Why this ride
A 90 km round trip from Bad Ems - roughly 1 h 35 in the saddle. On the way it passes Fortlet Ferbach, Watchtowers WP 1/35 and 1/35a and back through Fortlet Ferbach.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtower WP 1/93 and Watchtowers WP 1/35 and 1/35a
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 90 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 35
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Moselle Wine Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 23 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 23 km
- Named road
- Moselle Wine Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtower WP 1/93
Dausenau is the village that leans, or at least its church tower does. The tower of St Kastor, in the Lahn valley just a couple of kilometres from this watchtower site, tilts noticeably, giving the half-timbered lanes below it a slightly drunken air that tourists enjoy. The tower stands beside a gate of the old town wall, and the village is a pretty, slightly sleepy place where the Lahn bends through steep wooded slopes. The Roman tower number on the label belongs to the Limes that ran up and over the hills above the valley, and the site lies on the heights rather than in the village itself.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/93 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 1/93 is where the day begins. Next is Fortlet Ferbach.
2. Fortlet Ferbach
The Limes was a frontier made of many small pieces, and Ferbach is one of the little ones. It was a fortlet, a small stone-and-timber post on the Upper Germanic frontier that ran from the Rhine into the hills of the Westerwald, and it housed a handful of soldiers who watched the ground in front of them. Nothing here is grand. What you find is a wooded plateau with traces of ditches and the outline of a small enclosure, and the interest lies in imagining the daily routine of men on a frontier posted far from Rome.
Read the complete Fortlet Ferbach write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fortlet Ferbach comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/35 and 1/35a.
3. Watchtowers WP 1/35 and 1/35a
Pumice is the clue to this corner of the Rhineland. About thirteen thousand years ago the Laacher See volcano blew itself apart not far upstream, and the ash and pumice it threw out settled across the Neuwied basin, where it was dug, pressed into building blocks and carted off for centuries. Up on the hills above the basin, near Melsbach and Rengsdorf, the Romans chose the high ground for a pair of small watchtowers, one of which carries an extra letter in its number because archaeologists found a second structure next to it. They were part of the Upper Germanic Limes, which begins at the Rhine only a few kilometres away.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/35 and 1/35a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 45 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 1/35 and 1/35a. Next is back through Fortlet Ferbach.
4. back through Fortlet Ferbach
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortlet Ferbach write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fortlet Ferbach, late in the day. Next is Watchtower WP 1/93.
5. Watchtower WP 1/93
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/93 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 1/93. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Watchtower WP 1/93 to Fortlet Ferbach
Watchtower WP 1/93 → Fortlet Ferbach is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortlet Ferbach to Watchtowers WP 1/35 and 1/35a
Fortlet Ferbach → Watchtowers WP 1/35 and 1/35a is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 1/35 and 1/35a to back through Fortlet Ferbach
Watchtowers WP 1/35 and 1/35a → back through Fortlet Ferbach is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fortlet Ferbach to Watchtower WP 1/93
back through Fortlet Ferbach → Watchtower WP 1/93 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.