CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. 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.
A 343 km round trip from Wehrheim - roughly 4 h 16 in the saddle. On the way it passes Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald, Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel, Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p and Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl. The line favours views over speed.
34 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it — speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
For about 52 km this is German Fairy Tale Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
If you want to know what a Roman fort on the German frontier really looked like, the Saalburg is the place, and these building remains lie in the forest just southwest of it, part of the civilian and military landscape that grew up around the fort. The Saalburg itself was rebuilt at the beginning of the twentieth century on the orders of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was fascinated by Roman history and keen to present the German empire as the heir of Rome. The walls, gates, headquarters building and granaries were reconstructed on the original foundations, based on the archaeology of the time, and today the fort houses a museum full of finds from the frontier, along with workshops, a Roman garden and regular events with reenactors.
Read the complete Building remains southwest of Saalburg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Building remains southwest of Saalburg is where the day begins. Next is Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald.
The Roman frontier in Germany, the Limes, ran for over five hundred kilometres from the Rhine to the Danube, a line of palisades, ditches, walls, watchtowers and forts that marked the edge of the empire. In the Wetterau, north of Frankfurt, the Limes swung east in a great bulge to enclose this fertile plain, which the Romans valued for its farmland. In the woods near Wölfersheim stood a signal tower, one of the many small posts along the line, and today its remains are part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2005 as part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald comes up about 42 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel.
Marköbel is a village in the eastern Wetterau, the fertile plain north east of Frankfurt, and it stands on the site of a Roman fort that guarded the frontier where it crossed this open country. The fort, with its civilian settlement, the vicus, where merchants, craftsmen and soldiers' families lived, was part of the Upper German Limes, and today little remains above ground, but the village streets still follow parts of the old layout, and a reconstructed section of the frontier and markers explain the history. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 75 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel. Next is Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p.
Niedernberg is a quiet village on the left bank of the Main, a few kilometres downstream from Aschaffenburg, where the river was the Roman frontier. The Upper German-Raetian Limes, after running across the Odenwald, used the Main as its boundary between Großkrotzenburg and Miltenberg, and a fort with a civil settlement stood at Niedernberg, guarding the river line. The northern part of the civil settlement is listed separately as part of the UNESCO site. There is little to see above ground, as the remains lie under fields and houses, but the location by the river makes the Roman logic clear.
Read the complete Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p, about halfway. Next is Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl.
At Miltenberg, the Roman frontier did something unusual: it stopped being a wall and became a river. North of the town, the Main served as the frontier for some fifty kilometres, guarded by forts and watchtowers along its western bank, and here, where the river bends, the land frontier began again, heading south through the Odenwald. The watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 belong to this stretch, and while most are only traces in fields and forests, they are part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire. The Romans built forts at Miltenberg, too, and some of their finds are displayed in the town museum.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl sits at 152 km, about halfway. Next is back through Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p comes up about 194 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 246 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel. Next is back through Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald, late in the day. Next is Building remains southwest of Saalburg.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Building remains southwest of Saalburg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 343 km.
Building remains southwest of Saalburg → Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald → Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel → Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p → Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl → back through Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel → back through Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald → Building remains southwest of Saalburg is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.