Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe and Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the starting at Miltenberg
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
174 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 53
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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
174 km from Miltenberg to Miltenberg, about 3 h 53 of riding. It goes by way of Fort site and civil settlement of Walldürn, Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41, Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the and back through Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe
Miltenberg is one of those German towns that seem almost too pretty to be real, with half-timbered houses leaning over the cobbled streets, a market square sloping down toward the river, a castle on the hill above and the Main flowing slowly past. The Romans were here first. Two forts guarded this point on the frontier, one near the old town and another to the east, where the Limes left the river and ran overland through the Odenwald, and the sites, with their civilian settlements, are part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire. A museum in the town displays finds from the forts.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe is where the day begins. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Walldürn.
2. Fort site and civil settlement of Walldürn
Walldürn sits on the high, rolling plateau where the Odenwald meets the Bauland, a gentle landscape of fields, woods and small towns in the northeast of Baden-Württemberg. The Romans came here in the second century AD, when the Upper German Limes was pushed forward to a new line running almost straight through the countryside, and they built a small fort at Walldürn with a civil settlement beside it, where soldiers' families, traders and craftsmen lived. The remains of a bath house have been excavated and conserved, and the line of the frontier, with its watchtowers and palisade, runs nearby. The Upper German-Raetian Limes, more than five hundred kilometres long, became a UNESCO site in 2005.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort site and civil settlement of Walldürn comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41.
3. Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41
Somewhere between Walldürn and the hills north of Stuttgart, the Roman surveyors drew a line on the map and simply refused to bend it. For about eighty kilometres, the Upper Germanic Limes runs almost perfectly straight across hill and valley, one of the most remarkable feats of ancient surveying in Europe. The watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 near Osterburken and Adelsheim lie on that straight stretch, and like the rest of the frontier they are part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire. Most are now low mounds in fields and woods, but here and there you will find a reconstructed tower or a stretch of wall to give you an idea of what it looked like.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 57 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the.
4. Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the
For about eighty kilometres through northern Württemberg, the Roman frontier runs in a nearly perfectly straight line, ignoring hills, valleys and rivers as if someone had drawn it with a ruler on a map. Surveyors still argue about how the Romans managed it. The stretch with watchtowers 9/14 to 9/32, near Öhringen in the Hohenlohe region, lies along this remarkable line, and Öhringen itself grew from Roman forts, two of them, which guarded the frontier here. The line is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and the Limes trail follows it through fields and forests.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Walldürn comes up about 149 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe closes the day.
Leg by leg
Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe to Fort site and civil settlement of Walldürn
Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe → Fort site and civil settlement of Walldürn is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Walldürn to Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41
Fort site and civil settlement of Walldürn → Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 to Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the
Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 → Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the to back through Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41
Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the → back through Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 to back through Fort site and civil settlement of Walldürn
back through Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Walldürn is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Walldürn to Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Walldürn → Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.