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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
317 km from Erlensee to Erlensee, about 4 h 59 of riding. On the way it passes Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber, Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the, Signaltower Johannisberg and Watchtower WP 3/42*. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 33 km this is German Fairy Tale Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
East of Frankfurt, on the low ground where the Kinzig valley opens toward Hanau, the Romans pushed their frontier forward in the late first century AD. Rückingen, today a part of Erlensee, was the site of a fort with a civil settlement around it, part of the Wetterau section of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Limes here ran south toward the Main, and the forts guarded crossings and roads leading into the Roman province. As with most of the frontier in this area, there is little to see above ground, but the line of the Limes is marked and explained along cycle and walking routes.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge is where the day begins. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber.
Friedberg's castle stands on a basalt ridge above the Wetterau, a walled enclosure so large it is almost a town of its own, with a tall round tower, the Adolfsturm, rising above the trees. What most visitors walking through the castle gate do not know is that they are standing on a Roman fort. The legions chose this same ridge in the first century AD, and a fort with a civil settlement grew up here, linked by road to the Limes a few kilometres to the north and west.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the.
High in the Taunus hills northwest of Frankfurt, the Upper German Limes runs along the main ridge, and here, between Glashütten and Schmitten, a series of watchtower sites and the remains of a small fort follow the frontier through dense beech and spruce forest. The bank and ditch of the Limes are still clearly visible, winding over the hills like a long scar, and the area is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. Nearby, on the Kleiner Feldberg, lie the remains of a Roman fort, and a few kilometres east, the Saalburg near Bad Homburg is a fully reconstructed fort with a museum, the best place in Germany to imagine life on the frontier.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 68 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the. Next is Signaltower Johannisberg.
On a hill above Bad Nauheim, the Johannisberg, the Romans built a signal tower that could communicate with the frontier forts of the Wetterau, the fertile plain that bulges north of Frankfurt and was protected by a long loop of the Limes. The site, with a later medieval chapel and a modern observation tower, gives wide views over the plain and the Taunus hills, and it is part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes World Heritage listing. On a clear day you can see the towers of Frankfurt on the horizon.
Read the complete Signaltower Johannisberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Signaltower Johannisberg, about halfway. Next is Watchtower WP 3/42*.
Glashütten takes its name from the glass huts that worked in these forests in the Middle Ages, when the endless beech and oak of the high Taunus supplied fuel for the furnaces and potash for the glass. Today it is a quiet village spread over a saddle below the Großer Feldberg, at around 880 metres the highest summit in the Taunus, and the Roman frontier passes right by it. Watchtower 3/42 stood on this stretch of the Limes, where the bank and ditch run through the forest along the ridge; near the Feldberg summit, the remains of a small Roman fort, the Feldbergkastell, show where a garrison guarded a pass through the mountains.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/42* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 3/42* sits at 141 km, about halfway. Next is back through Signaltower Johannisberg.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Signaltower Johannisberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Signaltower Johannisberg comes up about 203 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 242 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber, late in the day. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 317 km.
Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge → Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber → Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the → Signaltower Johannisberg is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Signaltower Johannisberg → Watchtower WP 3/42* is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/42* → back through Signaltower Johannisberg is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Signaltower Johannisberg → back through Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber → Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.