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.
From Mainhardt it runs 93 km to Mainhardt; allow about 1 h 48 of riding. It goes by way of Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35, Watchtowers WP 8/44 to 9/2 and back through Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Mainhardt is a small town in the Swabian-Franconian Forest, a long ridge of wooded hills east of Stuttgart and north of Schwäbisch Hall, and the Romans chose to drop their frontier straight through here. The Upper Germanic Limes runs dead straight for many kilometres in this region, up and down hills without regard to the terrain, because the surveyors drew the line first and let the army follow it. At Mainhardt there was a fort with a garrison of auxiliary soldiers, and the outline can be traced in the ground east of the town. The numbers on the label refer to the watchtowers, small timber and then stone posts that stood at intervals along the line within sight of one another.
Read the complete Limessection between watchtowers WP 9/68 a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Limessection between watchtowers WP 9/68 a is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35.
Öhringen had not one but two Roman forts, known today as the Bürgkastell and the Rendelkastell, both on the Upper Germanic Limes, which ran past the town on its way south. The watchtowers numbered here were part of that frontier, and the town grew partly on the remains of the Roman settlement that clustered around the forts. Little is visible above ground, but finds are displayed in the local museum, and the line of the Limes can be followed on foot or by bike through the surrounding countryside.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35 comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 8/44 to 9/2.
The Jagst is a small, winding river in northern Württemberg, and between Jagsthausen and Möckmühl it runs through a valley of orchards, wooded slopes and half-timbered villages. The Roman frontier ran along this side of the river, and watchtowers 8/44 to 9/2 sit on the high ground above. They belong to the Upper German-Raetian Limes, inscribed by UNESCO in 2005, which here ran in a remarkably straight line for many kilometres, a feat of surveying that still impresses. The Romans needed to hold a rim of high ground and chose a line that ignored the little hills, which is why the old frontier looks like a ruler line across the map.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 8/44 to 9/2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 45 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 8/44 to 9/2. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35, late in the day. Next is Limessection between watchtowers WP 9/68 a.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Limessection between watchtowers WP 9/68 a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Limessection between watchtowers WP 9/68 a. That is the ride.
Limessection between watchtowers WP 9/68 a → Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35 is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35 → Watchtowers WP 8/44 to 9/2 is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 8/44 to 9/2 → back through Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35 is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35 → Limessection between watchtowers WP 9/68 a is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.