The Roman frontier in Germany starts at the Rhine and heads off into the woods, and the Westerwald is where it first leaves the river. Near Rheinbrohl the Upper German Limes begins, and from there it climbs the hills to the east, a line of earth banks, ditches and watchtowers that once ran for about five hundred and fifty kilometres to the Danube. Between the towers numbered 1 and 30 it crosses the high ground behind Neuwied, through the area of Melsbach and Rengsdorf, and what remains today is mostly a low bank and a shallow ditch in the forest.
The towers were modest wooden and later stone structures, a few storeys high, built within sight of one another so that soldiers could signal along the line. The frontier was not a wall in this part, but a boundary that controlled movement, with a palisade of oak posts in places. It was built in the second century AD, and it held until the Alamanni broke through around 260. The whole line was listed by UNESCO in 2005 as the Upper German-Raetian Limes.
The country here is beech and oak forest on rolling hills, with meadows, small villages and old half-timbered farms. Rengsdorf and Melsbach are small and quiet, with a few thousand people between them. Roads wind up and down through the Westerwald with moderate bends, good surfaces in most places and very little traffic outside holidays. Weather is cool and damp, and fog and drizzle are common, but in autumn the colours of the beeches are rich.
For fuel, aim for Neuwied, a short way to the south on the Rhine, because the villages of the Westerwald are small and stations are not frequent. The Limes marker posts and information boards mark the path, and a trail follows the line for walkers. Expect to see the bank and ditch only as faint ripples in the leaf litter, and expect to use your imagination. A soldier on duty here would have been cold, bored and far from home, and the forest still has that feeling. Pack a rain layer, whatever the forecast says.