Why this ride
265 km from Lorsch to Lorsch, about 3 h 19 of riding. It goes by way of Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz, Watchtower WP 4/17* and back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kloster Lorsch and Watchtower WP 4/17*
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 265 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 19
- 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
Kloster Lorsch → Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 61 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 62 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Kloster Lorsch
Lorsch is a quiet town of about thirteen thousand in the Rhine plain, between Worms and Darmstadt, and in the ninth century it was one of the most important places in the Frankish empire. A Benedictine abbey was founded here in 764, and under the patronage of Charlemagne's family it grew rich and learned, with a library that was among the best in Europe. The abbey's scriptorium produced the Lorsch Codex, a record of its lands and gifts, and the Lorsch Pharmacopoeia, a medical manuscript of the eighth century that is among the oldest of its kind, now on UNESCO's Memory of the World register.
Read the complete Kloster Lorsch write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kloster Lorsch is where the day begins. Next is Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz.
2. Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz
Some of the gravestones on the sandy rise known in Mainz as the Judensand are close to a thousand years old. The oldest dated stone here goes back to the middle of the eleventh century, which makes this one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in Europe. Together with sites in Speyer and Worms, Mainz formed the ShUM communities, centres of learning on the Rhine whose scholars shaped Ashkenazi Judaism for centuries, and in 2021 the three were listed together as a World Heritage Site. Mainz was Magenza in Hebrew, home to rabbis whose rulings were followed far beyond the Rhineland.
Read the complete Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 4/17*.
3. Watchtower WP 4/17*
The Limes crosses the Wetterau, the fertile plain north of Frankfurt, in a long arc, and Watchtower 4/17 is one small point in it. The Wetterau is loess farmland, rich and flat, with wide fields of wheat and sugar beet, and the Romans valued it as an agricultural region, planting farms and estates beside the frontier. The tower itself, as at most of these sites, is represented today by a low mound or a marker, and a short walk will let you see the line of the frontier running across the fields.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 4/17* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 131 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower WP 4/17*. Next is back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz.
4. back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz, late in the day. Next is Kloster Lorsch.
5. Kloster Lorsch
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kloster Lorsch write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Kloster Lorsch. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Kloster Lorsch to Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz
Kloster Lorsch → Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz to Watchtower WP 4/17*
Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz → Watchtower WP 4/17* is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 4/17* to back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz
Watchtower WP 4/17* → back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz to Kloster Lorsch
back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz → Kloster Lorsch is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.