Why this ride
A 238 km round trip from Wittelshofen - roughly 4 h 28 in the saddle. The stops in between: Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59, Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 and back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho and Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 238 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 28
- 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 Ruffenho
There is nothing to climb at Ruffenhofen, and that is the clever part. The Roman fort here, on gently rising ground above the Wörnitz near Weiltingen and Wittelshofen, has never been rebuilt in stone. Instead, the outline of the walls, gates and the buildings of the settlement around it has been traced across the fields with hedges, trees and mown strips, so the whole place reads like a plan drawn in plants. From the little viewing hill you can see the shape of a garrison that has been underground for seventeen centuries.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho 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 Ruffenho is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59.
2. Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59
The Romans called it the edge of the world they cared about, and in the Rems valley east of Schwäbisch Gmünd you can still trace where they drew the line. A string of watchtower sites, numbered by archaeologists along the stretch between Mögglingen, Heuchlingen and Böbingen, marks the course of the Raetian Limes, the frontier that guarded the province of Raetia in the second and third centuries. Here the frontier was a stone wall, which later locals, puzzled by the long ruined bank, called the Teufelsmauer, the Devil's Wall.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 comes up about 59 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68.
3. Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68
Between Öhringen and Mainhardt, the Upper German Limes does something a Roman engineer must have been proud of: it runs dead straight for many kilometres, up hill and down dale, ignoring the terrain as if drawn with a ruler on a map. The watchtower sites numbered along this section lie on that line, in the Hohenlohe country of northern Württemberg, between the open farmland around Pfedelbach and the dark wooded hills of the Swabian-Franconian Forest.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 119 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59.
4. back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59, late in the day. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho.
5. Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho 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 Ruffenho. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho to Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59
Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho → Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 to Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68
Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 → Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 to back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59
Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 → back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 to Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho
back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 → Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.