Why this ride
A 334 km round trip from Walldürn - roughly 4 h 57 in the saddle. The stops in between: Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens, Bad Kissingen and back through Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtower WP 7/37 and Bad Kissingen
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 334 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 57
- 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
Romantic Road
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 62 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 105 km
- Named road
- Romantic Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtower WP 7/37
The Romans liked straight lines, and nowhere more than here. On the edge of Walldürn, in the hilly country between the Odenwald and the Tauber valley, runs the course of the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, the frontier wall that marked the edge of the Roman Empire across what is now southern Germany. Watchtower WP 7/37 is one of hundreds of small posts that lined it, each within sight of the next, so that signals could be passed along the frontier. The Limes here famously runs almost dead straight for many kilometres, regardless of hills and valleys, a statement of Roman confidence and surveying skill.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 7/37 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 7/37 is where the day begins. Next is Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens.
2. Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens
Balthasar Neumann was a military engineer before he was an architect, and it shows in the Würzburg Residence, a palace so confidently engineered that its great staircase vault, with no central support, was said to be impossible. It was built for the prince-bishops of Würzburg in the early eighteenth century, with the main construction running from about 1720 to the mid-1740s. The ceiling above the stairs carries a fresco by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, which is among the largest in the world and depicts the four continents. UNESCO listed the whole ensemble in 1981, court gardens included.
Read the complete Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens comes up about 105 km into the recorded legs. Next is Bad Kissingen.
3. Bad Kissingen
Bad Kissingen is a spa town in the northern corner of Bavaria, in the valley of the Franconian Saale, between the Rhön hills and the Spessart. People have taken the waters here since the Middle Ages, and in the nineteenth century the town became one of the great resorts of Europe, visited by Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known as Sisi, by tsars and kings, and by Bismarck, who drafted his famous Kissinger Diktat in 1877. In 2021 UNESCO added the town to its list of the Great Spa Towns of Europe, alongside Baden-Baden, Bath, Karlsbad and others.
Read the complete Bad Kissingen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 168 km into the recorded legs you reach Bad Kissingen. Next is back through Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens.
4. back through Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens, late in the day. Next is Watchtower WP 7/37.
5. Watchtower WP 7/37
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 7/37 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 7/37. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Watchtower WP 7/37 to Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens
Watchtower WP 7/37 → Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens is 105 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens to Bad Kissingen
Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens → Bad Kissingen is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bad Kissingen to back through Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens
Bad Kissingen → back through Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens to Watchtower WP 7/37
back through Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens → Watchtower WP 7/37 is 104 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.