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.
From Schmitten it runs 185 km to Schmitten; allow about 3 h 52 of riding. The stops in between: Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP, Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci, Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the and Watchtower WP 3/4*.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 18 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP.
On the western side of the Taunus, the hills are lower and the forest gives way more often to farmland, with villages in the folds of the valleys. Idstein, a small town with a remarkable old centre, sits on this side, with Waldems and Glashütten nearby. Through the woods above them ran the Roman frontier, and the stretch of watchtowers numbered WP 3/24 to 3/40 followed the ridges here, part of the Upper Germanic Limes and of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire site.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci.
The Taunus is the green upland that keeps Frankfurt's weekend riders sane, and running right across it is the line of the Roman frontier. The stretch of watchtowers numbered 3/1 to 3/14 lies near Taunusstein, north of Wiesbaden, where the Upper Germanic Limes crossed the ridge, and it includes the remains of forts and their civilian settlements. One of the best known nearby is the fort of Zugmantel, near the hamlet of Orlen, where the outline of the fort, the palisade line and reconstructed watchtowers give a real sense of the frontier. The whole line is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 54 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the.
West of the Taunus ridge, where the high country rolls down toward the Rhine gorge and the Lahn, the line of the Upper German Limes runs through farmland and forest near the villages of Holzhausen an der Haide, Katzenelnbogen and Nastätten. Archaeologists have catalogued the sites of the watchtowers along this stretch, numbered WP 2/35 to 2/48, and near Holzhausen are the remains of a stone fort, well preserved and easily visited, with its walls and gate outlines clear in the grass. The Limes here consisted of a palisade of wooden stakes, later backed by a ditch and bank, with watchtowers at regular intervals and forts a few kilometres behind. It formed the frontier of the Roman Empire for more than a century and a half.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the, about halfway. Next is Watchtower WP 3/4*.
In the western Taunus, between Bad Schwalbach and Taunusstein, the forest is thick and the hills roll gently, and the Upper German Limes runs along the ridge here as a still visible bank and ditch. The site labelled Watchtower WP 3/4 is one of the many small posts along this section, and a few kilometres to the east, near Taunusstein-Orlen, the fort of Zugmantel guarded a crossing of the frontier on an old trade route into Germanic territory. These remains are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site, and a walk along the Limes trail through the forest here is peaceful and atmospheric.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/4* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 3/4* sits at 73 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the comes up about 114 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 136 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP, late in the day. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 185 km.
Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg → Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP → Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci → Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the → Watchtower WP 3/4* is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/4* → back through Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the → back through Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci → back through Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP → Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.