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.
166 km from Roßdorf to Roßdorf, about 2 h 47 of riding. The stops in between: Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens, Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb, Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe and back through Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb. The line favours views over speed.
Forty-seven million years ago, in a warm, subtropical world, a deep volcanic lake lay where the forest near Messel now stands, a few kilometres northeast of Darmstadt. The lake's depths were starved of oxygen, and animals that fell or sank into it were preserved in fine layers of mud with extraordinary detail: not just skeletons, but skin, feathers, fur, the contents of stomachs and even the colours of beetles' wings. Over time the mud turned into oil shale, which was mined here from the nineteenth century until 1971. After mining ended, there were plans to turn the pit into a rubbish dump; scientists and local people fought the plan, and in 1995 the pit became Germany's first natural World Heritage site.
Read the complete Messel Pit Fossil Site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Messel Pit Fossil Site is where the day begins. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens.
Seligenstadt is one of those Main valley towns where every era has left something on the table. The Romans came first: here the frontier of the Upper German-Raetian Limes ran along the river itself, and a fort with a civilian settlement around it guarded the Main crossing. The fort site lies under the old town, so you are walking over it rather than looking at it, but the logic of the place is obvious when you stand by the water. The river was the border, the road and the supply line all at once.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb.
For one stretch of the Roman frontier in Germany, the soldiers did not need to build a wall at all. Between Großkrotzenburg and Miltenberg, the Main river itself served as the border, the so-called wet Limes, guarded by a chain of forts along its western bank. Niedernberg, a village on the river just below Aschaffenburg, was one of them, with a fort and a civilian settlement beside it. Little survives above ground today; the remains lie beneath fields and houses. But the Main still flows past, broad and slow, and it is easy to picture patrol boats and soldiers watching the far bank. The site is part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes World Heritage listing.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 53 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe.
Miltenberg is one of those German towns that seem almost too pretty to be real, with half-timbered houses leaning over the cobbled streets, a market square sloping down toward the river, a castle on the hill above and the Main flowing slowly past. The Romans were here first. Two forts guarded this point on the frontier, one near the old town and another to the east, where the Limes left the river and ran overland through the Odenwald, and the sites, with their civilian settlements, are part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire. A museum in the town displays finds from the forts.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe, about halfway. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb sits at 114 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens comes up about 134 km into the recorded legs. Next is Messel Pit Fossil Site.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Messel Pit Fossil Site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Messel Pit Fossil Site closes the day.
Messel Pit Fossil Site → Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens → Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb → Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Niedernb → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens → Messel Pit Fossil Site is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.