Gunzenhausen is a small town in Middle Franconia, on the Altmühl river, and the Roman frontier ran right through it. Watchtower WP 13/54 stood within what is now the town, and the course of the frontier is traced through the streets. It is unusual to find the Roman frontier in an urban setting, and it is a nice surprise as you wander the streets.
The Raetian Limes, the section of the frontier in Bavaria, was a stone wall rather than a palisade, and it ran from the Danube near Kelheim westward through Franconia to meet the Upper Germanic Limes near Lorch. Gunzenhausen was on its line, and the town has made the most of it, with markers along the line and Roman finds in the local museum. Later the town was a residence of the margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and its old centre has fine baroque buildings.
The area around Gunzenhausen is known as the Franconian Lake District, the Fränkisches Seenland, a series of artificial lakes created from the 1970s onwards to manage water and provide recreation. The Altmühlsee, right next to the town, is a large shallow lake with a bird island and beaches, popular in summer. The riding here is gentle: flat or rolling roads around the lakes and through farmland, with some more winding routes in the hills of the Altmühl valley to the south-east. Summer weekends bring crowds to the lakes.
Gunzenhausen has fuel, shops and restaurants, and its market square is pleasant for a break. Franconian food is hearty: Schäufele, roast pork shoulder with crackling, Bratwurst and dumplings, washed down with local beer from small breweries. The Brombachsee, the largest of the lakes, is a short ride south and has swimming beaches and boat trips. In the evening, the light over the Altmühlsee is lovely, and the birds on the island make a constant chatter.