Why this ride
From Darmstadt it runs 259 km to Darmstadt; allow about 2 h 52 of riding. It goes by way of Watchtower WP 3/23*, Watchtower WP 1/73 and back through Watchtower WP 3/23*. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Exhibition grounds 1901 and Watchtower WP 1/73
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 259 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 52
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Exhibition grounds 1901
In 1899 the Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse did something unusual for a ruler: he invited a group of young artists to Darmstadt and gave them a hill to build on. The Mathildenhohe, a low rise on the edge of the old town, became an artists' colony where architects, painters and designers could live, work and experiment. The first great exhibition, in 1901, was called A Document of German Art, and the houses and studios built for it were part of the show. UNESCO listed the colony as a World Heritage site in 2021.
Read the complete Exhibition grounds 1901 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Exhibition grounds 1901 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtower WP 3/23*.
2. Watchtower WP 3/23*
On the wooded ridges near Idstein, the Taunus Limes crossed some of its highest and most remote ground, and Watchtower WP 3/23 is one of the many sites along this stretch. The asterisk in the official label suggests a site whose exact location is uncertain or reconstructed from survey work, which is common along the frontier, where many towers survive only as faint mounds in the forest. Still, walking the Limes trail here, with the bank and ditch running through the beech woods, gives a real sense of the Roman border.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/23* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 3/23* comes up about 55 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 1/73.
3. Watchtower WP 1/73
The Roman frontier in Germany starts at the Rhine near Rheinbrohl and climbs into the hills of the Westerwald, and Watchtower WP 1/73, near Hillscheid, belongs to that first stretch. The numbers tell you where you are: section one, tower seventy-three. All that survives is a low mound in the woods, but in the second and third centuries it was a stone tower with a view over the frontier line and, behind it, the palisade and ditch that ran across the landscape. The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes has been part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire since 2005, and this is where it all begins.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/73 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 116 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower WP 1/73. Next is back through Watchtower WP 3/23*.
4. back through Watchtower WP 3/23*
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/23* 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 3/23*, late in the day. Next is Exhibition grounds 1901.
5. Exhibition grounds 1901
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Exhibition grounds 1901 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Exhibition grounds 1901. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Exhibition grounds 1901 to Watchtower WP 3/23*
Exhibition grounds 1901 → Watchtower WP 3/23* is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/23* to Watchtower WP 1/73
Watchtower WP 3/23* → Watchtower WP 1/73 is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/73 to back through Watchtower WP 3/23*
Watchtower WP 1/73 → back through Watchtower WP 3/23* is 79 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 3/23* to Exhibition grounds 1901
back through Watchtower WP 3/23* → Exhibition grounds 1901 is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.