Why this ride
From Bad Ems it runs 90 km to Bad Ems; allow about 1 h 21 of riding. It goes by way of Watchtower WP 1/61, Watchtowers WP 1/32 to 1/34 and back through Watchtower WP 1/61. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Fort site and civil settlement of Bad Ems and Watchtowers WP 1/32 to 1/34
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 90 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 21
- 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
Moselle Wine Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 24 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 24 km
- Named road
- Moselle Wine Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fort site and civil settlement of Bad Ems
Rome built in stone here, and then the town grew on top of it. Bad Ems stands where the Lahn winds through a tight gorge, and the fort and the civil settlement beside it formed a small frontier community, with soldiers, traders and families living in the shadow of the Limes. The Roman fort is now buried beneath the modern town, so the site is more an idea than a sight, but the Limes trail in the woods above makes the story easy to follow, and the town museum helps with the details.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Bad Ems write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort site and civil settlement of Bad Ems is where the day begins. Next is Watchtower WP 1/61.
2. Watchtower WP 1/61
Höhr-Grenzhausen is clay country, and that decides almost everything about this part of the Westerwald. The hills hold a thick seam of fine, high-quality stoneware clay, and for centuries the area has been known as the Kannenbäckerland, the land of the jug makers. Grey salt-glazed pottery with blue decoration, called Westerwald stoneware, was exported across Europe from here, and workshops and a ceramics museum still keep the trade alive. It is a surprising backdrop for a Roman watchtower, but the Romans were here first, and WP 1/61 is one of the numbered posts of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, which UNESCO listed in 2005.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/61 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 1/61 comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/32 to 1/34.
3. Watchtowers WP 1/32 to 1/34
Just north of Neuwied, the Westerwald begins to climb out of the Rhine valley, and the Roman frontier ran up through the woods from its starting point on the river, rising and falling over the low ridges. The Limes here is the Upper German section in its earliest stretch, where watchtowers 1/32 to 1/34 stood close together on the hillside above the Wied, a small river that runs through a pretty, wooded valley to join the Rhine. Melsbach, a village of two thousand people next to the point, lies in this valley, and the surrounding hills are a mix of beech forest, meadow and the fields of the Neuwied basin.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/32 to 1/34 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 48 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 1/32 to 1/34. Next is back through Watchtower WP 1/61.
4. back through Watchtower WP 1/61
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/61 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 1/61, late in the day. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Bad Ems.
5. Fort site and civil settlement of Bad Ems
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Bad Ems write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Fort site and civil settlement of Bad Ems. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Fort site and civil settlement of Bad Ems to Watchtower WP 1/61
Fort site and civil settlement of Bad Ems → Watchtower WP 1/61 is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/61 to Watchtowers WP 1/32 to 1/34
Watchtower WP 1/61 → Watchtowers WP 1/32 to 1/34 is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 1/32 to 1/34 to back through Watchtower WP 1/61
Watchtowers WP 1/32 to 1/34 → back through Watchtower WP 1/61 is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 1/61 to Fort site and civil settlement of Bad Ems
back through Watchtower WP 1/61 → Fort site and civil settlement of Bad Ems is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.