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 291 km round trip from Wehrheim - roughly 3 h 54 in the saddle. The stops in between: Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell, Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge, Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p and Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl. The line favours views over speed.
35 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 39 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.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 is where the day begins. Next is Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell.
Echzell is a village of a few thousand people in the Wetterau, the broad, fertile basin north-east of Frankfurt, where loess soil has been farmed since the Stone Age and the horizon rarely rises above a gentle swell. The Romans liked it for exactly that reason. They built a fort at Echzell in the later first century as part of their push into the Wetterau, and a civil settlement grew up around it in the usual way, with traders, craftsmen and families outside the gates. The fort later became part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, which UNESCO listed in 2005. Almost nothing of the walls stands now, and the outline lies mostly under fields and houses, so the Echzell stop is about reading a landscape rather than visiting a monument.
Read the complete Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge.
East of Frankfurt, on the low ground where the Kinzig valley opens toward Hanau, the Romans pushed their frontier forward in the late first century AD. Rückingen, today a part of Erlensee, was the site of a fort with a civil settlement around it, part of the Wetterau section of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Limes here ran south toward the Main, and the forts guarded crossings and roads leading into the Roman province. As with most of the frontier in this area, there is little to see above ground, but the line of the Limes is marked and explained along cycle and walking routes.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 74 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge. 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 145 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 180 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 218 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge. Next is back through Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell, late in the day. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 291 km.
Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 → Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell → Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge → Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p is 39 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 Rückinge is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge → back through Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell → Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.