Mainhardt sits on a ridge in the Swabian-Franconian Forest, and the Roman frontier ran right through it, on its way south in one of the longest straight lines ever drawn across European landscape. Here, the Upper Germanic Limes runs for some eighty kilometres from Walldürn to near Welzheim almost perfectly straight, ignoring hills and valleys, as if surveyors had laid a ruler on the map. The watchtowers numbered in this section stood along that line in the forest, and Mainhardt had a fort, whose site is marked in the village, with a small museum.
The Swabian-Franconian Forest is a nature park of wooded hills, deep valleys and small villages, between Stuttgart, Heilbronn and Schwäbisch Hall. Its forests of beech, spruce and fir are cut by streams, and there are lakes, mills and lookout towers. The Löwenstein hills rise to the west. Schwäbisch Hall, a short ride north-east, is a beautiful medieval town on the Kocher, with half-timbered houses and a grand church above a monumental flight of steps, and it was once famous for its salt and for the Heller, a coin that gave its name to small change.
The riding is excellent. The B14, the main road between Stuttgart and Schwäbisch Hall, passes through Mainhardt, but the minor roads through the forest are the real joy, winding through valleys and over ridges, with curves, forests and views. Road quality is fair to good, but there are tractors, cyclists and wildlife. Some roads in the region have weekend restrictions or speed limits for motorcycles, due to noise complaints, so watch the signs. Weather can be cool and damp, with fog in autumn and snow in winter.
Mainhardt has a filling station and somewhere to eat. Swabian food is hearty: Maultaschen, large pasta pockets filled with meat and spinach, Spätzle, soft egg noodles, and roast meat with gravy. The forest inns serve local trout and game. Look for the reconstructed watchtower and the information boards along the Limes trail, and notice how the line runs straight through the forest; once you know it, you see the Roman obsession with order in every clearing.