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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 162 km round trip from Weißenburg in Bayern - roughly 3 h 13 in the saddle. The stops in between: fort site and civil settlement of Theilenh, Watchtowers WP 13/41 to 13/45, Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho and Watchtowers WP 13/40.
Not every Roman fort on the frontier was a great stone fortress. Some were small, temporary or quickly abandoned, and the fort site of Oberhochstatt, on the high plateau above Weißenburg in Bavaria, seems to have been one of these, a modest garrison post on the Raetian Limes. There is little to see today beyond a field, perhaps an information board and the outline of the defences in the grass. But the landscape around is full of Roman history, and the town of Weißenburg, a short ride away, is one of the best places in Germany to experience it.
Read the complete Fort site of Oberhochstatt write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site of Oberhochstatt is where the day begins. Next is fort site and civil settlement of Theilenh.
The Romans called it Iciniacum, and for a century and a half it was home to a cavalry unit guarding the Raetian frontier in what is now Middle Franconia. The fort at Theilenhofen, near Gunzenhausen in Bavaria, lay just behind the Limes, the frontier wall that here was built of stone, running across the landscape from the Danube toward the Main. Today there is little above ground, but information panels by the site and the line of the fort traced in the fields help visitors picture it. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2005.
Read the complete fort site and civil settlement of Theilenh write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
fort site and civil settlement of Theilenh comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 13/41 to 13/45.
South of Gunzenhausen the old frontier of the Roman Empire ran across the countryside in a ruler-straight line, and the numbered watchtowers are the markers for that line. This is the Raetian Limes, the stretch that, from the second century onward, was built from timber and then stone to protect the province of Raetia from the Germanic tribes to the north. The numbers 13/41 to 13/45 simply describe a cluster of tower sites on the surveyor's map. Most of them have been reduced by farming and time to low mounds and gentle banks in the fields, so what you actually find is landscape rather than masonry.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 13/41 to 13/45 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 41 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 13/41 to 13/45. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho.
There is nothing to climb at Ruffenhofen, and that is the clever part. The Roman fort here, on gently rising ground above the Wörnitz near Weiltingen and Wittelshofen, has never been rebuilt in stone. Instead, the outline of the walls, gates and the buildings of the settlement around it has been traced across the fields with hedges, trees and mown strips, so the whole place reads like a plan drawn in plants. From the little viewing hill you can see the shape of a garrison that has been underground for seventeen centuries.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho, about halfway. Next is Watchtowers WP 13/40.
Arberg lies in the rolling country of Middle Franconia, where the Altmühl and Wörnitz rivers wander through meadows and the hills are crowned with small woods. The Roman Limes crossed this ground in the second century, and the towers numbered 13/40 belong to the Raetian section, close to the point where the frontier was a stone wall. Today the line is mostly hidden. Farmers have ploughed over it, and trees have grown on the old bank, and in a few places a wooden marker or a stone footing shows where a tower stood. The nearest big fort was at Unterschwaningen, a few kilometres away, and the garrison there sent patrols to the towers.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 13/40 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 13/40 sits at 79 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho comes up about 101 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 13/41 to 13/45.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 13/41 to 13/45 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 123 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtowers WP 13/41 to 13/45. Next is back through fort site and civil settlement of Theilenh.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete fort site and civil settlement of Theilenh write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through fort site and civil settlement of Theilenh, late in the day. Next is Fort site of Oberhochstatt.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site of Oberhochstatt write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 162 km.
Fort site of Oberhochstatt → fort site and civil settlement of Theilenh is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
fort site and civil settlement of Theilenh → Watchtowers WP 13/41 to 13/45 is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 13/41 to 13/45 → Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho → Watchtowers WP 13/40 is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 13/40 → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho → back through Watchtowers WP 13/41 to 13/45 is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 13/41 to 13/45 → back through fort site and civil settlement of Theilenh is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through fort site and civil settlement of Theilenh → Fort site of Oberhochstatt is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.