Why this ride
174 km from Bendorf to Bendorf, about 2 h 58 of riding. The stops in between: Watchtower WP 1/77, Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort, Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 and Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtower WP 1/51 and Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 174 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 58
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Scenic road chapters
Moselle Wine Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 16 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 17 km
- Named road
- Moselle Wine Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtower WP 1/51
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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 1/51 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtower WP 1/77.
2. 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
Watchtower WP 1/77 comes up 17 km in. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort.
3. 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
34 km in you reach Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort. Next is Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6.
5. Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6
WP 2/5 and 2/6 sound like spare parts, but they are the numbers archaeologists gave to two watchtower positions on the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, the fortified frontier Rome drew across southern Germany. Here, in the hills above the Lahn near Bad Ems, the line ran up from the Rhine and over the high ground, and every few hundred metres a tower stood with a view to the next. Today most of what survives are low mounds, traces of the bank and ditch, and in some places a reconstructed tower to give you scale. The whole frontier became part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire in 2005.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 sits at 68 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30.
6. back through 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 through Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 comes up 84 km in. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort.
7. 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
101 km in you reach back through Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort. Next is back through Watchtower WP 1/77.
8. back through Watchtower WP 1/77
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Watchtower WP 1/77, late in the day. Next is Watchtower WP 1/51.
9. Watchtower WP 1/51
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/51 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 174 km.
Leg by leg
Watchtower WP 1/51 to Watchtower WP 1/77
Watchtower WP 1/51 → Watchtower WP 1/77 is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/77 to Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort
Watchtower WP 1/77 → 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 Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30
Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort → Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 to Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6
Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 → Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 to back through Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 → back through Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 to back through Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort
back through Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 → back through Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort is 16 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 back through Watchtower WP 1/77
back through Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort → back through Watchtower WP 1/77 is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 1/77 to Watchtower WP 1/51
back through Watchtower WP 1/77 → Watchtower WP 1/51 is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.