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.
289 km from Spitz to Spitz, about 3 h 53 of riding. It goes by way of Tulln - Kastell Hufeisenturm, Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube and back through Tulln - Kastell Hufeisenturm. 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 60 km this is Wachau Danube Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Between Melk and Krems, the Danube runs through a valley of steep terraced vineyards, apricot orchards and tiny medieval towns, and the whole stretch is a UNESCO cultural landscape. The Wachau is one of the most beautiful river valleys in Europe, and it has been shaped by human hands for two thousand years. Walls of dry stone hold the terraces in place, and above them, forests climb to the plateau. The vineyards produce some of Austria's best white wines, mostly Gruner Veltliner and Riesling, and the orchards produce the Marille, the apricot, which blossoms in April and is made into jam, schnapps and dumplings in July.
Read the complete Wachau Cultural Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Wachau Cultural Landscape is where the day begins. Next is Tulln - Kastell Hufeisenturm.
Egon Schiele was born in Tulln in 1890, in the station building where his father was stationmaster, and the town that produced one of the most provocative painters of Viennese modernism is today a quiet, prosperous place on the Danube, known as Austria's garden town. Long before that, it was the Roman fort of Comagena, part of the frontier along the Danube that protected the Roman province of Noricum. One of the fort's towers has survived remarkably well: the so-called Salzturm, a horseshoe-shaped tower on the riverbank, one of the best-preserved Roman structures in Austria. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire – The Danube Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2021.
Read the complete Tulln - Kastell Hufeisenturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tulln - Kastell Hufeisenturm comes up about 60 km into the recorded legs. Next is Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube.
Marcus Aurelius, emperor and philosopher, spent several years at Carnuntum during his wars against the Germanic tribes north of the Danube, and he is thought to have written part of his Meditations here; the third book carries the note that it was written at Carnuntum. In the second century, this was one of the most important places on the Roman frontier: a legionary fortress, an auxiliary fort and a civil town that grew into the capital of the province of Upper Pannonia, with tens of thousands of inhabitants. Today, the archaeological park at Petronell-Carnuntum and Bad Deutsch-Altenburg shows reconstructed houses, a bath and streets built using Roman methods, two amphitheatres, and the Heidentor, a great ruined triumphal arch standing alone in the fields. The Danube Limes became a World Heritage site in 2021.
Read the complete Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 145 km into the recorded legs you reach Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube. Next is back through Tulln - Kastell Hufeisenturm.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tulln - Kastell Hufeisenturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Tulln - Kastell Hufeisenturm, late in the day. Next is Wachau Cultural Landscape.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wachau Cultural Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Wachau Cultural Landscape. That is the ride.
Wachau Cultural Landscape → Tulln - Kastell Hufeisenturm is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tulln - Kastell Hufeisenturm → Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube → back through Tulln - Kastell Hufeisenturm is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Tulln - Kastell Hufeisenturm → Wachau Cultural Landscape is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.