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.
426 km from Weißenkirchen in der Wachau to Weißenkirchen in der Wachau, about 6 h 12 of riding. It goes by way of Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad, Wallsee - Kleinkastell, Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg and Kalkalpen - Wilder Graben. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
For about 34 km this is Wachau Danube Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
This part of the ride is 51 km of Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad → Wallsee - Kleinkastell.
On the quiet south bank of the Danube in the Wachau, opposite the wine village of Weißenkirchen, the little church of St. Lorenz has a secret in its walls. Part of the building stands on, and incorporates, the masonry of a Roman watchtower, one of a chain of small fortifications that guarded the river frontier of the province of Noricum in late antiquity. The Danube was the edge of the empire here, and soldiers in the tower kept watch over the far bank for raiders. Today the site is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Danube Limes listing, inscribed by UNESCO in 2021.
Read the complete St. Lorenz - Wachtturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
St. Lorenz - Wachtturm is where the day begins. Next is Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad.
Pöchlarn is a small town on the south bank of the Danube, a few kilometres upstream from Melk, where the river is broad and slow and the Wachau valley is about to begin. The Romans called it Arelape and kept a fort here on the frontier of the empire, with a civilian settlement, the vicus, and a bathhouse for the garrison. Not much is visible above ground, but the town is part of the Danube Limes World Heritage site, which traces that long line of forts and watchtowers through Austria.
Read the complete Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Wallsee - Kleinkastell.
Wallsee is the kind of Danube town you only notice if you slow down: a market square, a big castle on a rock above the river, and a long, quiet waterfront where the cycle path runs past willows and moored boats. Beneath the streets lie the remains of a small Roman fort, one of the posts that lined the river frontier of the province of Noricum, and archaeologists have also traced a larger fort nearby. Both are part of the Danube Limes World Heritage listing inscribed in 2021, though above ground the medieval and Baroque town has long since taken over.
Read the complete Wallsee - Kleinkastell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 85 km into the recorded legs you reach Wallsee - Kleinkastell. 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 Kalkalpen - Wilder Graben.
Wilder Graben translates as the wild ravine, and the name fits the country south of the Enns valley in Upper Austria, where the Kalkalpen National Park protects a great tangle of limestone mountains, gorges and forest. This is the Reichraminger Hintergebirge, a maze of steep valleys with clear green streams at the bottom and almost no settlements at all. It is one of the largest forested areas in Austria, and parts of its old beech woods belong to the World Heritage site of ancient beech forests across Europe.
Read the complete Kalkalpen - Wilder Graben write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kalkalpen - Wilder Graben sits at 209 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 286 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Wallsee - Kleinkastell.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wallsee - Kleinkastell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 342 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Wallsee - Kleinkastell. Next is back through Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad, late in the day. Next is St. Lorenz - Wachtturm, 52 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete St. Lorenz - Wachtturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 426 km.
St. Lorenz - Wachtturm → Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad → Wallsee - Kleinkastell is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wallsee - Kleinkastell → Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg → Kalkalpen - Wilder Graben is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Kalkalpen - Wilder Graben → back through Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg → back through Wallsee - Kleinkastell is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Wallsee - Kleinkastell → back through Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad → St. Lorenz - Wachtturm is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.