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 187 km round trip from Schwäbisch Gmünd - roughly 3 h 29 in the saddle. The stops in between: Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th, Building remains south of the watchtower W, Watchtowers WP 9/2* to 9/13 and back through Building remains south of the watchtower W.
Schwäbisch Gmünd sits in the Rems valley below the Swabian Jura, at the foot of the hill where the Staufer dynasty built their castle, and the Roman frontier ran through the same country. The Upper Germanic Limes crosses the Rems valley near here, and at Freimühle a small fortlet was set on the slope above the river to watch the line, a modest square of earth bank that archaeologists have traced and the town has marked. It is a quiet and easily missed spot, but a nice reminder that the Romans knew a good viewpoint.
Read the complete Fortlet of Freimühle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortlet of Freimühle is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th.
There is a stretch of the Roman frontier in southern Germany that runs almost perfectly straight for about eighty kilometres, from Walldürn in the Odenwald to near Welzheim in the Swabian-Franconian Forest, ignoring hills and valleys alike, as if the surveyors had simply drawn a line on a map. The watchtowers numbered WP 9/101 to 9/131 stand near the southern end of that line, in the forests around Kaisersbach and Welzheim, where the Limes finally turns.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Building remains south of the watchtower W.
Mainhardt sits high in the Swabian-Franconian Forest, between Heilbronn and Schwäbisch Hall, on a wooded plateau that the Romans chose for one of the forts guarding their frontier. The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes runs through here on its long, ruler-straight stretch heading south towards Welzheim, and along it stood watchtowers every few hundred metres, with small buildings nearby for the soldiers who manned them. The remains south of one of these towers are modest, low foundations in a clearing or under the forest floor, but they are part of the World Heritage frontier that runs for more than five hundred kilometres across Germany. The village has a small Roman museum that explains the fort and its garrison.
Read the complete Building remains south of the watchtower W write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Building remains south of the watchtower W. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/2* to 9/13.
Götz von Berlichingen, the knight with the iron hand, was born at Jagsthausen castle in about 1480, and he would probably be amused to know that he is best remembered today for a rude phrase. In Goethe's play about him, Götz tells an imperial messenger exactly what the emperor can do, a line that every German knows. The castle still stands in the village, now a hotel, and in summer the Burgfestspiele, an open-air theatre festival, stages the play in the castle courtyard. Long before Götz, the Romans were here too: a fort stood at Jagsthausen on the line of the Upper Germanic Limes, and in the hills around, a series of watchtowers, numbered by archaeologists as WP 9/2 to 9/13, kept watch along the frontier.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/2* to 9/13 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 9/2* to 9/13, about halfway. Next is back through Building remains south of the watchtower W.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Building remains south of the watchtower W write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Building remains south of the watchtower W sits at 109 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th comes up about 161 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fortlet of Freimühle.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortlet of Freimühle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortlet of Freimühle closes the day.
Fortlet of Freimühle → Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th → Building remains south of the watchtower W is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Building remains south of the watchtower W → Watchtowers WP 9/2* to 9/13 is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 9/2* to 9/13 → back through Building remains south of the watchtower W is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Building remains south of the watchtower W → back through Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 9/101 to 9/131 including th → Fortlet of Freimühle is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.