Between Hillscheid, Neuhäusel and Kadenbach the land lifts into a low, rolling plateau of fields, beech copses and small clay pits, and the watchtowers 1/74 to 1/76 mark a tight cluster of Roman posts on the frontier. On paper it looks like a long list, but on the ground it is a gentle, almost domestic country where cows graze behind electric fences and church towers rise over village roofs. The frontier here was part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, which UNESCO listed in 2005, and a map of the area shows a sequence of numbered towers a few hundred metres apart, each one in sight of the next.
This is the best part of the section for plain, easy riding. The little roads between Neuhäusel, Hillscheid and Höhr-Grenzhausen link up in loops, with moderate climbs and long views, and the traffic is local and mostly polite. Afternoon sun low across the fields makes the stone walls glow. It rains often, and hay or manure on the road is a regular hazard. If you like cobbled village centres, they are here as well, each with a tavern and a baker.
The nearby town of Höhr-Grenzhausen is the ceramics capital of the area. Its museum covers the craft of salt-glazed stoneware, which was shipped in huge quantities from the Westerwald to Britain and the Low Countries. In the town's workshops you can still see potters at their wheels, and a morning spent browsing mugs and jugs is a pleasure that fits well with motorcycle luggage if you wrap carefully. Fuel and supermarkets there are plentiful, and Hillscheid and Neuhäusel have small shops but no guaranteed pump.
The watchtower stop is brief. If you walk the sign-posted trail, you will see the line of mounds and perhaps a reconstructed timber tower, and you will notice how the ridge chosen by the Romans allows a clear sight line to the next one. These towers worked like a chain of lamps, and a message could cross a long distance in minutes. A cold windy day on this ridge makes you appreciate the soldiers who lived in them.
Take your time heading back. Evening is the best hour, with the fields turning gold and the smell of cut grass drifting from farms. The lanes here reward riders who slow down.