Why this ride
From Bad Hönningen it runs 174 km to Bad Hönningen; allow about 3 h 15 of riding. It goes by way of Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34, Watchtower WP 1/62, Watchtower WP 1/93 and Fortlet Ferbach.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 and Fortlet Ferbach
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 174 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 15
- 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
Moselle Wine Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 22 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 22 km
- Named road
- Moselle Wine Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2
This is where it all begins, or ends, depending on which way you are walking. At Rheinbrohl, on the east bank of the Rhine between Bonn and Koblenz, the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes left the river and struck out across country, running more than five hundred kilometres to the Danube near Regensburg. The first watchtowers, numbered 1/1 and 1/2, stood here near the river, and the line can be followed into the hills from the edge of the village. The whole frontier is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and Rheinbrohl has a modern museum, the RömerWelt, which brings the frontier to life with reconstructions, exhibits and hands-on activities.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 is where the day begins. Next is Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34.
2. Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34
North of Neuwied, the hills of the Westerwald rise steeply from the Rhine, and through their forests ran the Roman frontier known as the Upper German-Raetian Limes. The section between the watchtowers numbered WP 1/34 and its neighbours lies near Melsbach and Rengsdorf, and it is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site, inscribed in 2005 for this stretch. The Limes began on the Rhine at Rheinbrohl, a little downstream, and ran for over 500 kilometres to the Danube, a line of wooden palisades, ditches, ramparts and watchtowers.
Read the complete Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34 comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 1/62.
3. Watchtower WP 1/62
Höhr-Grenzhausen smells faintly of kilns if you catch it on the right day. This small town on the western edge of the Westerwald, a few kilometres north-east of Koblenz, sits at the heart of the Kannenbäckerland, the jug-bakers' country, where potters have been turning the local grey clay into salt-glazed stoneware for centuries. The Roman frontier passed right through here too, and watchtower WP 1/62 was one of the posts on the Upper Germanic Limes as it ran across these hills, now part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/62 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 43 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower WP 1/62. Next is Watchtower WP 1/93.
4. Watchtower WP 1/93
Dausenau is the village that leans, or at least its church tower does. The tower of St Kastor, in the Lahn valley just a couple of kilometres from this watchtower site, tilts noticeably, giving the half-timbered lanes below it a slightly drunken air that tourists enjoy. The tower stands beside a gate of the old town wall, and the village is a pretty, slightly sleepy place where the Lahn bends through steep wooded slopes. The Roman tower number on the label belongs to the Limes that ran up and over the hills above the valley, and the site lies on the heights rather than in the village itself.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/93 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 1/93, about halfway. Next is Fortlet Ferbach.
5. Fortlet Ferbach
The Limes was a frontier made of many small pieces, and Ferbach is one of the little ones. It was a fortlet, a small stone-and-timber post on the Upper Germanic frontier that ran from the Rhine into the hills of the Westerwald, and it housed a handful of soldiers who watched the ground in front of them. Nothing here is grand. What you find is a wooded plateau with traces of ditches and the outline of a small enclosure, and the interest lies in imagining the daily routine of men on a frontier posted far from Rome.
Read the complete Fortlet Ferbach write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fortlet Ferbach sits at 67 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtower WP 1/93.
6. back through Watchtower WP 1/93
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/93 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 1/93 comes up about 111 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtower WP 1/62.
7. back through Watchtower WP 1/62
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/62 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 133 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtower WP 1/62. Next is back through Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34.
8. back through Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2.
9. Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 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 174 km.
Leg by leg
Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 to Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34
Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 → Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34 is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34 to Watchtower WP 1/62
Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34 → Watchtower WP 1/62 is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/62 to Watchtower WP 1/93
Watchtower WP 1/62 → Watchtower WP 1/93 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/93 to Fortlet Ferbach
Watchtower WP 1/93 → Fortlet Ferbach is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortlet Ferbach to back through Watchtower WP 1/93
Fortlet Ferbach → back through Watchtower WP 1/93 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 1/93 to back through Watchtower WP 1/62
back through Watchtower WP 1/93 → back through Watchtower WP 1/62 is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 1/62 to back through Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34
back through Watchtower WP 1/62 → back through Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34 is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34 to Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2
back through Limessection between watchtowers WP/ 1/34 → Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.