Along this part of the Limes, between Arzbach, Dausenau and Kadenbach, the Roman frontier cuts across the hills above the Lahn valley, and the numbered watchtower positions, here around the 1/24 to 1/26 group, give the section its identity. A watchtower was small, a stone base with a timber upper room, and signalled by fire or horn to its neighbours. The point of it all was surveillance rather than defence; if trouble came, the troops in the forts behind would be told. Standing at one of these positions now, in forest rather than the open ground the Romans cleared, you have to remind yourself that the trees are a later gift.
The riding is quiet and pleasant. The lanes run through the Westerwald edge, climbing out of the Lahn gorge in tight bends and then settling into easy curves among the beech woods, with plenty of places where a clearing opens onto a slope of fields and a church spire. Traffic is light, apart from the odd tractor, and the roads are narrow enough that a moderate pace is the right one. Early in the day, when the air is still cool and smells of damp leaf-mould, is the best time. Autumn is gorgeous but slippery.
Dausenau, down on the Lahn, deserves a stop in its own right. It is a tiny walled town of about thirteen hundred people, and its church tower leans noticeably out of true, the result, so the story goes, of the foundations settling on soft ground. Half-timbered houses crowd along the river, and the Lahn valley road gives you gentle, scenic riding when you want a change from the woods.
For fuel, the better choice is Bad Ems, a few kilometres east, a spa town of around ten thousand people with several stations and plenty of cafes beside the river. Arzbach, Kadenbach and Dausenau are small, so treat them as places for a bakery stop. The area is gently historical rather than dramatic, rewarding anyone happy to read a sign, look along a ridge, and enjoy the lane.