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.
A 169 km round trip from Heubach - roughly 3 h 25 in the saddle. The stops in between: Watchtowers WP 12/60 to 12/68, Building remains of south of Pfahlheim, Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a and Watchtowers WP 13/16 to 13/36 including fo.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 16 km this is Romantic Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Iggingen is a small village on the plateau above the Rems valley, a few kilometres east of Schwäbisch Gmünd, and like many villages in this part of Württemberg it has a Roman frontier running through its fields. The site labelled Watchtower WP 12/39 sits on the Raetian Limes, the stone wall that marked the edge of Roman Raetia, and from here the line runs eastwards towards Aalen, the largest Roman cavalry fort north of the Alps, now home to an excellent Limes museum.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/39 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 12/39 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 12/60 to 12/68.
The Roman frontier wall known as the Limes ran for more than five hundred kilometres across what is now southern Germany, from the Rhine to the Danube, and near Aalen it passed through the Kocher valley and over the hills of the Ostalb. Along its length, watchtowers were built at regular intervals, numbered by archaeologists in sequence: WP 12/60 to 12/68 are a group of tower sites near Hüttlingen, mostly now visible as low mounds or reconstructed foundations. The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes was inscribed by UNESCO in 2005 as part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/60 to 12/68 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 12/60 to 12/68 comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is Building remains of south of Pfahlheim.
The name of the village gives the game away. Pfahlheim, a part of Ellwangen in the Ostalb, takes its name from the Pfahl, the stake line, which is what generations of farmers called the Roman frontier that ran through their fields. Here, at the edge of what is now Baden-Württemberg, the Upper German Limes and the Raetian Limes met, and the building remains south of the village are one of many small components of the UNESCO-listed Upper German-Raetian Limes. The frontier ran almost dead straight across this country for long distances, ignoring hills and streams in a way that still baffles people. There is very little to see on the ground today, perhaps a low bank or a signboard, but the line can be traced by eye if you know where to look.
Read the complete Building remains of south of Pfahlheim write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 43 km into the recorded legs you reach Building remains of south of Pfahlheim. Next is Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a.
In the fields near Wilburgstetten, in the west of Franconia, a low ridge runs across the landscape, overgrown with grass and bushes. It looks like nothing much, but it is the remains of the Raetian Limes, the stone wall that marked the frontier of the Roman province of Raetia in the second and third centuries. Unlike the Upper German Limes to the north west, which was mostly a palisade and ditch, the Raetian section was eventually built as a continuous stone wall, more than a hundred and sixty kilometres long. Local people later called it the Teufelsmauer, the Devil's Wall, believing it could only have been built by supernatural forces. The section between watchtowers here is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a, about halfway. Next is Watchtowers WP 13/16 to 13/36 including fo.
The Raetian Limes ran across southern Franconia as a stone wall, and between Wassertrüdingen and Gunzenhausen it climbed over low hills and crossed the valleys of small rivers, with watchtowers at regular intervals. The group from WP 13/16 to 13/36 includes the sites of several towers and a fortlet, now visible as low mounds and foundations, sometimes with reconstructions, and they are part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes World Heritage listing. In the woods and fields, a line of stones or a slight bank may mark the course of the wall.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 13/16 to 13/36 including fo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 13/16 to 13/36 including fo sits at 81 km, about halfway. Next is back through Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a comes up about 110 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Building remains of south of Pfahlheim.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Building remains of south of Pfahlheim write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 126 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Building remains of south of Pfahlheim. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 12/60 to 12/68.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/60 to 12/68 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 12/60 to 12/68, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 12/39.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/39 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 169 km.
Watchtowers WP 12/39 → Watchtowers WP 12/60 to 12/68 is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 12/60 to 12/68 → Building remains of south of Pfahlheim is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Building remains of south of Pfahlheim → Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a → Watchtowers WP 13/16 to 13/36 including fo is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 13/16 to 13/36 including fo → back through Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Limessection between Watchtowers WP 13/5 a → back through Building remains of south of Pfahlheim is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Building remains of south of Pfahlheim → back through Watchtowers WP 12/60 to 12/68 is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 12/60 to 12/68 → Watchtowers WP 12/39 is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.