Why this ride
From Bad Ems it runs 169 km to Bad Ems; allow about 3 h 06 of riding. It goes by way of Watchtower WP 2/31, Watchtower SP 3/5*, Watchtower WP 3/49* and back through Watchtower SP 3/5*. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Bad Ems and Watchtower WP 3/49*
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 169 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 06
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Bad Ems
The most consequential telegram in German history was sent from a spa town on the Lahn. In July 1870, King Wilhelm I of Prussia was taking the waters at Bad Ems when the French ambassador came to ask him to promise that no Hohenzollern prince would ever take the Spanish throne. The king refused politely, and sent a report to Bismarck in Berlin, who edited the text to make it sound like a snub, and published it. The Ems Dispatch, as it is known, helped to provoke France to declare war, and the Franco-Prussian War led to the creation of the German Empire in 1871.
Read the complete Bad Ems write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bad Ems is where the day begins. Next is Watchtower WP 2/31.
2. Watchtower WP 2/31
Holzhausen an der Haide is a small village on the high ground of the western Taunus, between the Rhine and the Lahn, and it has one of the better-preserved Roman fort sites along the Limes. The stone walls of Kastell Holzhausen still stand to a modest height in the fields just outside the village, outlining the fort's rectangle with its rounded corners and gates. Watchtower WP 2/31 belongs to the chain of towers that linked forts like this one along the frontier, and in this open landscape you can easily imagine the signals passing from hill to hill.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 2/31 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 2/31 comes up 26 km in. Next is Watchtower SP 3/5*.
3. Watchtower SP 3/5*
Taunusstein did not exist as a town until 1971, when ten villages on the high plateau north of Wiesbaden were merged into one municipality, and so it has no old centre, just a cluster of former villages, each with its church, its half-timbered houses and its fields. One of them, Wehen, gave its name to the football club SV Wehen Wiesbaden, which started here before moving to the city. The Roman frontier ran along the edge of this plateau, and watchtower SP 3/5, close to the line, is one of the many small sites that mark it in the forest between Taunusstein and Idstein.
Read the complete Watchtower SP 3/5* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
52 km in you reach Watchtower SP 3/5*. Next is Watchtower WP 3/49*.
4. Watchtower WP 3/49*
High in the Taunus, the wooded hills northwest of Frankfurt, the Roman Limes followed the ridge line, and its watchtowers looked out over the forests to the north. Watchtower WP 3/49, near Schmitten and Glashütten, is one of hundreds of such posts recorded along the frontier, and today its remains lie in the woods, a low mound or a scatter of stones. The Limes path, a long-distance walking trail, follows the line through the forest, and walkers can trace the ditch and bank of the old frontier for kilometres. The whole line is part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes World Heritage site.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/49* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 3/49*, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtower SP 3/5*.
5. back through Watchtower SP 3/5*
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower SP 3/5* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Watchtower SP 3/5* sits at 105 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtower WP 2/31.
6. back through Watchtower WP 2/31
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 2/31 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Watchtower WP 2/31 comes up 131 km in. Next is Bad Ems.
7. Bad Ems
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bad Ems write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bad Ems closes the day.
Leg by leg
Bad Ems to Watchtower WP 2/31
Bad Ems → Watchtower WP 2/31 is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 2/31 to Watchtower SP 3/5*
Watchtower WP 2/31 → Watchtower SP 3/5* is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower SP 3/5* to Watchtower WP 3/49*
Watchtower SP 3/5* → Watchtower WP 3/49* is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/49* to back through Watchtower SP 3/5*
Watchtower WP 3/49* → back through Watchtower SP 3/5* is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower SP 3/5* to back through Watchtower WP 2/31
back through Watchtower SP 3/5* → back through Watchtower WP 2/31 is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 2/31 to Bad Ems
back through Watchtower WP 2/31 → Bad Ems is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.