Kottenforst Süd | Professorenweg 2 and Watchtower WP 3/23*
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
330 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 46
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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Wachtberg it runs 330 km to Wachtberg; allow about 6 h 46 of riding. The stops in between: Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the, Watchtower WP 1/73, Watchtower WP 2/31 and Watchtower WP 3/23*. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Scenic road chapters
Moselle Wine Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 46 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
Length
46 km
Named road
Moselle Wine Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Kottenforst Süd | Professorenweg 2
The Professorenweg, the Professors' Way, was a path where Bonn's university teachers walked in the afternoons, and the name still suggests thoughtful strolling. It runs along the high ground of the southern Kottenforst, in the hills of Wachtberg, above the Rhine valley, and the area has been a favourite for walkers since the days when Bonn was a quiet university town on the river rather than a capital.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kottenforst Süd | Professorenweg 2 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the.
2. Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the
Here is where the Upper German-Raetian Limes, the longest stretch of Roman frontier in Europe, begins. The Romans started the line at the Rhine near Rheinbrohl and ran it up over the hills of the Westerwald, then on through the Taunus and beyond for more than five hundred kilometres to the Danube. The section with watchtowers numbered WP 1/11 to 1/20 follows the first climb away from the river through the forests above Rheinbrohl, Hammerstein and Niederbreitbach. Most of the towers survive only as low mounds of stone in the woods, but the course of the frontier ditch and rampart can often be traced on foot, and there are information boards and a few reconstructions along the way.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the comes up about 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 1/73.
3. Watchtower WP 1/73
The Roman frontier in Germany starts at the Rhine near Rheinbrohl and climbs into the hills of the Westerwald, and Watchtower WP 1/73, near Hillscheid, belongs to that first stretch. The numbers tell you where you are: section one, tower seventy-three. All that survives is a low mound in the woods, but in the second and third centuries it was a stone tower with a view over the frontier line and, behind it, the palisade and ditch that ran across the landscape. The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes has been part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire since 2005, and this is where it all begins.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 84 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower WP 1/73. Next is Watchtower WP 2/31.
4. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 2/31, about halfway. Next is Watchtower WP 3/23*.
5. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 330 km.
Leg by leg
Kottenforst Süd | Professorenweg 2 to Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the
Kottenforst Süd | Professorenweg 2 → Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the to Watchtower WP 1/73
Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the → Watchtower WP 1/73 is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/73 to Watchtower WP 2/31
Watchtower WP 1/73 → Watchtower WP 2/31 is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 2/31 to Watchtower WP 3/23*
Watchtower WP 2/31 → Watchtower WP 3/23* is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/23* to back through Watchtower WP 2/31
Watchtower WP 3/23* → back through Watchtower WP 2/31 is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 2/31 to back through Watchtower WP 1/73
back through Watchtower WP 2/31 → back through Watchtower WP 1/73 is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 1/73 to back through Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the
back through Watchtower WP 1/73 → back through Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the to Kottenforst Süd | Professorenweg 2
back through Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the → Kottenforst Süd | Professorenweg 2 is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.