Why this ride
A 78 km round trip from Holzhausen an der Haide - roughly 1 h 23 in the saddle. On the way it passes Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort, Watchtower WP 1/77 and back through Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 and Watchtower WP 1/77
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 78 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 23
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Scenic road chapters
Rhine Romantic Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 17 km this is Rhine Romantic Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 17 km
- Named road
- Rhine Romantic Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30
Kastell Holzhausen is one of the best-preserved Roman forts along the German Limes, and it lies in a forest clearing near the village of Holzhausen an der Haide in the western Taunus, where the remains of its stone walls, gates and corner towers still stand to a height of a metre or more. The fort housed an auxiliary cohort of several hundred soldiers in the second and third centuries, and it guarded a section of the frontier, the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, along with a chain of watchtowers spaced at regular intervals along the line. The watchtowers numbered WP 2/26 to 2/30, part of the UNESCO listing, stood on this section between the fort and its neighbours.
Read the complete Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort.
2. Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort
Between the Lahn and the Rhine, the Roman frontier crossed a high, wooded plateau known locally as the Einrich, and the watchtowers from 2/7 to 2/13 stood on this stretch, near the village of Dachsenhausen. In the forest, the earth bank and ditch can still be followed, and small forts, built to house the soldiers who manned the towers, have left their outlines in the ground. Here, as elsewhere in Germany, the Limes belongs to the frontiers of the Roman Empire on the World Heritage list, but the forest is quiet, and you may walk the line for an hour without meeting anyone.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 1/77.
3. Watchtower WP 1/77
In the hills of the Westerwald, east of Koblenz, the Roman frontier ran from the Rhine up across the high ground towards the Taunus, and archaeologists have numbered every tower site along it. Watchtower WP 1/77, near the villages of Kadenbach and Arzbach, is one of them, now marked by a low mound or reconstructed foundations in the woods. The frontier here was a palisade of timber and later an earth bank and ditch, with towers every few hundred metres, and the whole system is part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes World Heritage listing.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/77 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 39 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower WP 1/77. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort.
4. back through Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort, late in the day. Next is Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30.
5. Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 to Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort
Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 → Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort to Watchtower WP 1/77
Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort → Watchtower WP 1/77 is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/77 to back through Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort
Watchtower WP 1/77 → back through Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort to Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30
back through Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort → Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.