Fortlet Adolfseck and Messel Pit Fossil Site

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Fortlet Adolfseck

   The Aar is a small river that winds north from the Taunus towards the Lahn, through a narrow, wooded valley that has served as a route through the hills since ancient times. Where the Roman frontier crossed the valley near Adolfseck, today a district of Bad Schwalbach, the Romans built a fortlet to control the crossing, a small, square fortification with a garrison of a few dozen soldiers. The remains have been excavated and are marked on the ground, and the stretch of frontier nearby is part of the World Heritage frontiers of the Roman Empire. Above the valley, the ruins of a medieval castle, also called Adolfseck, add another layer of history.

   Read the complete Fortlet Adolfseck write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Fortlet Adolfseck is where the day begins. Next is Fortlet Eichkopf.

2. 2. Fortlet Eichkopf

   Deep in the forest on the eastern slopes of the Taunus, near Ober-Mörlen, the Romans built a small fortlet known today as Eichkopf, after the wooded hill on which it stands. It was one of the many minor installations along the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, the frontier that separated the Roman Empire from the free Germanic tribes, and it housed a small detachment of soldiers who patrolled the line and manned the nearby watchtowers. The outline of the fortlet is still visible as a low rampart and ditch among the trees, and nearby, the line of the frontier itself, with its bank and ditch, can be traced through the forest. It is part of the World Heritage site of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire.

   Read the complete Fortlet Eichkopf write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Fortlet Eichkopf comes up about 61 km into the recorded legs. Next is Messel Pit Fossil Site.

3. 3. Messel Pit Fossil Site

   Forty-seven million years ago, in a warm, subtropical world, a deep volcanic lake lay where the forest near Messel now stands, a few kilometres northeast of Darmstadt. The lake's depths were starved of oxygen, and animals that fell or sank into it were preserved in fine layers of mud with extraordinary detail: not just skeletons, but skin, feathers, fur, the contents of stomachs and even the colours of beetles' wings. Over time the mud turned into oil shale, which was mined here from the nineteenth century until 1971. After mining ended, there were plans to turn the pit into a rubbish dump; scientists and local people fought the plan, and in 1995 the pit became Germany's first natural World Heritage site.

   Read the complete Messel Pit Fossil Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 132 km into the recorded legs you reach Messel Pit Fossil Site. Next is back through Fortlet Eichkopf.

4. 4. back through Fortlet Eichkopf

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Fortlet Eichkopf write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Fortlet Eichkopf, late in the day. Next is Fortlet Adolfseck.

5. 5. Fortlet Adolfseck

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Fortlet Adolfseck write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Fortlet Adolfseck. That is the ride.