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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Watchtower WP 1/77 and Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
278 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 28
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.

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Why this ride

A 278 km round trip from Kadenbach - roughly 3 h 28 in the saddle. It goes by way of Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP, Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57 and back through Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP.

  2. 2. Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP

    On the western side of the Taunus, the hills are lower and the forest gives way more often to farmland, with villages in the folds of the valleys. Idstein, a small town with a remarkable old centre, sits on this side, with Waldems and Glashütten nearby. Through the woods above them ran the Roman frontier, and the stretch of watchtowers numbered WP 3/24 to 3/40 followed the ridges here, part of the Upper Germanic Limes and of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire site.

    Read the complete Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP comes up about 69 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57.

  3. 3. Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57

    The Wetterau is the broad, fertile plain north of Frankfurt, between the Taunus and the Vogelsberg, and the Romans considered it so valuable that they bent their frontier around it to include it in the empire. The Limes ran along the northern edge of the plain, and the watchtowers numbered WP 4/53 to 4/57, near the town of Lich, stood on this section, part of the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes listed by UNESCO in 2005. Like most watchtowers, they survive only as mounds or traces in the fields and forest, but the line of the frontier can be followed on foot or by bicycle.

    Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57 write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    about 140 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP.

  4. 4. back through Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP 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 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP, late in the day. Next is Watchtower WP 1/77.

  5. 5. 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 at Watchtower WP 1/77. That is the ride.

Leg by leg

Watchtower WP 1/77 to Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP

Watchtower WP 1/77 → Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP to Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57

Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP → Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57 is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57 to back through Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP

Watchtowers WP 4/53 to 4/57 → back through Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP to Watchtower WP 1/77

back through Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP → Watchtower WP 1/77 is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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