Why this ride
357 km from Echzell to Echzell, about 5 h 00 of riding. The stops in between: Fortlet Lochmühle, Watchtower WP 3/23*, Watchtower WP 2/31 and Watchtower WP 1/73. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtower WP 4/81 and Watchtower WP 1/73
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 357 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 00
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Scenic road chapters
Watchtower WP 4/81 → Fortlet Lochmühle
This part of the ride is 47 km of Watchtower WP 4/81 → Fortlet Lochmühle.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 47 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtower WP 4/81
A Roman watchtower on the Limes was, in essence, a lookout with a roof. The stone ones were about five metres square and perhaps ten metres high, with a ground floor for storage, an upper room for a handful of soldiers, and a wooden gallery with a window or a balcony from which a lamp, a horn or a flag could be used to signal. Where the tower stood, a small patch of ground was cleared, with a ditch around it, and the garrison lived in the tower itself or in a nearby hut. Number 4/81 stands in Hesse, in the Wetterau, between Echzell and the village of Hungen, in a landscape of farmland and low volcanic hills.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 4/81 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 4/81 is where the day begins. Next is Fortlet Lochmühle.
2. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fortlet Lochmühle comes up about 47 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 3/23*.
3. Watchtower WP 3/23*
On the wooded ridges near Idstein, the Taunus Limes crossed some of its highest and most remote ground, and Watchtower WP 3/23 is one of the many sites along this stretch. The asterisk in the official label suggests a site whose exact location is uncertain or reconstructed from survey work, which is common along the frontier, where many towers survive only as faint mounds in the forest. Still, walking the Limes trail here, with the bank and ditch running through the beech woods, gives a real sense of the Roman border.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/23* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 108 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower WP 3/23*. Next is Watchtower WP 2/31.
4. Watchtower WP 2/31
Holzhausen an der Haide is a small village on the high ground of the western Taunus, between the Rhine and the Lahn, and it has one of the better-preserved Roman fort sites along the Limes. The stone walls of Kastell Holzhausen still stand to a modest height in the fields just outside the village, outlining the fort's rectangle with its rounded corners and gates. Watchtower WP 2/31 belongs to the chain of towers that linked forts like this one along the frontier, and in this open landscape you can easily imagine the signals passing from hill to hill.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 2/31 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 2/31, about halfway. Next is Watchtower WP 1/73.
5. Watchtower WP 1/73
The Roman frontier in Germany starts at the Rhine near Rheinbrohl and climbs into the hills of the Westerwald, and Watchtower WP 1/73, near Hillscheid, belongs to that first stretch. The numbers tell you where you are: section one, tower seventy-three. All that survives is a low mound in the woods, but in the second and third centuries it was a stone tower with a view over the frontier line and, behind it, the palisade and ditch that ran across the landscape. The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes has been part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire since 2005, and this is where it all begins.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/73 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 1/73 sits at 138 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtower WP 2/31.
6. back through Watchtower WP 2/31
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 2/31 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Watchtower WP 2/31 comes up about 220 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtower WP 3/23*.
7. back through Watchtower WP 3/23*
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/23* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 271 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtower WP 3/23*. Next is back through Fortlet Lochmühle.
8. back through Fortlet Lochmühle
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortlet Lochmühle write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fortlet Lochmühle, late in the day. Next is Watchtower WP 4/81.
9. Watchtower WP 4/81
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 4/81 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 357 km.
Leg by leg
Watchtower WP 4/81 to Fortlet Lochmühle
Watchtower WP 4/81 → Fortlet Lochmühle is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortlet Lochmühle to Watchtower WP 3/23*
Fortlet Lochmühle → Watchtower WP 3/23* is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/23* to Watchtower WP 2/31
Watchtower WP 3/23* → Watchtower WP 2/31 is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 2/31 to Watchtower WP 1/73
Watchtower WP 2/31 → Watchtower WP 1/73 is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/73 to back through Watchtower WP 2/31
Watchtower WP 1/73 → back through Watchtower WP 2/31 is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 2/31 to back through Watchtower WP 3/23*
back through Watchtower WP 2/31 → back through Watchtower WP 3/23* is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 3/23* to back through Fortlet Lochmühle
back through Watchtower WP 3/23* → back through Fortlet Lochmühle is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fortlet Lochmühle to Watchtower WP 4/81
back through Fortlet Lochmühle → Watchtower WP 4/81 is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.