Why this ride
A 238 km round trip from Schmitten - roughly 3 h 16 in the saddle. On the way it passes Watchtower WP 3/23*, Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz, Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* and back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg and Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21*
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 238 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 16
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
Scenic road chapters
Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg → Watchtower WP 3/23*
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 26 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 26 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg
If you want to know what a Roman frontier fort actually looked like, this is the place. The Saalburg, on the ridge of the Taunus above Bad Homburg, is the only Limes fort in Germany rebuilt in full: walls, gates, towers, granary and the headquarters building, all standing again on their original foundations. The reconstruction was ordered by Kaiser Wilhelm II around 1900, who liked his Romans grand and imperial, and while archaeologists today debate some details, walking through the main gate is still a jolt.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg 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 Saalburg is where the day begins. Next is Watchtower WP 3/23*.
2. Watchtower WP 3/23*
On the wooded ridges near Idstein, the Taunus Limes crossed some of its highest and most remote ground, and Watchtower WP 3/23 is one of the many sites along this stretch. The asterisk in the official label suggests a site whose exact location is uncertain or reconstructed from survey work, which is common along the frontier, where many towers survive only as faint mounds in the forest. Still, walking the Limes trail here, with the bank and ditch running through the beech woods, gives a real sense of the Roman border.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/23* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 3/23* comes up 27 km in. Next is Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz.
3. Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz
Some of the gravestones on the sandy rise known in Mainz as the Judensand are close to a thousand years old. The oldest dated stone here goes back to the middle of the eleventh century, which makes this one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in Europe. Together with sites in Speyer and Worms, Mainz formed the ShUM communities, centres of learning on the Rhine whose scholars shaped Ashkenazi Judaism for centuries, and in 2021 the three were listed together as a World Heritage Site. Mainz was Magenza in Hebrew, home to rabbis whose rulings were followed far beyond the Rhineland.
Read the complete Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
54 km in you reach Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz. Next is Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21*.
4. Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21*
The Taunus does not shout. It is a rounded, forested upland north of Wiesbaden and Frankfurt, and the Roman frontier crossed it on its way from the Rhine to the Main. These numbered watchtowers near Idstein belong to the Upper Germanic frontier, which in this part of Hesse ran through woods and clearings along the high ground. Archaeologists have recorded the tower positions along the line, and the asterisks in the label are their way of marking sites that are uncertain or only partly known. In practice you find woodland, a trail and the faint trace of an old bank.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21*, about halfway. Next is back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz.
5. back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz sits at 108 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtower WP 3/23*.
6. back through Watchtower WP 3/23*
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/23* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Watchtower WP 3/23* comes up 135 km in. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg.
7. Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg 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 Saalburg closes the day.
Leg by leg
Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg to Watchtower WP 3/23*
Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg → Watchtower WP 3/23* is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/23* to Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz
Watchtower WP 3/23* → Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz to Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21*
Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz → Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* to back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz
Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* → back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz to back through Watchtower WP 3/23*
back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz → back through Watchtower WP 3/23* is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 3/23* to Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg
back through Watchtower WP 3/23* → Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.