CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 285 km round trip from Weißenburg in Bayern - roughly 5 h 10 in the saddle. The stops in between: Limessection between watchtowers WP 13/40, Watchtowers WP 12/86 to 13/5 including for, Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 and Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 40 km this is Romantic Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Ellingen is a small town that punches well above its weight. Its centre is dominated by a vast baroque palace built by the Teutonic Order, the German crusading knights who later became a religious and administrative order, and who ran a commandery here for centuries. The palace, with its church, courtyards and gardens, is far grander than you would expect in such a small place. Just outside the town, the Romans had an earlier presence: a fort called Sablonetum stood here on the Raetian Limes, with a civil settlement beside it, guarding the frontier as it crossed the countryside north of Weißenburg. Its outline has been marked in the fields, and it is part of the World Heritage site of the Upper German-Raetian Limes.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Ellingen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Ellingen is where the day begins. Next is Limessection between watchtowers WP 13/40.
In the rolling country of Middle Franconia, between Gunzenhausen and Wassertrüdingen, the Raetian Limes ran as a stone wall rather than a wooden palisade. Local people later called its remains the Teufelsmauer, the Devil's Wall, believing no human could have built such a long barrier. The section near watchtower WP 13/40, close to Arberg and Ornbau, is part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes World Heritage Site, and in places a low bank of stones in the fields and woods still marks the line.
Read the complete Limessection between watchtowers WP 13/40 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Limessection between watchtowers WP 13/40 comes up 37 km in. Next is Watchtowers WP 12/86 to 13/5 including for.
Near Rainau, not far from here, the Romans built a monumental gate in the Raetian Limes, a showpiece entrance probably connected with a visit by the emperor Caracalla in the early third century. Today the Limestor Dalkingen is protected under a glass and steel shelter, an impressive sight. The watchtowers numbered in this section, around Stödtlen, Wört and Tannhausen, were part of the same frontier, which ran here as a stone wall across the hilly country between the Ries crater and the Swabian Forest, toward the Danube.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/86 to 13/5 including for write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
75 km in you reach Watchtowers WP 12/86 to 13/5 including for. Next is Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59.
The Romans called it the edge of the world they cared about, and in the Rems valley east of Schwäbisch Gmünd you can still trace where they drew the line. A string of watchtower sites, numbered by archaeologists along the stretch between Mögglingen, Heuchlingen and Böbingen, marks the course of the Raetian Limes, the frontier that guarded the province of Raetia in the second and third centuries. Here the frontier was a stone wall, which later locals, puzzled by the long ruined bank, called the Teufelsmauer, the Devil's Wall.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59, about halfway. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th.
There is a stretch of the Roman frontier in southern Germany that runs almost perfectly straight for about eighty kilometres, from Walldürn in the Odenwald to near Welzheim in the Swabian-Franconian Forest, ignoring hills and valleys alike, as if the surveyors had simply drawn a line on a map. The watchtowers numbered WP 9/101 to 9/131 stand near the southern end of that line, in the forests around Kaisersbach and Welzheim, where the Limes finally turns.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th sits at 150 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 comes up 187 km in. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 12/86 to 13/5 including for.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/86 to 13/5 including for write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
224 km in you reach back through Watchtowers WP 12/86 to 13/5 including for. Next is back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 13/40.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Limessection between watchtowers WP 13/40 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 13/40, late in the day. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Ellingen.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Ellingen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 285 km.
Fort site and civil settlement of Ellingen → Limessection between watchtowers WP 13/40 is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limessection between watchtowers WP 13/40 → Watchtowers WP 12/86 to 13/5 including for is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 12/86 to 13/5 including for → Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 → Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th → back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 → back through Watchtowers WP 12/86 to 13/5 including for is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 12/86 to 13/5 including for → back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 13/40 is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 13/40 → Fort site and civil settlement of Ellingen is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.