Between Greding and Eichstätt, the Raetian Limes runs across the high Franconian Jura plateau, and the names on the map, WP 14/63 to 14/78, are archaeologists' shorthand for a sequence of Roman watchtower sites along this section of the frontier. The Raetian Limes was the wall part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, inscribed by UNESCO as part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire. Here, the Romans built a stone wall rather than the timber palisade used further west. Locals later called the remains the Teufelsmauer, the Devil's Wall, believing nothing human could have built it.
Today the line is a low bank through fields and woods, marked in places by reconstructed tower footprints or signboards, and a walking and cycle route follows it. To see more, head to Kipfenberg, where a Limes museum explains the frontier, or to the reconstructed Roman fort at Pfünz near Eichstätt, which gives a vivid impression of a garrison post above the Altmühl valley.
The Altmühl valley is the real star for riders. The river winds through a deep, wooded limestone gorge with white cliffs, junipers and castles perched on crags, and the road along it from Kipfenberg to Eichstätt and on to Dollnstein is one of the most pleasant in Bavaria. Climbs out of the valley onto the plateau are short and twisty, and the plateau roads are fast and open, with villages of stone houses topped by slate-like limestone roofs. Weekends bring cyclists and canoeists, so take care on narrow bends.
The Altmühltal is a nature park, and its quarries at Solnhofen and around Eichstätt have produced some of the most famous fossils in the world, including the Archaeopteryx. The Jura Museum in Eichstätt shows a specimen. Fuel and food are easy in Greding or Eichstätt, a Baroque bishop's town with a cathedral and a university. Bavarian beer gardens along the river provide shade and a cold drink on a hot afternoon, and spring and autumn bring the clearest light to the valley.