Why this ride
A 174 km round trip from Neuwied - roughly 3 h 31 in the saddle. It goes by way of Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59, Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86, Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 and Watchtower WP 1/84.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtowers WP 1/27 to 1/29 and Watchtower WP 1/84
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 174 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 31
- 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 20 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 20 km
- Named road
- Moselle Wine Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtowers WP 1/27 to 1/29
The Rhine at Neuwied is wide and brown and always busy with barges, and the flat basin around it was shaped by a catastrophe. About thirteen thousand years ago the Laacher See volcano, a little to the west, erupted with tremendous force and blanketed the area in pumice and ash, and the same tephra layer can still be found in sediments across much of Europe. Today the basin is orchards, vegetable fields and quarries for pumice and tuff, a quiet and fertile ground that gives no hint of its violent origin.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/27 to 1/29 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 1/27 to 1/29 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59.
2. Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59
The Upper German-Raetian Limes began its long march across Germany on the banks of the Rhine at Rheinbrohl, and climbed from there into the hills of the Westerwald. The stretch between Watchtowers 1/58 and 1/59, near Höhr-Grenzhausen, is part of this first section, where the frontier ran through forests and over hills above the Rhine valley. Remains are scarce here, perhaps a mound or a line in the forest floor, but the Limes path follows the route, and information boards explain the history.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59 comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86.
3. Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86
The Limes was a long wall, in effect, that stretched for about 550 kilometres across Germany, from the Rhine near Koblenz to the Danube near Regensburg. It was built in stages from the first century AD, starting as a line of wooden watchtowers and a cleared strip through the forest, and then gaining a ditch, a palisade and, in places, a wall. The watchtowers were numbered by the German scholars who surveyed the line in the late nineteenth century, hence the codes such as WP 1/83, which mean watchpost number 83 in section 1. The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes was listed by UNESCO in 2005.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 40 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16.
4. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16, about halfway. Next is Watchtower WP 1/84.
5. Watchtower WP 1/84
Bad Ems is a small spa town in the winding valley of the Lahn, where the river cuts a deep trench through the hills of the Taunus and Westerwald. Its warm springs were known to the Romans, and it gained fame in the nineteenth century, when the Russian tsar, the Prussian king and the whole of European society came to take the cure. In July 1870 King Wilhelm of Prussia was walking on the promenade when the French ambassador approached him, and the telegram that described the encounter, edited by Bismarck for the press, helped push France into the war that led to German unification. The Ems Dispatch, as it is called, is one of the famous editorial acts in diplomatic history.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/84 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 1/84 sits at 69 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16.
6. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 comes up about 112 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86.
7. back through Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 136 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59.
8. back through Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/27 to 1/29.
9. Watchtowers WP 1/27 to 1/29
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/27 to 1/29 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 1/27 to 1/29 to Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59
Watchtowers WP 1/27 to 1/29 → Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59 is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59 to Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86
Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59 → Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86 is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86 to Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16
Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86 → Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 to Watchtower WP 1/84
Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 → Watchtower WP 1/84 is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/84 to back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16
Watchtower WP 1/84 → back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 to back through Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86
back through Watchtowers WP 2/14 to 2/16 → back through Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86 is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86 to back through Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59
back through Watchtowers WP 1/83 to 1/86 → back through Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59 is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59 to Watchtowers WP 1/27 to 1/29
back through Watchtowers WP 1/58 to 1/59 → Watchtowers WP 1/27 to 1/29 is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.