Hungen lies in the eastern Wetterau, on the edge of the Vogelsberg, the great extinct volcano of central Hesse, and the village of Inheiden is a short distance from it, in a fold of rolling farmland. The Roman fort at Inheiden was one of the smaller auxiliary forts on the Wetterau Limes, a modest rectangular enclosure with a ditch and a wall of earth and timber, later rebuilt in stone, and it held a unit of a few hundred soldiers. A fort of this size had a headquarters building in the middle, barracks, a granary, a bath building outside the wall and a small settlement of traders and families beside it.
Today the fort has vanished beneath the fields, and only a farm track and the modern road suggest its position. Finds from excavations, such as pottery, coins and bits of armour, are kept in local and regional museums, and the fort belongs to the UNESCO Upper German-Raetian Limes. What the place offers is perspective. You stand in a field of wheat or sugar beet, with the wind moving through the crop, and know that two thousand years ago there was a base here, with horses, smoke and Latin commands, and that this peaceful ground was a frontier.
Riding in the area is pleasant and unhurried. The roads are well surfaced and often empty, rolling over low hills with long views to the Vogelsberg and the Taunus, with curves that are gentle rather than demanding. The Horloff valley has small lakes, which attract birdwatchers, and nearby the village of Hungen has a castle and a half-timbered centre. In summer, grain harvest brings dust and combines, and in autumn fog can lie in the hollows. Mid-spring, with the rapeseed in flower, is the best.
Hungen, under two kilometres away, has about four and a half thousand people, with a petrol station, bakeries and a few inns, and Echzell, eight kilometres off, is the nearest larger place on the data. Giessen and Friedberg, both in a half hour, have more services. A Hessian apple wine, Äppelwoi, and a local sausage, Ahle Wurst, are typical, though riders should keep to a cup of coffee. Field paths are private or restricted, so view the site from the public road or from marked paths, and take care when passing farm vehicles.