Why this ride
From Ober-Mörlen it runs 268 km to Ober-Mörlen; allow about 3 h 24 of riding. The stops in between: Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz, Ruine Altenmuster and back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtower WP 4/17* and Ruine Altenmuster
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 268 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 24
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtower WP 4/17*
The Limes crosses the Wetterau, the fertile plain north of Frankfurt, in a long arc, and Watchtower 4/17 is one small point in it. The Wetterau is loess farmland, rich and flat, with wide fields of wheat and sugar beet, and the Romans valued it as an agricultural region, planting farms and estates beside the frontier. The tower itself, as at most of these sites, is represented today by a low mound or a marker, and a short walk will let you see the line of the frontier running across the fields.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 4/17* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 4/17* is where the day begins. Next is Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz.
2. Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz
Some of the gravestones on the sandy rise known in Mainz as the Judensand are close to a thousand years old. The oldest dated stone here goes back to the middle of the eleventh century, which makes this one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in Europe. Together with sites in Speyer and Worms, Mainz formed the ShUM communities, centres of learning on the Rhine whose scholars shaped Ashkenazi Judaism for centuries, and in 2021 the three were listed together as a World Heritage Site. Mainz was Magenza in Hebrew, home to rabbis whose rulings were followed far beyond the Rhineland.
Read the complete Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz comes up 62 km in. Next is Ruine Altenmuster.
3. Ruine Altenmuster
Lorsch Abbey, founded in the eighth century, became one of the most powerful monasteries of the Carolingian empire, with vast estates, a famous library and the patronage of Charlemagne himself. Its first home, however, was not on the site of the later abbey, but a short distance away, on an island in the Weschnitz river, a place known as Altenmünster, the old minster. The ruins of that first foundation, a few low walls in a meadow, are a quiet counterpoint to the abbey's most famous building, the Torhalle, a gatehouse with a façade of red and white stone panels, one of the few surviving examples of Carolingian architecture. The abbey and Altenmünster together have been on the UNESCO list since 1991.
Read the complete Ruine Altenmuster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
125 km in you reach Ruine Altenmuster. Next is back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz.
4. back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz, late in the day. Next is Watchtower WP 4/17*.
5. Watchtower WP 4/17*
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 4/17* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Watchtower WP 4/17*. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Watchtower WP 4/17* to Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz
Watchtower WP 4/17* → Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz to Ruine Altenmuster
Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz → Ruine Altenmuster is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ruine Altenmuster to back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz
Ruine Altenmuster → back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz to Watchtower WP 4/17*
back through Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz → Watchtower WP 4/17* is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.