Why this ride
A 172 km round trip from Bad Hönningen - roughly 3 h 22 in the saddle. The stops in between: Watchtower WP 1/52, Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6, Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen and back through Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 and Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 172 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 22
- 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 32 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 32 km
- Named road
- Moselle Wine Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10
Rheinbrohl is where the Roman frontier of Upper Germany began. Here, on the east bank of the Rhine between Bonn and Koblenz, the Limes left the river and struck off inland, running across hills and valleys for more than five hundred kilometres to the Danube near Regensburg. The first watchtowers, numbered 1/1 onwards, stood in the hills above the town, and the stretch from 1/3 to 1/10 climbs from the Rhine valley into the forests of the Westerwald. The Römerwelt museum in Rheinbrohl, at the start of the Limes, brings Roman frontier life to life with reconstructions, hands-on exhibits and a reconstructed watchtower nearby.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtower WP 1/52.
2. Watchtower WP 1/52
The Roman frontier in Germany began on the Rhine at Rheinbrohl, a few kilometres downstream from Koblenz, where the first watchtower of the Upper Germanic Limes, WP 1/1, stood on the riverbank. From there, the frontier ran south-east through the Westerwald and the Taunus, and the watchtower WP 1/52, near Bendorf, stood on this early section, close to the Rhine and the confluence of the Moselle at Koblenz. The tower is long gone, but its site is part of the UNESCO listing of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and the Roemerwelt museum at Rheinbrohl brings the life of the frontier soldiers vividly to life with reconstructions and hands-on exhibits.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/52 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 1/52 comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6.
3. Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6
WP 2/5 and 2/6 sound like spare parts, but they are the numbers archaeologists gave to two watchtower positions on the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, the fortified frontier Rome drew across southern Germany. Here, in the hills above the Lahn near Bad Ems, the line ran up from the Rhine and over the high ground, and every few hundred metres a tower stood with a view to the next. Today most of what survives are low mounds, traces of the bank and ditch, and in some places a reconstructed tower to give you scale. The whole frontier became part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire in 2005.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 60 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6. Next is Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen.
4. Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen
Up on the high, rolling plateau between the Rhine and the Lahn, where the Taunus fades into fields and beech woods, the Romans built one of the better preserved stone forts on the Upper German Limes. Holzhausen an der Haide is a quiet village of a little over a thousand people, and the fort sits just outside it in the trees, the outline of its walls still traceable on the ground, with the gates and corner towers marked out where the stone survives. It is part of the UNESCO-listed frontier that once ran from the Rhine near Koblenz all the way to the Danube, a line of palisade, ditch, watchtowers and garrisons meant less to stop armies than to control who came and went, and what they paid for the privilege.
Read the complete Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6.
5. back through Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 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 2/5 to 2/6 sits at 100 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtower WP 1/52.
6. back through Watchtower WP 1/52
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/52 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 1/52 comes up about 143 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10.
7. Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 closes the day.
Leg by leg
Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 to Watchtower WP 1/52
Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 → Watchtower WP 1/52 is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/52 to Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6
Watchtower WP 1/52 → Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 to Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 → Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen to back through Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6
Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen → back through Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 to back through Watchtower WP 1/52
back through Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 → back through Watchtower WP 1/52 is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 1/52 to Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10
back through Watchtower WP 1/52 → Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.