Fort site and civil settlement of Trennfur and Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
194 km
Riding-time estimate
4 h 12
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.
194 km from Klingenberg am Main to Klingenberg am Main, about 4 h 12 of riding. The stops in between: Watchtower WP 7/37, Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41, Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the and back through Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fort site and civil settlement of Trennfur
For a stretch of about fifty kilometres the Romans let the River Main do the work of a wall. Between Miltenberg and Grosskrotzenburg, the frontier of the Upper Germanic Limes followed the river instead of running as a palisade across country, and a chain of forts sat along its west bank. Trennfurt, a village now part of Klingenberg am Main, was one of them: a fort with its civilian settlement, the vicus, where traders, craftsmen and soldiers' families lived. It is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and as with many Limes sites, most of what survives lies under fields and gardens rather than standing proud.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort site and civil settlement of Trennfur is where the day begins. Next is Watchtower WP 7/37.
2. Watchtower WP 7/37
The Romans liked straight lines, and nowhere more than here. On the edge of Walldürn, in the hilly country between the Odenwald and the Tauber valley, runs the course of the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, the frontier wall that marked the edge of the Roman Empire across what is now southern Germany. Watchtower WP 7/37 is one of hundreds of small posts that lined it, each within sight of the next, so that signals could be passed along the frontier. The Limes here famously runs almost dead straight for many kilometres, regardless of hills and valleys, a statement of Roman confidence and surveying skill.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 7/37 comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41.
3. Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41
Somewhere between Walldürn and the hills north of Stuttgart, the Roman surveyors drew a line on the map and simply refused to bend it. For about eighty kilometres, the Upper Germanic Limes runs almost perfectly straight across hill and valley, one of the most remarkable feats of ancient surveying in Europe. The watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 near Osterburken and Adelsheim lie on that straight stretch, and like the rest of the frontier they are part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire. Most are now low mounds in fields and woods, but here and there you will find a reconstructed tower or a stretch of wall to give you an idea of what it looked like.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 67 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the.
4. Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the
For about eighty kilometres through northern Württemberg, the Roman frontier runs in a nearly perfectly straight line, ignoring hills, valleys and rivers as if someone had drawn it with a ruler on a map. Surveyors still argue about how the Romans managed it. The stretch with watchtowers 9/14 to 9/32, near Öhringen in the Hohenlohe region, lies along this remarkable line, and Öhringen itself grew from Roman forts, two of them, which guarded the frontier here. The line is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and the Limes trail follows it through fields and forests.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort site and civil settlement of Trennfur closes the day.
Leg by leg
Fort site and civil settlement of Trennfur to Watchtower WP 7/37
Fort site and civil settlement of Trennfur → Watchtower WP 7/37 is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 7/37 to Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41
Watchtower WP 7/37 → Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 to Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the
Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 → Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the to back through Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41
Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the → back through Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 to back through Watchtower WP 7/37
back through Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 → back through Watchtower WP 7/37 is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 7/37 to Fort site and civil settlement of Trennfur
back through Watchtower WP 7/37 → Fort site and civil settlement of Trennfur is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.