Julius Caesar put a bridge across the Rhine somewhere near here in 55 BC, a feat of carpentry that his own account says took ten days. Scholars still argue about the exact spot, but the Neuwied basin is one of the favourite candidates, and that gives the surrounding hills an extra layer of legend. A century and a half later the Romans came back for good and built the Limes along the heights above the river, with a chain of timber towers watching the Germanic side. The asterisk on this tower's number marks it as a conjectural position rather than a confirmed one.
What you find now is a quiet piece of upland near Melsbach, with fields, hedges and mixed woodland spread over a gentle plateau. The Rhine is close, and the road down into the basin drops through the trees in a few well-made curves before opening onto a broad, busy floodplain with barges drifting past. The traffic around Neuwied is heavier than up on the plateau, so the best riding is on the ridge lanes, where cars are few and the corners are easy to read. Mornings are clear and calm, while afternoons in summer bring haze from the river.
Neuwied itself, a town of nearly sixty-seven thousand people, is five kilometres away and has everything a rider needs. Fuel is easy there, and the Rhine promenade makes a handy place to sit with a coffee and watch the shipping. The town was laid out in a planned grid in the seventeen hundreds by the local counts, and its tolerant policy drew craftsmen of several faiths. Another Roman remnant, the big fort at Niederbieber, once stood on the Wied just inland, and its soldiers could have seen the same hills.
You will not find a visitor centre at the tower site, and that is part of the charm. Park where it is safe, walk the last stretch, and stand a moment under the trees. The Roman soldier who stood here was probably cold, probably bored, and certainly looking north.