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 170 km round trip from Butzbach - roughly 2 h 55 in the saddle. It goes by way of Fortlet Lochmühle, Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP, Fortlet Adolfseck and back through Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The ride follows Watchtower WP 4/37* → Fortlet Lochmühle for 27 km.
Two names appear for this spot, and both belong to the same stretch of frontier that crosses the Wetterau near Butzbach. A watchtower numbered 4/37 stood here in the second century, one in a chain of tall lookouts built just behind the Limes palisade, with a view along the line to the neighbouring towers and out across the forest to the north, the land of the Chatti. Little remains today, a low platform of earth and some fallen stones, perhaps with a marker, but towers like this were the eyes of the Roman army, and their quiet watching was the daily business of the frontier.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 4/37* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 4/37* 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 about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP.
On the western side of the Taunus, the hills are lower and the forest gives way more often to farmland, with villages in the folds of the valleys. Idstein, a small town with a remarkable old centre, sits on this side, with Waldems and Glashütten nearby. Through the woods above them ran the Roman frontier, and the stretch of watchtowers numbered WP 3/24 to 3/40 followed the ridges here, part of the Upper Germanic Limes and of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire site.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP. Next is Fortlet Adolfseck.
The Aar is a small river that winds north from the Taunus towards the Lahn, through a narrow, wooded valley that has served as a route through the hills since ancient times. Where the Roman frontier crossed the valley near Adolfseck, today a district of Bad Schwalbach, the Romans built a fortlet to control the crossing, a small, square fortification with a garrison of a few dozen soldiers. The remains have been excavated and are marked on the ground, and the stretch of frontier nearby is part of the World Heritage frontiers of the Roman Empire. Above the valley, the ruins of a medieval castle, also called Adolfseck, add another layer of history.
Read the complete Fortlet Adolfseck write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortlet Adolfseck, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP sits at 105 km, about halfway. 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 comes up about 141 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 4/37*.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 4/37* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 4/37* closes the day.
Watchtower WP 4/37* → Fortlet Lochmühle is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortlet Lochmühle → Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP → Fortlet Adolfseck is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortlet Adolfseck → back through Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP → back through Fortlet Lochmühle is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fortlet Lochmühle → Watchtower WP 4/37* is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.