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 363 km round trip from Schmitten - roughly 4 h 49 in the saddle. The stops in between: Fort Schrenzer, 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.
High in the Taunus, the wooded hills northwest of Frankfurt, the Roman Limes followed the ridge line, and its watchtowers looked out over the forests to the north. Watchtower WP 3/49, near Schmitten and Glashütten, is one of hundreds of such posts recorded along the frontier, and today its remains lie in the woods, a low mound or a scatter of stones. The Limes path, a long-distance walking trail, follows the line through the forest, and walkers can trace the ditch and bank of the old frontier for kilometres. The whole line is part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes World Heritage site.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/49* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 3/49* is where the day begins. Next is Fort Schrenzer.
Butzbach sits at the northern edge of the Wetterau, a broad, fertile plain north of Frankfurt, where the Taunus ends and the land opens out into fields of wheat, sugar beet and rapeseed. The Romans prized this land, and their frontier made a long detour around it, swinging east and then south to include the Wetterau within the empire. Near Butzbach, on the Schrenzer hill, they built a small fort, the Kastell Schrenzer, to guard the frontier where it left the Taunus and began its loop around the plain. The fort and the frontier nearby are part of the frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site, and the remains, low earthworks in the woods, can be visited on foot.
Read the complete Fort Schrenzer write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort Schrenzer comes up about 51 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 96 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 163 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 214 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 266 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtowers WP 4/82 to 5/8 including fortl. Next is back through Fort Schrenzer.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort Schrenzer write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort Schrenzer, late in the day. Next is Watchtower WP 3/49*.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/49* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 363 km.
Watchtower WP 3/49* → Fort Schrenzer is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort Schrenzer → Watchtowers WP 4/82 to 5/8 including fortl is 45 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 33 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 Schrenzer is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort Schrenzer → Watchtower WP 3/49* is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.