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.
182 km from Neuwied to Neuwied, about 3 h 16 of riding. It goes by way of Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/67 a, Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16, Fortlets and site of the fort and civil se and back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 30 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The Wied is a small river with a big job, because it marks the point where the Romans' Rhine frontier turned inland. A short ride from the water, between Melsbach and Neuwied, stands a cluster of watchtowers numbered 1/24 to 1/26, with a small fortlet called Lochmühle nearby. The towers belong to the Upper Germanic Limes, which was listed as part of the Roman Frontiers World Heritage Site in 2005, and these sit near its southern start by the Rhine.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/24 to 1/26 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 1/24 to 1/26 is where the day begins. Next is Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/67 a.
There is no spectacle at this section of the Limes, and that is exactly its character. It lies in the hills of the lower Westerwald, between Hillscheid, Höhr-Grenzhausen and little Simmern, about the point where the Roman frontier crossed from the Rhine side towards the Lahn. The Romans marked it with watchtowers, numbered by archaeologists in a long sequence from the Rhine eastwards, and this is watchtower position 1/67 on the first section of the frontier. Between them ran a palisade and a ditch. Today you meet it as a faint line in the woods, a bump in a field, a reconstruction here and there, and a sign with a map.
Read the complete Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/67 a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/67 a comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 66 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16. Next is Fortlets and site of the fort and civil se.
The western Taunus is wonderfully empty. Away from the commuter belt around Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, the hills north of Bad Schwalbach turn into a quiet patchwork of forest, small meadows and villages in the Heidenrod municipality, and right through the middle runs the Limes. Today you find grassy outlines, a few markers and the bank and ditch disappearing into the beech woods.
Read the complete Fortlets and site of the fort and civil se write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortlets and site of the fort and civil se, 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 sits at 100 km, about halfway. Next is back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/67 a.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/67 a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/67 a comes up about 151 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/24 to 1/26.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/24 to 1/26 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 1/24 to 1/26 closes the day.
Watchtowers WP 1/24 to 1/26 → Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/67 a is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/67 a → Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 → Fortlets and site of the fort and civil se is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortlets and site of the fort and civil se → back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 is 27 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 Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/67 a is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/67 a → Watchtowers WP 1/24 to 1/26 is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.