In the hills above the Lahn, in the Westerwald near Arzbach, the Roman frontier made a long, curving loop through a country of oak and beech forest, and watchtower 1/88 was one of the posts on its line. This district was thick with towers, and several neighbouring numbers lie within a few kilometres. The Romans placed them wherever the ground gave a good view, usually on a rise or a ridge, so that from one you could see the smoke or lamp of the next.
The experience of the site is about the woods themselves. The Westerwald is a rainy plateau, with soils that are heavy and wet, and its forests of beech, oak and spruce are dark and quiet, with moss on the stones and bracken on the slopes. In clearings you find small ponds and peat bogs, and the call of woodpeckers and buzzards. The tower mound itself is a low heap, possibly with a marker or an information board, and it is easy to miss in leaf. The Limes is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site that stretches from the Rhine to the Danube.
For riders, the lanes around Arzbach are narrow, twisty and well surfaced, with a few steep climbs, and the area is a staple of the local motorcycle scene. Cattle graze in the open land, and fallen branches and mud after storms are common. In February the roads can be icy, and in July the shade of the woods is welcome. It makes a good short loop combined with the Lahn valley road, with its castles and railway, and the elegant spa town of Bad Ems is the usual stop.
Arzbach is two and a half kilometres away, and Bad Ems, four kilometres off, is the nearest town of any size, with fuel stations, cafés and a spa park along the river. Koblenz is the bigger city, with its Deutsches Eck, the corner where the Moselle meets the Rhine. Take a coffee in Bad Ems or a plate of Westerwald dumplings, and be ready for cool, wet weather even in summer. Forest tracks close to the tower are generally closed to motor vehicles, and a short walk from a car park is the way to reach them.