Why this ride
From Florstadt it runs 281 km to Florstadt; allow about 3 h 39 of riding. It goes by way of Messel Pit Fossil Site, Watchtower WP 3/23* and back through Messel Pit Fossil Site.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor and Watchtower WP 3/23*
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 281 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 39
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
German Fairy Tale Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 69 km this is German Fairy Tale Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 69 km
- Named road
- German Fairy Tale Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor
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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor is where the day begins. Next is Messel Pit Fossil Site.
2. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Messel Pit Fossil Site comes up about 69 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 3/23*.
3. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 137 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower WP 3/23*. Next is back through Messel Pit Fossil Site.
4. back through Messel Pit Fossil Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Messel Pit Fossil Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Messel Pit Fossil Site, late in the day. Next is Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor.
5. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor to Messel Pit Fossil Site
Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor → Messel Pit Fossil Site is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Messel Pit Fossil Site to Watchtower WP 3/23*
Messel Pit Fossil Site → Watchtower WP 3/23* is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/23* to back through Messel Pit Fossil Site
Watchtower WP 3/23* → back through Messel Pit Fossil Site is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Messel Pit Fossil Site to Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor
back through Messel Pit Fossil Site → Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.