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 Kadenbach it runs 340 km to Kadenbach; allow about 5 h 49 of riding. It goes by way of Upper Middle Rhine Valley, Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just, Watchtowers WP 3/41 to 3/44 and Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the. 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 37 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 1/77 is where the day begins. Next is Upper Middle Rhine Valley.
Between Bingen and Koblenz, the Rhine cuts a deep, winding gorge through the slate hills of the Rhenish Massif, and for centuries this has been one of the great landscapes of Europe: steep slopes covered with vineyards, castles on every crag, villages of half-timbered houses along the river, and barges gliding past. The Upper Middle Rhine Valley was listed by UNESCO in 2002, and Sankt Goarshausen sits at its heart, at the foot of the most famous rock on the river.
Read the complete Upper Middle Rhine Valley write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Upper Middle Rhine Valley comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just. Next is Watchtowers WP 3/41 to 3/44.
The Taunus is the low, forested mountain range that closes in the north of the Frankfurt basin, and the Romans put their frontier along and over it. Here, near Glashütten, the line passes through high woodland at roughly four hundred metres above sea level, in an area that is cold and often foggy in winter. Towers 3/41 to 3/44 belong to the third section of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, the one that UNESCO recognised in 2005 together with the rest of the frontier. The Romans cleared a swathe through the forest, set up a palisade, and watched the open ground to the north, where tribes of the Chatti lived. The name Glashütten itself recalls glassmaking, once common in these forests because wood, sand and potash were all to hand.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 3/41 to 3/44 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 3/41 to 3/44, about halfway. Next is Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the.
Near Butzbach the Wetterau starts to break against the Taunus, and the Roman frontier passes through that transition with a long series of numbered watchtowers, in this case 4/20 to 4/36. It is a longer run than most, and it reflects how carefully the Romans watched this side of the line, where the open plain makes a natural highway for anyone coming from the north. The Upper German-Raetian Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2005, crosses farmland here, and in places the old rampart survives as a low bank in a meadow edge or a stretch of forest.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the sits at 140 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 3/41 to 3/44.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 3/41 to 3/44 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 3/41 to 3/44 comes up about 225 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 268 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just. Next is back through Upper Middle Rhine Valley.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Upper Middle Rhine Valley write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Upper Middle Rhine Valley, late in the day. Next is Watchtower WP 1/77.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/77 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 340 km.
Watchtower WP 1/77 → Upper Middle Rhine Valley is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Upper Middle Rhine Valley → Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just → Watchtowers WP 3/41 to 3/44 is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 3/41 to 3/44 → Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the → back through Watchtowers WP 3/41 to 3/44 is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 3/41 to 3/44 → back through Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just is 43 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 → back through Upper Middle Rhine Valley is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Upper Middle Rhine Valley → Watchtower WP 1/77 is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.