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.
337 km from Florstadt to Florstadt, about 5 h 13 of riding. It goes by way of Watchtowers WP 5/15 to 5/16, Messel Pit Fossil Site, Watchtowers WP 5/13 to 5/14 including the and back through Watchtowers WP 5/13 to 5/14 including the. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 38 km this is German Fairy Tale Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The Wetterau is a broad, fertile basin north of Frankfurt, a land of rich loess soils, wheat fields, orchards and old villages, and the Romans wanted it badly. Their frontier, the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, bulged out here to take in the whole basin, looping around it in a wide arc. At Ober-Florstadt stood a fort with a civilian settlement beside it, where soldiers' families, traders and craftsmen lived. Today little is visible, but the site is part of the World Heritage frontier, and information boards help to picture the scene.
Read the complete Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 5/15 to 5/16.
Great forts are rare on the Limes; most of the frontier was watchtowers, small timber and later stone posts within sight of each other, each with a handful of men and a fire for signalling. The towers numbered 5/15 and 5/16 stood near Großkrotzenburg, at the point where the land frontier coming down from the Wetterau met the Main, and from here southward the river itself became the border as far as Miltenberg. Little of them remains to see, but the location tells the story: the Romans used water where they could and built palisades only where they had to.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 5/15 to 5/16 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 5/15 to 5/16 comes up about 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Messel Pit Fossil Site.
Forty-seven million years ago, in a warm, subtropical world, a deep volcanic lake lay where the forest near Messel now stands, a few kilometres northeast of Darmstadt. The lake's depths were starved of oxygen, and animals that fell or sank into it were preserved in fine layers of mud with extraordinary detail: not just skeletons, but skin, feathers, fur, the contents of stomachs and even the colours of beetles' wings. Over time the mud turned into oil shale, which was mined here from the nineteenth century until 1971. After mining ended, there were plans to turn the pit into a rubbish dump; scientists and local people fought the plan, and in 1995 the pit became Germany's first natural World Heritage site.
Read the complete Messel Pit Fossil Site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 83 km into the recorded legs you reach Messel Pit Fossil Site. Next is Watchtowers WP 5/13 to 5/14 including the.
The Main river is where the Roman frontier changes character. Coming down from the north, the Limes runs in a long arc through the Wetterau and then meets the river near Großkrotzenburg, and from there the Romans used the Main itself as the boundary, with towers and forts strung along its bank. The numbers 5/13 and 5/14 belong to that river line, and a fort and its civilian settlement sit close by. On the ground, expect a marker, a low rise and a view down toward the water rather than anything dramatic.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 5/13 to 5/14 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 5/13 to 5/14 including the, about halfway. Next is Messel Pit Fossil Site.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Messel Pit Fossil Site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Messel Pit Fossil Site sits at 143 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 5/13 to 5/14 including the.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 5/13 to 5/14 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 5/13 to 5/14 including the comes up about 210 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Messel Pit Fossil Site.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Messel Pit Fossil Site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 251 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Messel Pit Fossil Site. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 5/15 to 5/16.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 5/15 to 5/16 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 5/15 to 5/16, late in the day. Next is Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 337 km.
Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor → Watchtowers WP 5/15 to 5/16 is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 5/15 to 5/16 → Messel Pit Fossil Site is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Messel Pit Fossil Site → Watchtowers WP 5/13 to 5/14 including the is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 5/13 to 5/14 including the → Messel Pit Fossil Site is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Messel Pit Fossil Site → back through Watchtowers WP 5/13 to 5/14 including the is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 5/13 to 5/14 including the → back through Messel Pit Fossil Site is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Messel Pit Fossil Site → back through Watchtowers WP 5/15 to 5/16 is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 5/15 to 5/16 → Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.