Fort site and civil settlement of Butzbach and Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82 · 76 km from Butzbach
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
76 km
Riding-time estimate
1 h 18
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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 76 km round trip from Butzbach - roughly 1 h 18 in the saddle. The stops in between: Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber, Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82 and back through Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fort site and civil settlement of Butzbach
Butzbach lies in the Wetterau, a fertile, rolling plain north of Frankfurt, with the wooded Taunus hills rising to the south. In Roman times, the Limes, the frontier of the Empire, ran through this country, and a fort stood on the site of today's town, with a civil settlement, or vicus, growing beside it to serve the soldiers. The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, a stretch of palisade, ditch and wall that ran for hundreds of kilometres, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Butzbach is one of the places along its line.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort site and civil settlement of Butzbach is where the day begins. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber.
2. Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber
Friedberg's castle stands on a basalt ridge above the Wetterau, a walled enclosure so large it is almost a town of its own, with a tall round tower, the Adolfsturm, rising above the trees. What most visitors walking through the castle gate do not know is that they are standing on a Roman fort. The legions chose this same ridge in the first century AD, and a fort with a civil settlement grew up here, linked by road to the Limes a few kilometres to the north and west.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82.
3. Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82
Between two neighbouring watchtowers the Romans left a short piece of frontier that today looks like almost nothing, and that is part of its charm. The line between Wachtposten 4/81 and 4/82 runs through the fields of the Wetterau east of Frankfurt, close to Echzell, where the earth wall and ditch of the Limes can still be traced as a long, low swelling in the farmland, sometimes crowned by a hedge or a row of trees that have grown on it. Beneath the field, archaeologists have found postholes of the palisade, which stood about three metres high and was made of split oak trunks.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Fort site and civil settlement of Butzbach. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Fort site and civil settlement of Butzbach to Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber
Fort site and civil settlement of Butzbach → Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber to Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82
Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber → Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82 is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82 to back through Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber
Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82 → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber to Fort site and civil settlement of Butzbach
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber → Fort site and civil settlement of Butzbach is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.