Why this ride
From Lorch it runs 308 km to Lorch; allow about 4 h 22 of riding. It goes by way of Lone Valley, Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a and back through Lone Valley. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch and Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 308 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 22
- 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.
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch
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.
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 Lorsch is where the day begins. Next is Lone Valley.
2. Lone Valley
The Lone is a small river in the Swabian Jura, east of Ulm, that often vanishes underground in dry weather, slipping into the limestone and leaving its bed empty. Its quiet valley, flanked by wooded slopes and limestone cliffs, holds caves where some of the oldest figurative art in the world was found. In the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave, fragments of a figure carved from mammoth ivory were pieced together into the Lion Man, a being with a human body and a lion's head, around forty thousand years old. In the Vogelherd cave, tiny ivory animals, a horse, a mammoth, a cave lion, emerged from the sediment.
Read the complete Lone Valley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lone Valley comes up about 78 km into the recorded legs. Next is Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a.
3. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 153 km into the recorded legs you reach Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a. Next is back through Lone Valley.
4. back through Lone Valley
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lone Valley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Lone Valley, late in the day. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch.
5. 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.
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 Lorsch. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch to Lone Valley
Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch → Lone Valley is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lone Valley to Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a
Lone Valley → Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a to back through Lone Valley
Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a → back through Lone Valley is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Lone Valley to Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch
back through Lone Valley → Fort site and civil settlement of Lorsch is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.