Why this ride
A 189 km round trip from Taunusstein - roughly 3 h 17 in the saddle. The stops in between: Fortlet of Pfarrhofen, Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86, Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a and back through Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci and Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 189 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 17
- 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 34 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 34 km
- Named road
- Moselle Wine Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci
The Taunus is the green upland that keeps Frankfurt's weekend riders sane, and running right across it is the line of the Roman frontier. The stretch of watchtowers numbered 3/1 to 3/14 lies near Taunusstein, north of Wiesbaden, where the Upper Germanic Limes crossed the ridge, and it includes the remains of forts and their civilian settlements. One of the best known nearby is the fort of Zugmantel, near the hamlet of Orlen, where the outline of the fort, the palisade line and reconstructed watchtowers give a real sense of the frontier. The whole line is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci is where the day begins. Next is Fortlet of Pfarrhofen.
2. Fortlet of Pfarrhofen
In the second century, the Roman frontier in Germany ran across the hills of the Taunus north of the Rhine as a line of wooden palisades, ditches, earth banks, watchtowers and forts, stretching over five hundred kilometres from the Rhine to the Danube. The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, as it is called, is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, listed by UNESCO in 2005, and the fortlet of Pfarrhofen, near Holzhausen an der Haide in the western Taunus, is one of the many small installations along its course. A fortlet was a small fort with a garrison of a few dozen men, guarding a road crossing or a section of the frontier between larger forts.
Read the complete Fortlet of Pfarrhofen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fortlet of Pfarrhofen comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86.
3. Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86
The Limes was a long wall, in effect, that stretched for about 550 kilometres across Germany, from the Rhine near Koblenz to the Danube near Regensburg. It was built in stages from the first century AD, starting as a line of wooden watchtowers and a cleared strip through the forest, and then gaining a ditch, a palisade and, in places, a wall. The watchtowers were numbered by the German scholars who surveyed the line in the late nineteenth century, hence the codes such as WP 1/83, which mean watchpost number 83 in section 1. The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes was listed by UNESCO in 2005.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 54 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86. Next is Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a.
4. Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a
Between Rengsdorf and Anhausen the Westerwald is open farmland and beech woods, and a Roman frontier ran straight through it. The Upper German-Raetian Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2005, started on the Rhine near Rheinbrohl and ran for hundreds of kilometres to the Danube, a line of timber towers, a palisade, and in places a ditch and bank. The code WP 1/39 a is not poetry, it is bookkeeping: the old German Reichs-Limeskommission numbered the frontier by section and then by watchtower, and archaeologists still use their numbers. Here, a section of the line survives as a low bank and shallow hollow in the grass, which you will walk past without noticing unless someone points it out.
Read the complete Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86.
5. back through Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86 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 1/83 to 1/86 sits at 104 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fortlet of Pfarrhofen.
6. back through Fortlet of Pfarrhofen
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortlet of Pfarrhofen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fortlet of Pfarrhofen comes up about 162 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci.
7. Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci closes the day.
Leg by leg
Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci to Fortlet of Pfarrhofen
Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci → Fortlet of Pfarrhofen is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortlet of Pfarrhofen to Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86
Fortlet of Pfarrhofen → Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86 is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86 to Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a
Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86 → Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a to back through Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86
Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a → back through Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86 is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86 to back through Fortlet of Pfarrhofen
back through Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86 → back through Fortlet of Pfarrhofen is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fortlet of Pfarrhofen to Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci
back through Fortlet of Pfarrhofen → Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.