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 Butzbach it runs 103 km to Butzbach; allow about 1 h 59 of riding. The stops in between: Watchtower WP 4/17*, Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg and back through Watchtower WP 4/17*. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 19 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
The Wetterau is a broad, fertile basin north of Frankfurt, and the Limes crosses it on its way from the Taunus hills towards the Main. Near Butzbach, the frontier runs through farmland and low wooded ridges, with a line of watchtowers, and the stretch between towers 4/37 and 4/39 is a quiet piece of it. The Saalburg, the reconstructed Roman fort in the Taunus, lies a short distance to the south, and it makes the best starting point for understanding what the frontier looked like.
Read the complete Limessection between WP 4/37 and 4/39 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Limessection between WP 4/37 and 4/39 is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 4/17* comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg.
If you want to know what a Roman frontier fort actually looked like, this is the place. The Saalburg, on the ridge of the Taunus above Bad Homburg, is the only Limes fort in Germany rebuilt in full: walls, gates, towers, granary and the headquarters building, all standing again on their original foundations. The reconstruction was ordered by Kaiser Wilhelm II around 1900, who liked his Romans grand and imperial, and while archaeologists today debate some details, walking through the main gate is still a jolt.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 56 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg. Next is back through Watchtower WP 4/17*.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 4/17* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtower WP 4/17*, late in the day. Next is Limessection between WP 4/37 and 4/39.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Limessection between WP 4/37 and 4/39 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Limessection between WP 4/37 and 4/39. That is the ride.
Limessection between WP 4/37 and 4/39 → Watchtower WP 4/17* is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 4/17* → Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg → back through Watchtower WP 4/17* is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 4/17* → Limessection between WP 4/37 and 4/39 is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.