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.
173 km from Erlensee to Erlensee, about 2 h 22 of riding. It goes by way of Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor, Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg, Watchtower WP 4/17* and back through Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg.
For about 28 km this is German Fairy Tale Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
26 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
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 Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor.
The Wetterau is a broad, fertile basin north of Frankfurt, a land of rich loess soils, wheat fields, orchards and old villages, and the Romans wanted it badly. Their frontier, the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, bulged out here to take in the whole basin, looping around it in a wide arc. At Ober-Florstadt stood a fort with a civilian settlement beside it, where soldiers' families, traders and craftsmen lived. Today little is visible, but the site is part of the World Heritage frontier, and information boards help to picture the scene.
Read the complete Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg.
Arnsburg confuses people, and for good reason. The name belongs first to a Cistercian monastery in the Wetter valley near Lich, whose roofless Gothic church stands in a meadow as one of the most romantic ruins in Hesse. But on the wooded hill nearby lies an older layer: a Roman fort on the Limes, sometimes called the Alteburg, with its civil settlement, and the frontier itself running past on its way around the northern edge of the Wetterau.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 61 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg. Next is Watchtower WP 4/17*.
The Limes crosses the Wetterau, the fertile plain north of Frankfurt, in a long arc, and Watchtower 4/17 is one small point in it. The Wetterau is loess farmland, rich and flat, with wide fields of wheat and sugar beet, and the Romans valued it as an agricultural region, planting farms and estates beside the frontier. The tower itself, as at most of these sites, is represented today by a low mound or a marker, and a short walk will let you see the line of the frontier running across the fields.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 4/17* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 4/17*, about halfway. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg sits at 104 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor comes up about 145 km into the recorded legs. 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.
Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge closes the day.
Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge → Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor → Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg → Watchtower WP 4/17* is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 4/17* → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg → back through Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor → Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.