Why this ride
From Wehrheim it runs 186 km to Wehrheim; allow about 3 h 15 of riding. The stops in between: Watchtower WP 3/42*, Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21*, Fortlet Adolfseck and Watchtower WP 2/31.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 and Watchtower WP 2/31
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 186 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 15
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Scenic road chapters
Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 → Watchtower WP 3/42*
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 17 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 23 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456
The Saalburg is the Roman fort that Germany rebuilt. On the crest of the Taunus north of Bad Homburg, where the Limes crossed a pass, archaeologists excavated the remains of a fort in the nineteenth century, and between 1897 and 1907, with the enthusiastic support of Kaiser Wilhelm II, it was reconstructed with walls, gates, barracks and a headquarters building. Today it is a museum and archaeological park, and the civil settlement, or vicus, that grew up outside the fort lies east of the B 456 road. It is part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtower WP 3/42*.
2. Watchtower WP 3/42*
Glashütten takes its name from the glass huts that worked in these forests in the Middle Ages, when the endless beech and oak of the high Taunus supplied fuel for the furnaces and potash for the glass. Today it is a quiet village spread over a saddle below the Großer Feldberg, at around 880 metres the highest summit in the Taunus, and the Roman frontier passes right by it. Watchtower 3/42 stood on this stretch of the Limes, where the bank and ditch run through the forest along the ridge; near the Feldberg summit, the remains of a small Roman fort, the Feldbergkastell, show where a garrison guarded a pass through the mountains.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/42* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 3/42* comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21*.
3. Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21*
The Taunus does not shout. It is a rounded, forested upland north of Wiesbaden and Frankfurt, and the Roman frontier crossed it on its way from the Rhine to the Main. These numbered watchtowers near Idstein belong to the Upper Germanic frontier, which in this part of Hesse ran through woods and clearings along the high ground. Archaeologists have recorded the tower positions along the line, and the asterisks in the label are their way of marking sites that are uncertain or only partly known. In practice you find woodland, a trail and the faint trace of an old bank.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 41 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21*. Next is Fortlet Adolfseck.
4. Fortlet Adolfseck
The Aar is a small river that winds north from the Taunus towards the Lahn, through a narrow, wooded valley that has served as a route through the hills since ancient times. Where the Roman frontier crossed the valley near Adolfseck, today a district of Bad Schwalbach, the Romans built a fortlet to control the crossing, a small, square fortification with a garrison of a few dozen soldiers. The remains have been excavated and are marked on the ground, and the stretch of frontier nearby is part of the World Heritage frontiers of the Roman Empire. Above the valley, the ruins of a medieval castle, also called Adolfseck, add another layer of history.
Read the complete Fortlet Adolfseck write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fortlet Adolfseck, about halfway. Next is Watchtower WP 2/31.
5. 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 sits at 68 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fortlet Adolfseck.
6. back through Fortlet Adolfseck
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortlet Adolfseck write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fortlet Adolfseck comes up about 118 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21*.
7. back through Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21*
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 141 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21*. Next is back through Watchtower WP 3/42*.
8. back through Watchtower WP 3/42*
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/42* 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 3/42*, late in the day. Next is Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456.
9. Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 186 km.
Leg by leg
Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 to Watchtower WP 3/42*
Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 → Watchtower WP 3/42* is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/42* to Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21*
Watchtower WP 3/42* → Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* to Fortlet Adolfseck
Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* → Fortlet Adolfseck is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortlet Adolfseck to Watchtower WP 2/31
Fortlet Adolfseck → Watchtower WP 2/31 is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 2/31 to back through Fortlet Adolfseck
Watchtower WP 2/31 → back through Fortlet Adolfseck is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fortlet Adolfseck to back through Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21*
back through Fortlet Adolfseck → back through Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* to back through Watchtower WP 3/42*
back through Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* → back through Watchtower WP 3/42* is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 3/42* to Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456
back through Watchtower WP 3/42* → Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.