CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
A 309 km round trip from Spitz - roughly 4 h 53 in the saddle. It goes by way of Ybbs - Kleinkastell, Blashausgraben - Wachtturm, Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert and Zeiselmauer - Kleinkastell. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 45 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 Ybbs - Kleinkastell.
Ybbs an der Donau and Persenbeug face each other across the Danube in Lower Austria, connected by a hydroelectric dam that was one of the first built on the Austrian Danube after the war. Persenbeug is dominated by its castle, perched on a rock above the river, which belonged to the Habsburgs and was the birthplace of Emperor Charles I, the last emperor of Austria-Hungary. On the Ybbs side, the remains of a small Roman fort have been found, part of the Danube frontier of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Ybbs - Kleinkastell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ybbs - Kleinkastell comes up 40 km in. Next is Blashausgraben - Wachtturm.
The Wachau is the most beautiful stretch of the Danube in Austria, a narrow valley between Melk and Krems where the river winds between steep hills covered in vineyards and forest, with castles, abbeys and villages on its banks. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site in its own right. Near the village of Aggsbach, on the southern bank, a small Roman watchtower stood in the Blashausgraben, a side valley, as part of the Danube frontier of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Blashausgraben - Wachtturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
80 km in you reach Blashausgraben - Wachtturm. Next is Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert.
Traismauer is a small wine town on the south side of the Danube, just where the Traisen river comes down from the Alpine foothills to meet the big river, and it has been a fortified place for something like eighteen centuries. The Romans called their fort here Augustianis, one link in the chain of camps and watchtowers that guarded the frontier of the province of Noricum. In 2021 the Danube Limes was added to the UNESCO list, and Traismauer is one of the places where you can still see the old walls doing a job.
Read the complete Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert, about halfway. Next is Zeiselmauer - Kleinkastell.
Before there was a Vienna, there was a frontier. For some four hundred years the Danube formed the northern boundary of the Roman empire in central Europe, and a chain of forts, watchtowers and harbours kept watch along the south bank. Zeiselmauer, about thirty kilometres upstream from the modern capital, was one of them, and a stretch of Roman wall with a tower still stands in the village, incorporated into later buildings. The Danube Limes in Austria, Germany and Slovakia was listed by UNESCO in 2021.
Read the complete Zeiselmauer - Kleinkastell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Zeiselmauer - Kleinkastell sits at 159 km, about halfway. Next is back through Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert comes up 199 km in. Next is back through Blashausgraben - Wachtturm.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Blashausgraben - Wachtturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
239 km in you reach back through Blashausgraben - Wachtturm. Next is back through Ybbs - Kleinkastell.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ybbs - Kleinkastell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Ybbs - Kleinkastell, 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.
The route ends here after 309 km.
Wachau Cultural Landscape → Ybbs - Kleinkastell is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ybbs - Kleinkastell → Blashausgraben - Wachtturm is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Blashausgraben - Wachtturm → Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert → Zeiselmauer - Kleinkastell is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zeiselmauer - Kleinkastell → back through Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert → back through Blashausgraben - Wachtturm is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Blashausgraben - Wachtturm → back through Ybbs - Kleinkastell is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ybbs - Kleinkastell → Wachau Cultural Landscape is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.