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 202 km round trip from Erlenbach am Main - roughly 2 h 45 in the saddle. The stops in between: Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens, Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel, Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell and back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 37 km this is German Fairy Tale Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
For a stretch of about fifty kilometres, the Roman frontier of Upper Germany did not need a wall at all. Between Großkrotzenburg and Miltenberg, the Main river itself served as the border, and the Romans lined its western bank with forts and watchtowers to watch over the water and the forested hills of the Spessart on the other side. Wörth am Main had one of these forts, with a civil settlement where soldiers' families, traders and craftsmen lived. Very little remains above ground, but this wet frontier is inscribed as part of the Upper German Limes, and standing on the riverbank you can see why the Romans thought the river was enough.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Wörth write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Wörth is where the day begins. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens.
Seligenstadt is one of those Main valley towns where every era has left something on the table. The Romans came first: here the frontier of the Upper German-Raetian Limes ran along the river itself, and a fort with a civilian settlement around it guarded the Main crossing. The fort site lies under the old town, so you are walking over it rather than looking at it, but the logic of the place is obvious when you stand by the water. The river was the border, the road and the supply line all at once.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel.
Marköbel is a village in the eastern Wetterau, the fertile plain north east of Frankfurt, and it stands on the site of a Roman fort that guarded the frontier where it crossed this open country. The fort, with its civilian settlement, the vicus, where merchants, craftsmen and soldiers' families lived, was part of the Upper German Limes, and today little remains above ground, but the village streets still follow parts of the old layout, and a reconstructed section of the frontier and markers explain the history. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel. Next is Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell.
Echzell is a village of a few thousand people in the Wetterau, the broad, fertile basin north-east of Frankfurt, where loess soil has been farmed since the Stone Age and the horizon rarely rises above a gentle swell. The Romans liked it for exactly that reason. They built a fort at Echzell in the later first century as part of their push into the Wetterau, and a civil settlement grew up around it in the usual way, with traders, craftsmen and families outside the gates. The fort later became part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, which UNESCO listed in 2005. Almost nothing of the walls stands now, and the outline lies mostly under fields and houses, so the Echzell stop is about reading a landscape rather than visiting a monument.
Read the complete Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell, about halfway. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel sits at 126 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens comes up about 166 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Wörth.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Wörth write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Wörth closes the day.
Fort site and civil settlement of Wörth → Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens → Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel → Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens → Fort site and civil settlement of Wörth is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.