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.
219 km from Lorsch to Lorsch, about 3 h 03 of riding. On the way it passes Exhibition grounds 1904, Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens, Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel and back through Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 38 km this is German Fairy Tale Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Lorsch Abbey, founded in the eighth century, became one of the most powerful monasteries of the Carolingian empire, with vast estates, a famous library and the patronage of Charlemagne himself. Its first home, however, was not on the site of the later abbey, but a short distance away, on an island in the Weschnitz river, a place known as Altenmünster, the old minster. The ruins of that first foundation, a few low walls in a meadow, are a quiet counterpoint to the abbey's most famous building, the Torhalle, a gatehouse with a façade of red and white stone panels, one of the few surviving examples of Carolingian architecture. The abbey and Altenmünster together have been on the UNESCO list since 1991.
Read the complete Ruine Altenmuster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ruine Altenmuster is where the day begins. Next is Exhibition grounds 1904.
In 1899, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse invited a group of young artists and architects to Darmstadt and gave them a hill to build on. The Mathildenhöhe became an artists' colony and a showcase for Jugendstil, the German Art Nouveau, with studios, houses and exhibitions designed as total works of art, down to the cutlery. Behind it lay a simple idea: that art should shape everyday life, from the house to the chair to the wallpaper. The exhibitions of 1901, 1904, 1908 and 1914 drew visitors from all over Europe, and the ensemble was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2021.
Read the complete Exhibition grounds 1904 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Exhibition grounds 1904 comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel.
Marköbel is a village in the eastern Wetterau, the fertile plain north east of Frankfurt, and it stands on the site of a Roman fort that guarded the frontier where it crossed this open country. The fort, with its civilian settlement, the vicus, where merchants, craftsmen and soldiers' families lived, was part of the Upper German Limes, and today little remains above ground, but the village streets still follow parts of the old layout, and a reconstructed section of the frontier and markers explain the history. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel, 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 sits at 133 km, about halfway. Next is back through Exhibition grounds 1904.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Exhibition grounds 1904 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Exhibition grounds 1904 comes up about 188 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ruine Altenmuster.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ruine Altenmuster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ruine Altenmuster closes the day.
Ruine Altenmuster → Exhibition grounds 1904 is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Exhibition grounds 1904 → Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens is 40 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 Marköbel is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens → back through Exhibition grounds 1904 is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Exhibition grounds 1904 → Ruine Altenmuster is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.