Why this ride
A 90 km round trip from Neuwied - roughly 1 h 25 in the saddle. The stops in between: Watchtower WP 1/60, Watchtower WP 1/88 and back through Watchtower WP 1/60. The line favours views over speed.
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.
A 90 km round trip from Neuwied - roughly 1 h 25 in the saddle. The stops in between: Watchtower WP 1/60, Watchtower WP 1/88 and back through Watchtower WP 1/60. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 20 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The Roman frontier in Germany starts at the Rhine and heads off into the woods, and the Westerwald is where it first leaves the river. Near Rheinbrohl the Upper German Limes begins, and from there it climbs the hills to the east, a line of earth banks, ditches and watchtowers that once ran for about five hundred and fifty kilometres to the Danube. Between the towers numbered 1 and 30 it crosses the high ground behind Neuwied, through the area of Melsbach and Rengsdorf, and what remains today is mostly a low bank and a shallow ditch in the forest.
Read the complete Limessection between watchtowzers WP 1/30 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Limessection between watchtowzers WP 1/30 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtower WP 1/60.
Above Koblenz, on the edge of the Westerwald, the potters of Höhr-Grenzhausen have been making grey, salt-glazed stoneware with cobalt-blue decoration for centuries, giving this corner of Germany its nickname, the Kannenbäckerland, the land of jug bakers. In the forest nearby, the site of Roman watchtower WP 1/60 on the Upper German-Raetian Limes is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site. The tower was one of hundreds along the frontier, a wooden or stone structure from which soldiers watched the land beyond and signalled to their neighbours.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/60 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 1/60 comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 1/88.
In the hills above the Lahn, in the Westerwald near Arzbach, the Roman frontier made a long, curving loop through a country of oak and beech forest, and watchtower 1/88 was one of the posts on its line. This district was thick with towers, and several neighbouring numbers lie within a few kilometres. The Romans placed them wherever the ground gave a good view, usually on a rise or a ridge, so that from one you could see the smoke or lamp of the next.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/88 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 49 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower WP 1/88. Next is back through Watchtower WP 1/60.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/60 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtower WP 1/60, late in the day. Next is Limessection between watchtowzers WP 1/30.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Limessection between watchtowzers WP 1/30 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Limessection between watchtowzers WP 1/30. That is the ride.
Limessection between watchtowzers WP 1/30 → Watchtower WP 1/60 is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/60 → Watchtower WP 1/88 is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/88 → back through Watchtower WP 1/60 is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 1/60 → Limessection between watchtowzers WP 1/30 is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.