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 336 km round trip from Butzbach - roughly 6 h 06 in the saddle. On the way it passes Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg, Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci, Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 and Watchtower WP 1/52. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
35 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it — speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
For about 38 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
The Wetterau is one of the richest farming plains in Germany, a broad, fertile basin north of Frankfurt where loess soil lies deep over old river gravel, and wheat and sugar beet grow in enormous fields. At its edge the Taunus hills rise to the south and west, and the Roman Limes ran along their northern slope, taking in the whole plain as a deliberately protected frontier region. Watchtower 4/39 stands in this open country near Butzbach, and the number marks one of the many posts that kept watch over fields that were, even then, valuable enough to defend.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 4/39* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 4/39* is where the day begins. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg.
If you want to know what a Roman frontier fort actually looked like, this is the place. The Saalburg, on the ridge of the Taunus above Bad Homburg, is the only Limes fort in Germany rebuilt in full: walls, gates, towers, granary and the headquarters building, all standing again on their original foundations. The reconstruction was ordered by Kaiser Wilhelm II around 1900, who liked his Romans grand and imperial, and while archaeologists today debate some details, walking through the main gate is still a jolt.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg comes up about 42 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci.
The Taunus is the green upland that keeps Frankfurt's weekend riders sane, and running right across it is the line of the Roman frontier. The stretch of watchtowers numbered 3/1 to 3/14 lies near Taunusstein, north of Wiesbaden, where the Upper Germanic Limes crossed the ridge, and it includes the remains of forts and their civilian settlements. One of the best known nearby is the fort of Zugmantel, near the hamlet of Orlen, where the outline of the fort, the palisade line and reconstructed watchtowers give a real sense of the frontier. The whole line is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 90 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16.
Imagine standing in a small timber or stone tower on a cold winter night, looking out over the dark forest for signs of movement, with a fire ready to signal to the next tower along the line. That was the life of the soldiers who manned the watchtowers of the Roman frontier, and the remains of three of them, numbered 2/14 to 2/16 by archaeologists, lie in the woods between Singhofen and Miehlen, on the plateau above the Rhine and the Lahn. Their foundations survive as low mounds and traces in the ground, and the line of the frontier, the ditch and bank, can be followed between them. They are part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, one of the components of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16, about halfway. Next is Watchtower WP 1/52.
The Roman frontier in Germany began on the Rhine at Rheinbrohl, a few kilometres downstream from Koblenz, where the first watchtower of the Upper Germanic Limes, WP 1/1, stood on the riverbank. From there, the frontier ran south-east through the Westerwald and the Taunus, and the watchtower WP 1/52, near Bendorf, stood on this early section, close to the Rhine and the confluence of the Moselle at Koblenz. The tower is long gone, but its site is part of the UNESCO listing of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and the Roemerwelt museum at Rheinbrohl brings the life of the frontier soldiers vividly to life with reconstructions and hands-on exhibits.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/52 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 1/52 sits at 142 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 comes up about 206 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 245 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg, late in the day. Next is Watchtower WP 4/39*.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 4/39* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 336 km.
Watchtower WP 4/39* → Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg → Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci → Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 → Watchtower WP 1/52 is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/52 → back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 → back through Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 3/1 to 3/14 including the ci → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Saalburg → Watchtower WP 4/39* is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.