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.
338 km from Echzell to Echzell, about 4 h 59 of riding. It goes by way of Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel, Fortlet Lochmühle, Watchtower WP 3/23* and Watchtower WP 2/31. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The ride follows Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel → Fortlet Lochmühle for 36 km.
Wingertsberg is a low hill on the western edge of the Vogelsberg, near the small town of Hungen in Hesse, and the Roman fortlet that stood here was one of a series of small outposts along the Wetterau Limes. A fortlet held perhaps a few dozen men, enough to watch the line and signal to the main forts. Little survives above ground, so the interest lies mostly in knowing that the frontier ran here, across fields that are now ploughed in neat rows and crossed by farm tracks and cycle paths.
Read the complete Fortlet Wingertsberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortlet Wingertsberg is where the day begins. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel.
Marköbel is a village in the eastern Wetterau, the fertile plain north east of Frankfurt, and it stands on the site of a Roman fort that guarded the frontier where it crossed this open country. The fort, with its civilian settlement, the vicus, where merchants, craftsmen and soldiers' families lived, was part of the Upper German Limes, and today little remains above ground, but the village streets still follow parts of the old layout, and a reconstructed section of the frontier and markers explain the history. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fortlet Lochmühle.
The Lochmühle is a small fortlet on the Limes in the Taunus, near Wehrheim and the famous Saalburg, and it guarded a spot where the frontier crossed the valley of the Erlenbach stream. Fortlets like this were small outposts, housing a handful of soldiers who watched the border and controlled traffic, and they formed a link between the watchtowers and the larger forts. Its remains are modest, but the location, in a quiet valley surrounded by forest, has a peaceful charm. The name comes from a nearby mill, now a popular leisure park for families with play areas and farm animals.
Read the complete Fortlet Lochmühle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 73 km into the recorded legs you reach Fortlet Lochmühle. Next is Watchtower WP 3/23*.
On the wooded ridges near Idstein, the Taunus Limes crossed some of its highest and most remote ground, and Watchtower WP 3/23 is one of the many sites along this stretch. The asterisk in the official label suggests a site whose exact location is uncertain or reconstructed from survey work, which is common along the frontier, where many towers survive only as faint mounds in the forest. Still, walking the Limes trail here, with the bank and ditch running through the beech woods, gives a real sense of the Roman border.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/23* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 3/23*, about halfway. Next is Watchtower WP 2/31.
Holzhausen an der Haide is a small village on the high ground of the western Taunus, between the Rhine and the Lahn, and it has one of the better-preserved Roman fort sites along the Limes. The stone walls of Kastell Holzhausen still stand to a modest height in the fields just outside the village, outlining the fort's rectangle with its rounded corners and gates. Watchtower WP 2/31 belongs to the chain of towers that linked forts like this one along the frontier, and in this open landscape you can easily imagine the signals passing from hill to hill.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 2/31 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 2/31 sits at 142 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtower WP 3/23*.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/23* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtower WP 3/23* comes up about 226 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Fortlet Lochmühle.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortlet Lochmühle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 264 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Fortlet Lochmühle. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel, late in the day. Next is Fortlet Wingertsberg.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortlet Wingertsberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 338 km.
Fortlet Wingertsberg → Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel → Fortlet Lochmühle is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortlet Lochmühle → Watchtower WP 3/23* is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/23* → Watchtower WP 2/31 is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 2/31 → back through Watchtower WP 3/23* is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 3/23* → back through Fortlet Lochmühle is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fortlet Lochmühle → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel → Fortlet Wingertsberg is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.