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 146 km round trip from Bad Schwalbach - roughly 2 h 45 in the saddle. On the way it passes Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the, Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a, Upper Middle Rhine Valley and Watchtowers WP 2/17 to 2/19 including fort.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 18 km this is Rhine Romantic Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
In the western Taunus, between Bad Schwalbach and Taunusstein, the forest is thick and the hills roll gently, and the Upper German Limes runs along the ridge here as a still visible bank and ditch. The site labelled Watchtower WP 3/4 is one of the many small posts along this section, and a few kilometres to the east, near Taunusstein-Orlen, the fort of Zugmantel guarded a crossing of the frontier on an old trade route into Germanic territory. These remains are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site, and a walk along the Limes trail through the forest here is peaceful and atmospheric.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/4* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 3/4* is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the.
West of the Taunus ridge, where the high country rolls down toward the Rhine gorge and the Lahn, the line of the Upper German Limes runs through farmland and forest near the villages of Holzhausen an der Haide, Katzenelnbogen and Nastätten. Archaeologists have catalogued the sites of the watchtowers along this stretch, numbered WP 2/35 to 2/48, and near Holzhausen are the remains of a stone fort, well preserved and easily visited, with its walls and gate outlines clear in the grass. The Limes here consisted of a palisade of wooden stakes, later backed by a ditch and bank, with watchtowers at regular intervals and forts a few kilometres behind. It formed the frontier of the Roman Empire for more than a century and a half.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the comes up about 19 km into the recorded legs. Next is Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a.
Up on the plateau of the Hintertaunus, north of the Rhine gorge, the Roman frontier crossed a quiet landscape of fields and forest near Singhofen, and a section of it between two watchtowers survives here as a faint bank and ditch running through the woods. This is the Upper German Limes, which ran for more than five hundred kilometres from the Rhine to the Danube, marking the boundary between the Roman Empire and the free Germanic tribes from the second century until the Romans withdrew in the third. It was not a great wall like Hadrian's in Britain, but a line of watchtowers, forts and a timber palisade, later strengthened with a ditch and bank. Together with the Raetian Limes, it was listed by UNESCO in 2005.
Read the complete Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 37 km into the recorded legs you reach Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a. Next is Upper Middle Rhine Valley.
Between Bingen and Koblenz, the Rhine cuts a deep, winding gorge through the slate hills of the Rhenish Massif, and for centuries this has been one of the great landscapes of Europe: steep slopes covered with vineyards, castles on every crag, villages of half-timbered houses along the river, and barges gliding past. The Upper Middle Rhine Valley was listed by UNESCO in 2002, and Sankt Goarshausen sits at its heart, at the foot of the most famous rock on the river.
Read the complete Upper Middle Rhine Valley write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Upper Middle Rhine Valley, about halfway. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/17 to 2/19 including fort.
In the Taunus and Westerwald country of Rhineland-Palatinate, the Limes crosses hills so wooded that it is easy to miss. The numbering here records three watchtower positions and a fort, and from the start of the sequence you can follow the frontier as a line of mounds through forest and field.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/17 to 2/19 including fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 2/17 to 2/19 including fort sits at 68 km, about halfway. Next is back through Upper Middle Rhine Valley.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Upper Middle Rhine Valley write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Upper Middle Rhine Valley comes up about 90 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 107 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the, late in the day. Next is Watchtower WP 3/4*.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/4* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 146 km.
Watchtower WP 3/4* → Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the → Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a → Upper Middle Rhine Valley is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Upper Middle Rhine Valley → Watchtowers WP 2/17 to 2/19 including fort is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 2/17 to 2/19 including fort → back through Upper Middle Rhine Valley is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Upper Middle Rhine Valley → back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a → back through Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 2/35 to 2/48 including the → Watchtower WP 3/4* is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.