Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha and Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha

   Elvis Presley spent his military service in Friedberg, a few kilometres from here, from 1958 to 1960, and lived in a rented house in the spa town of Bad Nauheim, where fans still leave messages on the wall outside and a square in the town bears his name. But nearly two thousand years earlier, other soldiers served in this region. The Roman frontier of the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, a World Heritage site, ran along the edge of the Taunus hills here, and at Langenhain, near Ober-Mörlen, the Romans built a fort with a civil settlement beside it, where traders, craftsmen and the families of soldiers lived. Today, the site is mostly fields and meadows, with information boards to help you imagine the walls, gates and buildings that once stood here.

   Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha 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 Langenha is where the day begins. Next is Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald.

2. 2. Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald

   The Roman frontier in Germany, the Limes, ran for over five hundred kilometres from the Rhine to the Danube, a line of palisades, ditches, walls, watchtowers and forts that marked the edge of the empire. In the Wetterau, north of Frankfurt, the Limes swung east in a great bulge to enclose this fertile plain, which the Romans valued for its farmland. In the woods near Wölfersheim stood a signal tower, one of the many small posts along the line, and today its remains are part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2005 as part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire.

   Read the complete Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor.

3. 3. Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor

   The Wetterau is a broad, fertile basin north of Frankfurt, a land of rich loess soils, wheat fields, orchards and old villages, and the Romans wanted it badly. Their frontier, the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, bulged out here to take in the whole basin, looping around it in a wide arc. At Ober-Florstadt stood a fort with a civilian settlement beside it, where soldiers' families, traders and craftsmen lived. Today little is visible, but the site is part of the World Heritage frontier, and information boards help to picture the scene.

   Read the complete Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor 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 Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor. Next is back through Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald.

4. 4. back through Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Signaltower Wölferheimer Wald, late in the day. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha.

5. 5. Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha 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 Langenha. That is the ride.