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.
A 266 km round trip from Elsenfeld - roughly 3 h 56 in the saddle. On the way it passes Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens, Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt, Ruine Altenmuster and Exhibition grounds 1904. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Obernburg stands on the Main, in the bend where the river leaves the Spessart forest and turns north, and for a time in the second century it was the frontier of the Roman world. The Odenwald Limes, the earlier version of the frontier, ran along the hills to the south and reached the river near here, and a fort was built on the bank to guard the crossing. A civil settlement grew beside it, and finds from both are shown in the town's small Roman museum, which stands on the site and has a collection of tombstones, tools and pottery.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Obernbur write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Obernbur is where the day begins. 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 comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt.
On a low hill above Darmstadt, at the very end of the nineteenth century, the young Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse decided to gather artists and let them build a new way of living. The Mathildenhöhe became an artists' colony from 1899, and its buildings are some of the best Jugendstil, the German Art Nouveau, anywhere. UNESCO listed the ensemble in 2021. Joseph Maria Olbrich designed most of the first generation, including the exhibition hall and the tall Wedding Tower, with its fingers of brick at the top, finished in 1908 as a gift for the Grand Duke's marriage.
Read the complete Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 70 km into the recorded legs you reach Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt. Next is Ruine Altenmuster.
Lorsch Abbey, founded in the eighth century, became one of the most powerful monasteries of the Carolingian empire, with vast estates, a famous library and the patronage of Charlemagne himself. Its first home, however, was not on the site of the later abbey, but a short distance away, on an island in the Weschnitz river, a place known as Altenmünster, the old minster. The ruins of that first foundation, a few low walls in a meadow, are a quiet counterpoint to the abbey's most famous building, the Torhalle, a gatehouse with a façade of red and white stone panels, one of the few surviving examples of Carolingian architecture. The abbey and Altenmünster together have been on the UNESCO list since 1991.
Read the complete Ruine Altenmuster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ruine Altenmuster, about halfway. Next is Exhibition grounds 1904.
In 1899, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse invited a group of young artists and architects to Darmstadt and gave them a hill to build on. The Mathildenhöhe became an artists' colony and a showcase for Jugendstil, the German Art Nouveau, with studios, houses and exhibitions designed as total works of art, down to the cutlery. Behind it lay a simple idea: that art should shape everyday life, from the house to the chair to the wallpaper. The exhibitions of 1901, 1904, 1908 and 1914 drew visitors from all over Europe, and the ensemble was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2021.
Read the complete Exhibition grounds 1904 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Exhibition grounds 1904 sits at 142 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ruine Altenmuster.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ruine Altenmuster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Ruine Altenmuster comes up about 165 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 197 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens, late in the day. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Obernbur.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Obernbur write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 266 km.
Fort site and civil settlement of Obernbur → Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens → Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt → Ruine Altenmuster is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ruine Altenmuster → Exhibition grounds 1904 is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Exhibition grounds 1904 → back through Ruine Altenmuster is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ruine Altenmuster → back through Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens → Fort site and civil settlement of Obernbur is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.