Why this ride
From Darmstadt it runs 258 km to Darmstadt; allow about 2 h 49 of riding. The stops in between: 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 1904 and Watchtower WP 1/73
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 258 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 49
- 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 1904
In 1899, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse invited a group of young artists and architects to Darmstadt and gave them a hill to build on. The Mathildenhöhe became an artists' colony and a showcase for Jugendstil, the German Art Nouveau, with studios, houses and exhibitions designed as total works of art, down to the cutlery. Behind it lay a simple idea: that art should shape everyday life, from the house to the chair to the wallpaper. The exhibitions of 1901, 1904, 1908 and 1914 drew visitors from all over Europe, and the ensemble was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2021.
Read the complete Exhibition grounds 1904 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Exhibition grounds 1904 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 1904.
5. Exhibition grounds 1904
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Exhibition grounds 1904 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 1904. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Exhibition grounds 1904 to Watchtower WP 3/23*
Exhibition grounds 1904 → 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 1904
back through Watchtower WP 3/23* → Exhibition grounds 1904 is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.