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.
From Bad Schwalbach it runs 376 km to Bad Schwalbach; allow about 5 h 48 of riding. The stops in between: Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the, Signaltower Johannisberg, Watchtower WP 3/42* and Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortlet Adolfseck is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the.
High in the Taunus hills northwest of Frankfurt, the Upper German Limes runs along the main ridge, and here, between Glashütten and Schmitten, a series of watchtower sites and the remains of a small fort follow the frontier through dense beech and spruce forest. The bank and ditch of the Limes are still clearly visible, winding over the hills like a long scar, and the area is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. Nearby, on the Kleiner Feldberg, lie the remains of a Roman fort, and a few kilometres east, the Saalburg near Bad Homburg is a fully reconstructed fort with a museum, the best place in Germany to imagine life on the frontier.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Signaltower Johannisberg.
On a hill above Bad Nauheim, the Johannisberg, the Romans built a signal tower that could communicate with the frontier forts of the Wetterau, the fertile plain that bulges north of Frankfurt and was protected by a long loop of the Limes. The site, with a later medieval chapel and a modern observation tower, gives wide views over the plain and the Taunus hills, and it is part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes World Heritage listing. On a clear day you can see the towers of Frankfurt on the horizon.
Read the complete Signaltower Johannisberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 86 km into the recorded legs you reach Signaltower Johannisberg. Next is Watchtower WP 3/42*.
Glashütten takes its name from the glass huts that worked in these forests in the Middle Ages, when the endless beech and oak of the high Taunus supplied fuel for the furnaces and potash for the glass. Today it is a quiet village spread over a saddle below the Großer Feldberg, at around 880 metres the highest summit in the Taunus, and the Roman frontier passes right by it. Watchtower 3/42 stood on this stretch of the Limes, where the bank and ditch run through the forest along the ridge; near the Feldberg summit, the remains of a small Roman fort, the Feldbergkastell, show where a garrison guarded a pass through the mountains.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/42* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 3/42*, about halfway. Next is Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the.
Near Butzbach the Wetterau starts to break against the Taunus, and the Roman frontier passes through that transition with a long series of numbered watchtowers, in this case 4/20 to 4/36. It is a longer run than most, and it reflects how carefully the Romans watched this side of the line, where the open plain makes a natural highway for anyone coming from the north. The Upper German-Raetian Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2005, crosses farmland here, and in places the old rampart survives as a low bank in a meadow edge or a stretch of forest.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the sits at 143 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtower WP 3/42*.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/42* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtower WP 3/42* comes up about 244 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Signaltower Johannisberg.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Signaltower Johannisberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 289 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Signaltower Johannisberg. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the, late in the day. Next is Fortlet Adolfseck.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortlet Adolfseck write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 376 km.
Fortlet Adolfseck → Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the → Signaltower Johannisberg is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Signaltower Johannisberg → Watchtower WP 3/42* is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/42* → Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the → back through Watchtower WP 3/42* is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 3/42* → back through Signaltower Johannisberg is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Signaltower Johannisberg → back through Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the → Fortlet Adolfseck is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.