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.
A 372 km round trip from Welzheim - roughly 6 h 44 in the saddle. On the way it passes Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68, Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41, Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl and Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p. The line favours views over speed.
Welzheim sits up in the Swabian-Franconian Forest, a rolling upland of spruce, beech, deep stream valleys and old sawmills east of Stuttgart, and the Romans chose it for the same reason the forest still feels remote today: it was the edge. The Upper German-Raetian Limes ran dead straight through these woods, and Welzheim had not one fort but two, an east and a west fort, with a civilian settlement of traders, craftsmen and soldiers' families packed around them. The east fort has a reconstructed gate and a small archaeological park that gives you a good sense of scale, and the whole frontier line is part of a UNESCO site.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Welheim- write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Welheim- is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 comes up about 45 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 98 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41. Next is Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl.
At Miltenberg, the Roman frontier did something unusual: it stopped being a wall and became a river. North of the town, the Main served as the frontier for some fifty kilometres, guarded by forts and watchtowers along its western bank, and here, where the river bends, the land frontier began again, heading south through the Odenwald. The watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 belong to this stretch, and while most are only traces in fields and forests, they are part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire. The Romans built forts at Miltenberg, too, and some of their finds are displayed in the town museum.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl, about halfway. Next is Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p.
Niedernberg is a quiet village on the left bank of the Main, a few kilometres downstream from Aschaffenburg, where the river was the Roman frontier. The Upper German-Raetian Limes, after running across the Odenwald, used the Main as its boundary between Großkrotzenburg and Miltenberg, and a fort with a civil settlement stood at Niedernberg, guarding the river line. The northern part of the civil settlement is listed separately as part of the UNESCO site. There is little to see above ground, as the remains lie under fields and houses, but the location by the river makes the Roman logic clear.
Read the complete Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p sits at 165 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl comes up about 220 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 271 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68, late in the day. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Welheim-.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Welheim- write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 372 km.
Fort site and civil settlement of Welheim- → Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 → Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 → Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl → Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p → back through Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl → back through Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 8/31 to 8/41 → back through Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 → Fort site and civil settlement of Welheim- is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.