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.
A 174 km round trip from Neuwied - roughly 3 h 18 in the saddle. On the way it passes Watchtowers WP 1/78 to 1/81, Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f, Watchtower WP 3/4* and back through Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f. 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 30 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
This single tower, WP 1/39, belongs to a stretch of the Upper German-Raetian Limes that runs close to Rengsdorf and Melsbach, on a gently rolling shoulder of the Westerwald. Unlike many of its neighbours it has been marked and reconstructed in a way that lets you see how it might have looked, with a timber tower over a stone base, and a cleared line of sight in each direction. The towers were usually just a few metres square, with a lookout floor on top and a ladder you could pull up. A handful of soldiers at most would have lived in one, which gives you a sense of scale: it was a sentry post, not a castle.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/39 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 1/39 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/78 to 1/81.
Kadenbach, Arzbach and Eitelborn are three small villages on the broad, wooded plateau of the Westerwald, a short way north of the Lahn valley, and the four watchtowers here sit in a short run along the Roman frontier. Numbers 1/78 to 1/81 belong to the first section of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, running from the Rhine towards the Taunus. The frontier was a palisade with towers placed within sight of one another, and the signal system relied on fire at night and smoke or flag by day. In this area the Romans picked ridges and shoulders of hills so the view ran for miles over land that was then forest and scrub.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/78 to 1/81 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 1/78 to 1/81 comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f.
North of the Taunus ridge, the Limes crossed a high, open plateau between the Rhine and the Lahn, and the stretch with watchtowers 2/23 to 2/26 runs through the farmland and woods near Miehlen and Singhofen in the Rhein-Lahn district. The remains here are subtle, mostly low banks and the traces of towers in fields and forest edges, but the line of the frontier is marked by the long-distance Limes trail and information boards. This is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire, a stretch of the line that few visitors ever see.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 62 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f. Next is Watchtower WP 3/4*.
In the western Taunus, between Bad Schwalbach and Taunusstein, the forest is thick and the hills roll gently, and the Upper German Limes runs along the ridge here as a still visible bank and ditch. The site labelled Watchtower WP 3/4 is one of the many small posts along this section, and a few kilometres to the east, near Taunusstein-Orlen, the fort of Zugmantel guarded a crossing of the frontier on an old trade route into Germanic territory. These remains are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site, and a walk along the Limes trail through the forest here is peaceful and atmospheric.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/4* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 3/4*, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f sits at 100 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 1/78 to 1/81.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/78 to 1/81 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 1/78 to 1/81 comes up about 144 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 1/39.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/39 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 1/39 closes the day.
Watchtower WP 1/39 → Watchtowers WP 1/78 to 1/81 is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 1/78 to 1/81 → Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f → Watchtower WP 3/4* is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/4* → back through Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f → back through Watchtowers WP 1/78 to 1/81 is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 1/78 to 1/81 → Watchtower WP 1/39 is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.