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.
A 150 km round trip from Pleinfeld - roughly 2 h 48 in the saddle. On the way it passes Watchtower WP 13/50, Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho, Building remains of south of Pfahlheim and back through Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 25 km this is Romantic Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Near the Franconian town of Pleinfeld, the Raetian Limes, the stone wall that marked the frontier of the province of Raetia, crossed a landscape of woods, fields and small rivers, and a watchtower stood here, one of hundreds along the line. Watchtower WP 14/28 is now a low mound or reconstructed foundation, but it is part of the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes World Heritage listing. The frontier here was a stone wall, known locally as the Teufelsmauer, the devil's wall, because medieval villagers could not believe that humans had built it.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 14/28 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 14/28 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtower WP 13/50.
In the middle of Franconia lies a string of lakes that did not exist fifty years ago. The Franconian Lake District was created by dams on the Altmuhl and other rivers, to hold floodwater and feed the Main-Danube canal, and the biggest of these lakes, the Altmuhlsee, lies right beside Gunzenhausen. Birds love it. The lake is a protected area for waders and ducks, and storks nest on the rooftops in the nearby villages.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 13/50 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 13/50 comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho.
There is nothing to climb at Ruffenhofen, and that is the clever part. The Roman fort here, on gently rising ground above the Wörnitz near Weiltingen and Wittelshofen, has never been rebuilt in stone. Instead, the outline of the walls, gates and the buildings of the settlement around it has been traced across the fields with hedges, trees and mown strips, so the whole place reads like a plan drawn in plants. From the little viewing hill you can see the shape of a garrison that has been underground for seventeen centuries.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 49 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho. Next is Building remains of south of Pfahlheim.
The name of the village gives the game away. Pfahlheim, a part of Ellwangen in the Ostalb, takes its name from the Pfahl, the stake line, which is what generations of farmers called the Roman frontier that ran through their fields. Here, at the edge of what is now Baden-Württemberg, the Upper German Limes and the Raetian Limes met, and the building remains south of the village are one of many small components of the UNESCO-listed Upper German-Raetian Limes. The frontier ran almost dead straight across this country for long distances, ignoring hills and streams in a way that still baffles people. There is very little to see on the ground today, perhaps a low bank or a signboard, but the line can be traced by eye if you know where to look.
Read the complete Building remains of south of Pfahlheim write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Building remains of south of Pfahlheim, about halfway. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho sits at 101 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtower WP 13/50.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 13/50 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtower WP 13/50 comes up about 127 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 14/28.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 14/28 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 14/28 closes the day.
Watchtower WP 14/28 → Watchtower WP 13/50 is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 13/50 → Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho → Building remains of south of Pfahlheim is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Building remains of south of Pfahlheim → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho → back through Watchtower WP 13/50 is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 13/50 → Watchtower WP 14/28 is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.