CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 Idstein it runs 415 km to Idstein; allow about 4 h 58 of riding. The stops in between: Fortlet Lochmühle, Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg, Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p and Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The ride follows Fortlet Lochmühle → Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg for 36 km.
91 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
The Taunus does not shout. It is a rounded, forested upland north of Wiesbaden and Frankfurt, and the Roman frontier crossed it on its way from the Rhine to the Main. These numbered watchtowers near Idstein belong to the Upper Germanic frontier, which in this part of Hesse ran through woods and clearings along the high ground. Archaeologists have recorded the tower positions along the line, and the asterisks in the label are their way of marking sites that are uncertain or only partly known. In practice you find woodland, a trail and the faint trace of an old bank.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* is where the day begins. Next is Fortlet Lochmühle.
The Lochmühle is a small fortlet on the Limes in the Taunus, near Wehrheim and the famous Saalburg, and it guarded a spot where the frontier crossed the valley of the Erlenbach stream. Fortlets like this were small outposts, housing a handful of soldiers who watched the border and controlled traffic, and they formed a link between the watchtowers and the larger forts. Its remains are modest, but the location, in a quiet valley surrounded by forest, has a peaceful charm. The name comes from a nearby mill, now a popular leisure park for families with play areas and farm animals.
Read the complete Fortlet Lochmühle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortlet Lochmühle comes up 49 km in. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg.
Arnsburg confuses people, and for good reason. The name belongs first to a Cistercian monastery in the Wetter valley near Lich, whose roofless Gothic church stands in a meadow as one of the most romantic ruins in Hesse. But on the wooded hill nearby lies an older layer: a Roman fort on the Limes, sometimes called the Alteburg, with its civil settlement, and the frontier itself running past on its way around the northern edge of the Wetterau.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
98 km in you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg. Next is Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p.
Niedernberg is a quiet village on the left bank of the Main, a few kilometres downstream from Aschaffenburg, where the river was the Roman frontier. The Upper German-Raetian Limes, after running across the Odenwald, used the Main as its boundary between Großkrotzenburg and Miltenberg, and a fort with a civil settlement stood at Niedernberg, guarding the river line. The northern part of the civil settlement is listed separately as part of the UNESCO site. There is little to see above ground, as the remains lie under fields and houses, but the location by the river makes the Roman logic clear.
Read the complete Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p, about halfway. Next is Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl.
At Miltenberg, the Roman frontier did something unusual: it stopped being a wall and became a river. North of the town, the Main served as the frontier for some fifty kilometres, guarded by forts and watchtowers along its western bank, and here, where the river bends, the land frontier began again, heading south through the Odenwald. The watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 belong to this stretch, and while most are only traces in fields and forests, they are part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire. The Romans built forts at Miltenberg, too, and some of their finds are displayed in the town museum.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl sits at 197 km, about halfway. Next is back through Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p comes up 246 km in. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
295 km in you reach back through Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg. Next is back through Fortlet Lochmühle.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortlet Lochmühle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fortlet Lochmühle, late in the day. Next is Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21*.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 415 km.
Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* → Fortlet Lochmühle is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortlet Lochmühle → Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg → Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p is 92 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p → Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl → back through Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg is 92 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg → back through Fortlet Lochmühle is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fortlet Lochmühle → Watchtower WP 3/19* to 3/21* is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.