Echzell is a small town on the edge of the Wetterau with a very big Roman past. A large fort stood here, one of the main garrison points on the Upper Germanic Limes, and the civil settlement beside it grew into a busy town, with workshops, shops, baths and an inn for travellers. Little is visible above ground today, but the outline of the fort is known, and the watchtowers numbered 4/76 to 4/80 stretch away along the frontier line. The numbers belong to the old survey system, and the line of towers, ditch and palisade ran through fields that are now farmland.
The Wetterau was a prize for Rome: fertile loess soil, a mild climate and a river, the Nidda, flowing through it. Soldiers and settlers raised wheat and cattle, and the Roman army took much of the produce to feed the frontier. After the Romans left in the third century, Alemannic and Frankish peoples moved in, and the landscape gradually became the farmland of villages and small estates you see today. Not far away, at the Glauberg, a Celtic prince's tomb and hill fort from the fifth century BC show that the region was already rich before Rome.
Roads here are gentle and straightforward, making this a pleasant place for a relaxed ride. The Wetterau has long, open bends, small villages with timber-framed houses, and orchards of apple and plum, and the surface is usually good. The Vogelsberg hills, an old volcanic massif, rise to the east, with more winding roads and forest. Traffic is light apart from commuter times, and the best months are May to October. Fog can settle on the plain in autumn mornings, and the light after it clears is soft and golden.
Echzell, about four kilometres away, has fuel, shops and bakeries, and nearby Berstadt and Wohnbach have smaller services. The region is known for apple wine and for Handkäse mit Musik, a sour milk cheese served with onions and vinegar, a dish that tests the courage of visitors. Plan a short stop at the site, read the information board and look across the fields toward the line of the frontier, then continue to the next point on the ride.