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 347 km round trip from Glashütten - roughly 4 h 59 in the saddle. It goes by way of Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha, Watchtowers WP 4/82 to 5/8 including fortl, Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p and Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 52 km this is German Fairy Tale Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The Taunus is a range of wooded hills north-west of Frankfurt, rising to 878 metres at the Großer Feldberg, and it has long been the city's playground, with forests, spa towns and winding roads. Through these hills ran the Upper Germanic Limes, the Roman frontier that stretched for over five hundred kilometres across Germany, and one of its watchtowers, numbered WP 3/38, stood near the village of Glashütten, close to Waldems and Königstein im Taunus.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/38* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 3/38* is where the day begins. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha.
Elvis Presley spent his military service in Friedberg, a few kilometres from here, from 1958 to 1960, and lived in a rented house in the spa town of Bad Nauheim, where fans still leave messages on the wall outside and a square in the town bears his name. But nearly two thousand years earlier, other soldiers served in this region. The Roman frontier of the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, a World Heritage site, ran along the edge of the Taunus hills here, and at Langenhain, near Ober-Mörlen, the Romans built a fort with a civil settlement beside it, where traders, craftsmen and the families of soldiers lived. Today, the site is mostly fields and meadows, with information boards to help you imagine the walls, gates and buildings that once stood here.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 4/82 to 5/8 including fortl.
Out here on the eastern rim of the Wetterau, between Altenstadt, Hammersbach and the Büdingen forest, the Roman frontier did something unusual. Having come over the Taunus and swung north around the fertile plain, the Limes turned and ran almost due south towards the Main, enclosing the Wetterau like a hand cupped around something precious. The towers numbered WP 4/82 to 5/8, along with small fortlets, guarded this eastern flank, and their remains lie in fields and woodland edges where only a shallow bank or a marker stone gives them away.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/82 to 5/8 including fortl write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 88 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 4/82 to 5/8 including fortl. 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 157 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 about 207 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 4/82 to 5/8 including fortl.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/82 to 5/8 including fortl write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 259 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtowers WP 4/82 to 5/8 including fortl. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha, late in the day. Next is Watchtower WP 3/38*.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/38* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 347 km.
Watchtower WP 3/38* → Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha → Watchtowers WP 4/82 to 5/8 including fortl is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 4/82 to 5/8 including fortl → Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
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 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p → back through Watchtowers WP 4/82 to 5/8 including fortl is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 4/82 to 5/8 including fortl → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Langenha → Watchtower WP 3/38* is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.