Why this ride
From Waldkirchen am Wesen it runs 225 km to Waldkirchen am Wesen; allow about 3 h 45 of riding. It goes by way of Hirschleitengraben - Wachtturm, Enns - Gräberstraße, Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg and Enns - Canabae Nordwest.
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 Waldkirchen am Wesen it runs 225 km to Waldkirchen am Wesen; allow about 3 h 45 of riding. It goes by way of Hirschleitengraben - Wachtturm, Enns - Gräberstraße, Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg and Enns - Canabae Nordwest.
The Danube does something remarkable at Schlögen. Forced by hard granite, the river makes a tight double hairpin, the Schlögener Schlinge, turning back on itself twice in a deep, wooded valley in Upper Austria, and the view of it from above is one of the most famous in the country. A short walk from the river up through the forest leads to the Schlögener Blick viewpoint, where you can see the river coiling below like a green-brown snake between steep slopes.
Read the complete Schlögen - Vicus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Schlögen - Vicus is where the day begins. Next is Hirschleitengraben - Wachtturm.
Just west of Linz, the Danube narrows and the steep, wooded slopes of the Kürnberger Wald rise from its southern bank. In the Roman period this river was the frontier of the empire, and the soldiers who guarded it built a chain of forts and watchtowers along the bank to watch for raiders crossing from the north. The Hirschleitengraben watchtower is one of these, a small Roman tower in a side ravine of the forest, part of the Danube Limes, which UNESCO listed in 2021 as one of the great frontiers of the Roman Empire. Its remains are modest, but the position, looking over the river toward Puchenau and the hills of the Mühlviertel, makes the purpose clear.
Read the complete Hirschleitengraben - Wachtturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hirschleitengraben - Wachtturm comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Enns - Gräberstraße.
Enns claims to be the oldest town in Austria, on the strength of a charter granted in 1212, but its roots go much deeper. Just outside the modern town lay Lauriacum, a Roman legionary fortress that housed the Second Italian Legion and grew into one of the most important places on the Danube frontier, with a civilian town, temples and, as the Gräberstraße name suggests, roads lined with cemeteries. The Romans buried their dead along the roads outside settlements, and excavations here have found hundreds of graves, stones and offerings. The site is part of the Danube Limes World Heritage listing.
Read the complete Enns - Gräberstraße write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 62 km into the recorded legs you reach Enns - Gräberstraße. Next is Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg.
Linz is a city that has reinvented itself. For much of the twentieth century it was known mainly for its steelworks and its uncomfortable links with the Nazi period; today it markets itself as a city of culture and technology, with the Ars Electronica centre glowing on the Danube bank at night, the Lentos art museum opposite, and a lively music scene. The Schlossberg, the castle hill above the old town, is where it all began: the Romans had a fort here called Lentia, part of the Danube frontier of the empire, and the Danube Limes is now on the World Heritage list. The castle that stands there now dates largely from the Renaissance, built for Emperor Frederick III, who spent his last years in Linz and died here in 1493. It houses a branch of the Upper Austrian state museum.
Read the complete Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg, about halfway. Next is Enns - Canabae Nordwest.
Enns claims to be the oldest town in Austria, and it has some evidence. The town received city rights in 1212, but people have lived here since long before that. The Romans built a legionary fortress on this spot, called Lauriacum, in the second century, and it was home to the Second Italic Legion, one of the units that guarded the Danube frontier. The civilian settlement that grew up outside the walls, known as the canabae, held traders, craftsmen and families, and the whole complex became a major provincial centre.
Read the complete Enns - Canabae Nordwest write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Enns - Canabae Nordwest sits at 111 km, about halfway. Next is back through Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg comes up about 138 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Enns - Gräberstraße.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Enns - Gräberstraße write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 163 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Enns - Gräberstraße. Next is back through Hirschleitengraben - Wachtturm.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hirschleitengraben - Wachtturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hirschleitengraben - Wachtturm, late in the day. Next is Schlögen - Vicus.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Schlögen - Vicus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 225 km.
Schlögen - Vicus → Hirschleitengraben - Wachtturm is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hirschleitengraben - Wachtturm → Enns - Gräberstraße is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Enns - Gräberstraße → Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg → Enns - Canabae Nordwest is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Enns - Canabae Nordwest → back through Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg → back through Enns - Gräberstraße is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Enns - Gräberstraße → back through Hirschleitengraben - Wachtturm is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hirschleitengraben - Wachtturm → Schlögen - Vicus is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.