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 Schwäbisch Gmünd it runs 162 km to Schwäbisch Gmünd; allow about 3 h 18 of riding. The stops in between: Fort site and civil settlement of Welzheim, Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard, Building remains south of the watchtower W and Watchtowers WP 9/100.
On the southern edge of Schwäbisch Gmünd, near the Schirenhof farm, the outline of a Roman fort and the foundations of its bath house lie in the grass, with walls and hypocaust heating systems laid out for visitors to see. The fort guarded the point where the Upper Germanic Limes met the Raetian Limes, the two great frontier lines of Roman Germany, and a civilian settlement grew up around it. The site is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and it is one of the more rewarding Limes stops in Baden-Württemberg, with visible remains and a lovely setting above the town.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh is where the day begins. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Welzheim.
Welzheim had not one but two Roman forts, and that alone tells you how seriously the frontier was taken in the Swabian Forest. The larger west fort held a cavalry unit, while the smaller east fort, now an archaeological park on the edge of town, housed an auxiliary infantry detachment. At the east fort the west gate has been rebuilt to its full height, and standing in front of it you get a rare sense of scale that low foundations never give. Around both forts lay the civil settlement, the vicus, with workshops, taverns and homes.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Welzheim write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Welzheim comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard.
A Roman cohort fort once stood where Murrhardt's streets now run, on the Upper Germanic Limes as it cut south through the forest toward Welzheim, and a civilian settlement of traders, craftsmen and soldiers' families grew up around it. Some remains have been found under the town, and the local museum tells the story. The Romans left, but the site remained attractive, and in the early Middle Ages a monastery was founded here, associated with Saint Walterich, a hermit whose small chapel, the Walterichskapelle, is a jewel of late Romanesque architecture.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 38 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard. Next is Building remains south of the watchtower W.
Mainhardt sits high in the Swabian-Franconian Forest, between Heilbronn and Schwäbisch Hall, on a wooded plateau that the Romans chose for one of the forts guarding their frontier. The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes runs through here on its long, ruler-straight stretch heading south towards Welzheim, and along it stood watchtowers every few hundred metres, with small buildings nearby for the soldiers who manned them. The remains south of one of these towers are modest, low foundations in a clearing or under the forest floor, but they are part of the World Heritage frontier that runs for more than five hundred kilometres across Germany. The village has a small Roman museum that explains the fort and its garrison.
Read the complete Building remains south of the watchtower W write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Building remains south of the watchtower W, about halfway. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/100.
The Limes in the Swabian-Franconian Forest has a quality that surprises people who expect Roman walls to follow hills: it runs in a dead-straight line, for kilometres at a stretch, regardless of what stands in the way. Near Murrhardt the line dives through woodland and valleys, and the signposted watchtower sites mark points where a timber and later stone tower stood on the frontier, with a ditch and a palisade or bank beside it. The numbering, with its slash, comes from the nineteenth-century surveyors who first mapped the frontier, and archaeologists still use it.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/100 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 9/100 sits at 69 km, about halfway. Next is back through Building remains south of the watchtower W.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Building remains south of the watchtower W write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Building remains south of the watchtower W comes up about 103 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 124 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Welzheim.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Welzheim write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Welzheim, late in the day. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 162 km.
Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh → Fort site and civil settlement of Welzheim is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Welzheim → Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard → Building remains south of the watchtower W is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Building remains south of the watchtower W → Watchtowers WP 9/100 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 9/100 → back through Building remains south of the watchtower W is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Building remains south of the watchtower W → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Welzheim is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Welzheim → Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.