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 Taunusstein it runs 311 km to Taunusstein; allow about 6 h 00 of riding. The stops in between: Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16, Watchtower WP 1/52, Fort site and civil settlement of Marienfe and Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 38 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16.
Imagine standing in a small timber or stone tower on a cold winter night, looking out over the dark forest for signs of movement, with a fire ready to signal to the next tower along the line. That was the life of the soldiers who manned the watchtowers of the Roman frontier, and the remains of three of them, numbered 2/14 to 2/16 by archaeologists, lie in the woods between Singhofen and Miehlen, on the plateau above the Rhine and the Lahn. Their foundations survive as low mounds and traces in the ground, and the line of the frontier, the ditch and bank, can be followed between them. They are part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, one of the components of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 1/52.
The Roman frontier in Germany began on the Rhine at Rheinbrohl, a few kilometres downstream from Koblenz, where the first watchtower of the Upper Germanic Limes, WP 1/1, stood on the riverbank. From there, the frontier ran south-east through the Westerwald and the Taunus, and the watchtower WP 1/52, near Bendorf, stood on this early section, close to the Rhine and the confluence of the Moselle at Koblenz. The tower is long gone, but its site is part of the UNESCO listing of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and the Roemerwelt museum at Rheinbrohl brings the life of the frontier soldiers vividly to life with reconstructions and hands-on exhibits.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/52 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 77 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower WP 1/52. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Marienfe.
Marienfels is a small village in the hills of the western Taunus, between the Rhine and the Lahn, and it sits on the site of a Roman fort and its civilian settlement, part of the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes World Heritage listing. The frontier wall ran through these hills, and the fort housed a garrison that guarded the frontier and the roads that crossed it. Little remains above ground, but excavations have revealed the outline of the fort and the settlement, with houses, baths and workshops.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Marienfe write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Marienfe, about halfway. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59.
The Upper German-Raetian Limes began its long march across Germany on the banks of the Rhine at Rheinbrohl, and climbed from there into the hills of the Westerwald. The stretch between Watchtowers 1/58 and 1/59, near Höhr-Grenzhausen, is part of this first section, where the frontier ran through forests and over hills above the Rhine valley. Remains are scarce here, perhaps a mound or a line in the forest floor, but the Limes path follows the route, and information boards explain the history.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59 sits at 141 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marienfe.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Marienfe write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marienfe comes up about 194 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtower WP 1/52.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/52 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 232 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtower WP 1/52. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16, late in the day. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 311 km.
Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci → Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 → Watchtower WP 1/52 is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/52 → Fort site and civil settlement of Marienfe is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Marienfe → Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59 is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59 → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marienfe is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marienfe → back through Watchtower WP 1/52 is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 1/52 → back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 → Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.