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 280 km round trip from Mainhardt - roughly 4 h 04 in the saddle. It goes by way of Building remains south of Götzingen, Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb and back through Building remains south of Götzingen. The line favours views over speed.
The Swabian-Franconian Forest is a country of ridges and ravines northeast of Stuttgart, and the Mainhardt area lies on its northern edge, where the hills drop to wide clearings of meadow. The Romans pushed their frontier through here in the second century, building a line of watchtowers, small forts and a wooden palisade, and at Mainhardt they placed a larger fort, with smaller fortlets such as the one at Herrenwiesen along the frontier line. A fortlet was a compact post for a handful of soldiers who watched the forest, signalled to the next tower and checked travellers at the border.
Read the complete Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen is where the day begins. Next is Building remains south of Götzingen.
Between the Odenwald and the Tauber country lies the Bauland, a high, open plateau of limestone, cornfields and small villages that most travellers cross without slowing down. Just south of Götzingen, among fields and woodland edges between Buchen and Osterburken, are the remains of a Roman building on the line of the Upper Germanic Limes. It is not a grand ruin, more a footprint in the ground, but it belongs to one of the best documented stretches of the frontier, the section that runs straight as a ruler through this part of northern Baden-Württemberg.
Read the complete Building remains south of Götzingen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Building remains south of Götzingen comes up about 73 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb.
For one stretch of the Roman frontier in Germany, the soldiers did not need to build a wall at all. Between Großkrotzenburg and Miltenberg, the Main river itself served as the border, the so-called wet Limes, guarded by a chain of forts along its western bank. Niedernberg, a village on the river just below Aschaffenburg, was one of them, with a fort and a civilian settlement beside it. Little survives above ground today; the remains lie beneath fields and houses. But the Main still flows past, broad and slow, and it is easy to picture patrol boats and soldiers watching the far bank. The site is part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes World Heritage listing.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 140 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb. Next is back through Building remains south of Götzingen.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Building remains south of Götzingen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Building remains south of Götzingen, late in the day. Next is Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen. That is the ride.
Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen → Building remains south of Götzingen is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Building remains south of Götzingen → Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb is 67 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb → back through Building remains south of Götzingen is 67 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Building remains south of Götzingen → Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.