Why this ride
254 km from Bendorf to Bendorf, about 4 h 39 of riding. On the way it passes Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just, Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort and back through Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtower WP 1/51 and Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 254 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 39
- 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.
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 Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just.
2. Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just
Bad Schwalbach is a spa town that never quite lost its nineteenth-century manners: a long, leafy valley, a Kurpark with pavilions, and iron-rich springs that once drew the fashionable from across Europe to take the waters. Just above it, on the high ground of the Taunus, the Roman frontier ran through the forests, and the stretch catalogued as watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 passes within a few kilometres of the town. Here the Upper German Limes followed the ridge, with wooden and later stone towers set at intervals within sight of one another, a palisade in front, and a ditch and bank added later. In the beech woods you can still trace the low line of the bank in places, a quiet scar running through the trees for kilometre after kilometre.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just comes up about 63 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort.
3. Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort
Kaiser Wilhelm II took a personal interest in the Roman frontier, and at the beginning of the twentieth century, he ordered the complete reconstruction of the Saalburg, a Roman fort on the crest of the Taunus near Bad Homburg. The result, with its walls, gates and buildings rebuilt on the original foundations, is the most complete reconstruction of a Roman fort in Germany and houses a museum of Roman life on the frontier. A few kilometres north-east, near Rosbach vor der Höhe, the ruins of the Kapersburg fort lie in the forest, and the watchtowers numbered WP 4/1 to 4/19a, on the section of the Limes running from the Taunus ridge toward the Wetterau, are part of the UNESCO listing of the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 127 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just.
4. back through Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just 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 2/50 to 2/55 including Just, late in the day. Next is Watchtower WP 1/51.
5. 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
Back at Watchtower WP 1/51. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Watchtower WP 1/51 to Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just
Watchtower WP 1/51 → Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just to Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort
Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just → Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort to back through Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just
Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort → back through Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just to Watchtower WP 1/51
back through Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just → Watchtower WP 1/51 is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.