Why this ride
217 km from Bad Hönningen to Bad Hönningen, about 3 h 55 of riding. On the way it passes Watchtower WP 1/39, Watchtower WP 1/65, Watchtowers WP 1/37 to 1/38 and Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 and Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 217 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 55
- 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 30 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 30 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 1/39.
2. Watchtower WP 1/39
This single tower, WP 1/39, belongs to a stretch of the Upper German-Raetian Limes that runs close to Rengsdorf and Melsbach, on a gently rolling shoulder of the Westerwald. Unlike many of its neighbours it has been marked and reconstructed in a way that lets you see how it might have looked, with a timber tower over a stone base, and a cleared line of sight in each direction. The towers were usually just a few metres square, with a lookout floor on top and a ladder you could pull up. A handful of soldiers at most would have lived in one, which gives you a sense of scale: it was a sentry post, not a castle.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/39 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 1/39 comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 1/65.
3. Watchtower WP 1/65
Höhr-Grenzhausen is the capital of the Kannenbäckerland, the jug-bakers' land, a corner of the Westerwald where the clay is so good that people have been making pots from it for five hundred years. The grey stoneware, fired at high temperature and decorated in cobalt blue, was exported across Europe in the form of jugs, tankards and bottles, and the workshops and kilns still fill the town. The German Ceramics Museum in Höhr-Grenzhausen is one of the best of its kind, with objects from medieval jugs to modern art.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/65 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 54 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower WP 1/65. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/37 to 1/38.
4. Watchtowers WP 1/37 to 1/38
Two numbered watchtower sites on the Roman frontier sit here in the Westerwald countryside above the Rhine, near the villages of Melsbach and Rengsdorf. The paired label is archaeologists' shorthand, because the Upper Germanic Limes was a chain of towers placed within sight of one another, a few hundred metres apart. These two were part of the line that ran from the Rhine near Rheinbrohl across the hills of Rhineland-Palatinate and on towards the Taunus, and the whole frontier is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed in 2005 as part of the larger Roman Limes complex.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/37 to 1/38 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 1/37 to 1/38, about halfway. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66.
5. Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66
The Westerwald is a low, rain-washed plateau of beech, meadow and clay pits, and the Roman Limes cut straight across it. This stretch, marked by the surveyors' numbers for two watchtowers, lies close to Höhr-Grenzhausen, where the Limes was a palisade and ditch with timber towers every few hundred metres, replaced later by stone. You will not find tall walls. What you find is a gentle bank in the woods, a mound where a tower stood, and a signpost telling you that soldiers once watched the horizon from this exact spot.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66 sits at 68 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 1/37 to 1/38.
6. back through Watchtowers WP 1/37 to 1/38
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/37 to 1/38 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 1/37 to 1/38 comes up about 136 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtower WP 1/65.
7. back through Watchtower WP 1/65
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/65 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 164 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtower WP 1/65. Next is back through Watchtower WP 1/39.
8. back through Watchtower WP 1/39
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/39 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 1/39, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10.
9. 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
The route ends here after 217 km.
Leg by leg
Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 to Watchtower WP 1/39
Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 → Watchtower WP 1/39 is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/39 to Watchtower WP 1/65
Watchtower WP 1/39 → Watchtower WP 1/65 is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/65 to Watchtowers WP 1/37 to 1/38
Watchtower WP 1/65 → Watchtowers WP 1/37 to 1/38 is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 1/37 to 1/38 to Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66
Watchtowers WP 1/37 to 1/38 → Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66 is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66 to back through Watchtowers WP 1/37 to 1/38
Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66 → back through Watchtowers WP 1/37 to 1/38 is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 1/37 to 1/38 to back through Watchtower WP 1/65
back through Watchtowers WP 1/37 to 1/38 → back through Watchtower WP 1/65 is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 1/65 to back through Watchtower WP 1/39
back through Watchtower WP 1/65 → back through Watchtower WP 1/39 is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 1/39 to Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10
back through Watchtower WP 1/39 → Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.