In the forests near Ellwangen the Roman frontier changes character. Here the Upper Germanic Limes, with its timber palisade and ditch, meets the Raetian Limes, which the Romans eventually built as a stone wall, and the stretch of watchtowers numbered 12/69 to 12/85 runs through the farmland and woods east of the Jagst. Archaeologists number the towers with slashes and digits, which makes them sound like spare parts, but each one was a small stone or timber post with a few soldiers watching the border, passing signals along the line. Together they form part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
Not far away at Rainau-Dalkingen is one of the most remarkable remains of the whole Limes, a monumental gateway where the frontier was crossed, now protected under a modern glass building. Rainau-Buch also has a reconstructed fort area by a lake, and the Limes Museum in Aalen, about fifteen kilometres to the west, explains the frontier with real finds and models. Between them, the walking paths follow the line of the old wall through meadows and forest.
Ellwangen itself is a charming small baroque town of around twenty-five thousand people, with a basilica, a hilltop palace and, on the hill opposite, the pilgrimage church of Schönenberg, a fine landmark from many directions. It has everything a rider needs: fuel, food, cafés and a market square for people-watching. Westhausen and Hüttlingen are smaller but useful too.
The riding in the Ostalb is relaxed and rolling. Roads sweep through farmland and forest, with long views and gentle gradients. Surfaces are generally good, traffic light outside the main roads, but farm vehicles, cyclists and deer in the forest at dusk are part of the mix. Head south toward the Swabian Jura and the Härtsfeld for more relief, steeper valleys and the limestone escarpment above Aalen.
Come in late spring when the fields are bright with rapeseed, or in autumn when the forests turn golden. The light here is soft, the air smells of cut hay and pine, and the line of the Limes is often visible as a low ridge in the fields. Walk along it for a few minutes and consider how much effort an empire put into watching a border that was, for most of its length, simply forest.