CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
From Friedberg it runs 219 km to Friedberg; allow about 2 h 46 of riding. On the way it passes Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57, Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel, Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens and back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 39 km this is German Fairy Tale Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57.
The Wetterau is the broad, fertile plain north of Frankfurt, between the Taunus and the Vogelsberg, and the Romans considered it so valuable that they bent their frontier around it to include it in the empire. The Limes ran along the northern edge of the plain, and the watchtowers numbered WP 4/53 to 4/57, near the town of Lich, stood on this section, part of the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes listed by UNESCO in 2005. Like most watchtowers, they survive only as mounds or traces in the fields and forest, but the line of the frontier can be followed on foot or by bicycle.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57 comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel.
Marköbel is a village in the eastern Wetterau, the fertile plain north east of Frankfurt, and it stands on the site of a Roman fort that guarded the frontier where it crossed this open country. The fort, with its civilian settlement, the vicus, where merchants, craftsmen and soldiers' families lived, was part of the Upper German Limes, and today little remains above ground, but the village streets still follow parts of the old layout, and a reconstructed section of the frontier and markers explain the history. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 70 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens.
Seligenstadt is one of those Main valley towns where every era has left something on the table. The Romans came first: here the frontier of the Upper German-Raetian Limes ran along the river itself, and a fort with a civilian settlement around it guarded the Main crossing. The fort site lies under the old town, so you are walking over it rather than looking at it, but the logic of the place is obvious when you stand by the water. The river was the border, the road and the supply line all at once.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens, about halfway. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel sits at 131 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57 comes up about 192 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber closes the day.
Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber → Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57 is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57 → Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel → Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel → back through Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57 is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57 → Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.