Why this ride
208 km from Echzell to Echzell, about 3 h 35 of riding. On the way it passes Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort, Watchtower WP 3/42*, Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci and back through Watchtower WP 3/42*.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell and Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 208 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 35
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell
Echzell is a village of a few thousand people in the Wetterau, the broad, fertile basin north-east of Frankfurt, where loess soil has been farmed since the Stone Age and the horizon rarely rises above a gentle swell. The Romans liked it for exactly that reason. They built a fort at Echzell in the later first century as part of their push into the Wetterau, and a civil settlement grew up around it in the usual way, with traders, craftsmen and families outside the gates. The fort later became part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, which UNESCO listed in 2005. Almost nothing of the walls stands now, and the outline lies mostly under fields and houses, so the Echzell stop is about reading a landscape rather than visiting a monument.
Read the complete Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort.
2. Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort
Kaiser Wilhelm II took a personal interest in the Roman frontier, and at the beginning of the twentieth century, he ordered the complete reconstruction of the Saalburg, a Roman fort on the crest of the Taunus near Bad Homburg. The result, with its walls, gates and buildings rebuilt on the original foundations, is the most complete reconstruction of a Roman fort in Germany and houses a museum of Roman life on the frontier. A few kilometres north-east, near Rosbach vor der Höhe, the ruins of the Kapersburg fort lie in the forest, and the watchtowers numbered WP 4/1 to 4/19a, on the section of the Limes running from the Taunus ridge toward the Wetterau, are part of the UNESCO listing of the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort comes up about 44 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 3/42*.
3. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower WP 3/42*. Next is Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci.
4. Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci
The Taunus is the green upland that keeps Frankfurt's weekend riders sane, and running right across it is the line of the Roman frontier. The stretch of watchtowers numbered 3/1 to 3/14 lies near Taunusstein, north of Wiesbaden, where the Upper Germanic Limes crossed the ridge, and it includes the remains of forts and their civilian settlements. One of the best known nearby is the fort of Zugmantel, near the hamlet of Orlen, where the outline of the fort, the palisade line and reconstructed watchtowers give a real sense of the frontier. The whole line is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtower WP 3/42*.
5. back through Watchtower WP 3/42*
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/42* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Watchtower WP 3/42* sits at 105 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort.
6. back through Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort comes up about 165 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell.
7. Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell closes the day.
Leg by leg
Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell to Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort
Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell → Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort to Watchtower WP 3/42*
Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort → Watchtower WP 3/42* is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/42* to Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci
Watchtower WP 3/42* → Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci to back through Watchtower WP 3/42*
Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci → back through Watchtower WP 3/42* is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 3/42* to back through Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort
back through Watchtower WP 3/42* → back through Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort to Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell
back through Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort → Fortsite and civil settlement of Echzell is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.