and an image of Christ appeared. The great baroque basilica in the town centre, built in the eighteenth century, is the focus of the pilgrimage, which still draws large crowds every year, especially in the weeks after Pentecost.
The riding around Walldürn is varied and pleasant. The Odenwald, to the west, is a classic motorcycle area, with winding roads through deep forests, valleys and small villages, and plenty of curves and gradients. The roads toward Amorbach and Miltenberg on the Main river are particularly good, descending through the forest into the river valley. To the east, the Bauland is flatter and more agricultural, with long, straight roads and gentle undulations. Traffic is light on weekdays, but the Odenwald attracts many bikers on weekends, and police controls are common.
Walldürn is a town of about twelve thousand people with fuel, cafés, bakeries and restaurants, so you are well supplied. Try local dishes such as Grünkern, an unripe spelt grain traditionally grown in the Bauland and used in soups and patties, or a slice of cake with coffee in the town centre. Visit the basilica, take a look at the Roman remains, and imagine the frontier running through these fields, with soldiers watching from their towers over the forests beyond.