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 Lorch it runs 168 km to Lorch; allow about 2 h 53 of riding. On the way it passes Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59, Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85, Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a and back through Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 28 km this is Romantic Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Lorch, in the Rems valley east of Stuttgart, sits on a historic seam. Just outside town, the Upper German Limes, which ran as a palisade and ditch from the Rhine, met the Raetian Limes, the stone wall running east to the Danube, and the Romans built a fort here to watch over that junction and the valley road. The fort lay beneath what is now the old town centre, and its outline, together with traces of the civilian settlement that grew around it, is marked in places in the streets. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site, and a reconstructed watchtower stands on a hill nearby.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch is where the day begins. 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 comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85.
In the forests near Ellwangen the Roman frontier changes character. Here the Upper Germanic Limes, with its timber palisade and ditch, meets the Raetian Limes, which the Romans eventually built as a stone wall, and the stretch of watchtowers numbered 12/69 to 12/85 runs through the farmland and woods east of the Jagst. Archaeologists number the towers with slashes and digits, which makes them sound like spare parts, but each one was a small stone or timber post with a few soldiers watching the border, passing signals along the line. Together they form part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 56 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85. Next is Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a.
In the fields near Wilburgstetten, in the west of Franconia, a low ridge runs across the landscape, overgrown with grass and bushes. It looks like nothing much, but it is the remains of the Raetian Limes, the stone wall that marked the frontier of the Roman province of Raetia in the second and third centuries. Unlike the Upper German Limes to the north west, which was mostly a palisade and ditch, the Raetian section was eventually built as a continuous stone wall, more than a hundred and sixty kilometres long. Local people later called it the Teufelsmauer, the Devil's Wall, believing it could only have been built by supernatural forces. The section between watchtowers here is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 sits at 105 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 about 143 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch closes the day.
Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch → Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 → Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 → Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a → back through Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 → back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 → Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.