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.
From Bendorf it runs 324 km to Bendorf; allow about 6 h 09 of riding. It goes by way of Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16, Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci, Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg and Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
For about 38 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
37 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
The Upper Germanic Limes does not start with a bang. Near Bendorf, on the slopes where the Westerwald drops toward the Rhine at the Neuwied basin, it is a matter of reading the woods: a low bank here, a shallow ditch there, and the spot where a Roman watchtower once stood, numbered by archaeologists as WP 1/51. The towers were placed within sight of each other, timber at first and later stone, so that a signal could pass along the frontier faster than any rider. Standing here among the beech trees you are close to the northern end of a border that ran more than five hundred kilometres to the Danube.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/51 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 1/51 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16.
Imagine standing in a small timber or stone tower on a cold winter night, looking out over the dark forest for signs of movement, with a fire ready to signal to the next tower along the line. That was the life of the soldiers who manned the watchtowers of the Roman frontier, and the remains of three of them, numbered 2/14 to 2/16 by archaeologists, lie in the woods between Singhofen and Miehlen, on the plateau above the Rhine and the Lahn. Their foundations survive as low mounds and traces in the ground, and the line of the frontier, the ditch and bank, can be followed between them. They are part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, one of the components of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 comes up about 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci.
The Taunus is the green upland that keeps Frankfurt's weekend riders sane, and running right across it is the line of the Roman frontier. The stretch of watchtowers numbered 3/1 to 3/14 lies near Taunusstein, north of Wiesbaden, where the Upper Germanic Limes crossed the ridge, and it includes the remains of forts and their civilian settlements. One of the best known nearby is the fort of Zugmantel, near the hamlet of Orlen, where the outline of the fort, the palisade line and reconstructed watchtowers give a real sense of the frontier. The whole line is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 77 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg.
If you want to know what a Roman frontier fort actually looked like, this is the place. The Saalburg, on the ridge of the Taunus above Bad Homburg, is the only Limes fort in Germany rebuilt in full: walls, gates, towers, granary and the headquarters building, all standing again on their original foundations. The reconstruction was ordered by Kaiser Wilhelm II around 1900, who liked his Romans grand and imperial, and while archaeologists today debate some details, walking through the main gate is still a jolt.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg, about halfway. Next is Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor.
The Wetterau is a broad, fertile basin north of Frankfurt, a land of rich loess soils, wheat fields, orchards and old villages, and the Romans wanted it badly. Their frontier, the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, bulged out here to take in the whole basin, looping around it in a wide arc. At Ober-Florstadt stood a fort with a civilian settlement beside it, where soldiers' families, traders and craftsmen lived. Today little is visible, but the site is part of the World Heritage frontier, and information boards help to picture the scene.
Read the complete Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor sits at 145 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg comes up about 197 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 245 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16, late in the day. Next is Watchtower WP 1/51.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/51 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 324 km.
Watchtower WP 1/51 → Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 → Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci → Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg → Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg → back through Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci → back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 → Watchtower WP 1/51 is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.