Why this ride
278 km from Würzburg to Würzburg, about 4 h 00 of riding. It goes by way of Watchtower WP 7/37, Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 and back through Watchtower WP 7/37. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Residenz and Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 278 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 00
- 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.
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.
Scenic road chapters
Romantic Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 62 km this is Romantic Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 62 km
- Named road
- Romantic Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Residenz
The Residenz in Wurzburg is a palace that people go to see for a staircase. Balthasar Neumann, one of the great architects of the baroque, designed it for the prince-bishops of Wurzburg, who ruled this part of Franconia, and it was built between 1720 and 1744. The grand staircase is a single, unsupported vault, and above it, covering the whole ceiling, is a fresco by the Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, painted in 1752 and 1753. It shows the four continents, with Apollo and the gods above, and at roughly 600 square metres it is one of the largest ceiling paintings in the world.
Read the complete Residenz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Residenz is where the day begins. Next is Watchtower WP 7/37.
2. Watchtower WP 7/37
The Romans liked straight lines, and nowhere more than here. On the edge of Walldürn, in the hilly country between the Odenwald and the Tauber valley, runs the course of the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, the frontier wall that marked the edge of the Roman Empire across what is now southern Germany. Watchtower WP 7/37 is one of hundreds of small posts that lined it, each within sight of the next, so that signals could be passed along the frontier. The Limes here famously runs almost dead straight for many kilometres, regardless of hills and valleys, a statement of Roman confidence and surveying skill.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 7/37 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 7/37 comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68.
3. Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68
Between Öhringen and Mainhardt, the Upper German Limes does something a Roman engineer must have been proud of: it runs dead straight for many kilometres, up hill and down dale, ignoring the terrain as if drawn with a ruler on a map. The watchtower sites numbered along this section lie on that line, in the Hohenlohe country of northern Württemberg, between the open farmland around Pfedelbach and the dark wooded hills of the Swabian-Franconian Forest.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 136 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68. Next is back through Watchtower WP 7/37.
4. back through Watchtower WP 7/37
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 7/37 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Watchtower WP 7/37, late in the day. Next is Residenz.
5. Residenz
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Residenz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Residenz. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Residenz to Watchtower WP 7/37
Residenz → Watchtower WP 7/37 is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 7/37 to Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68
Watchtower WP 7/37 → Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 to back through Watchtower WP 7/37
Watchtowers WP 9/36 to 9/68 → back through Watchtower WP 7/37 is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Watchtower WP 7/37 to Residenz
back through Watchtower WP 7/37 → Residenz is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.