Why this ride
168 km from Ellwangen to Ellwangen, about 2 h 49 of riding. It goes by way of Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59, Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo, Watchtowers WP 9/100 and back through Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 and Watchtowers WP 9/100
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 168 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 49
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85
In the forests near Ellwangen the Roman frontier changes character. Here the Upper Germanic Limes, with its timber palisade and ditch, meets the Raetian Limes, which the Romans eventually built as a stone wall, and the stretch of watchtowers numbered 12/69 to 12/85 runs through the farmland and woods east of the Jagst. Archaeologists number the towers with slashes and digits, which makes them sound like spare parts, but each one was a small stone or timber post with a few soldiers watching the border, passing signals along the line. Together they form part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59.
2. Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59
The Romans called it the edge of the world they cared about, and in the Rems valley east of Schwäbisch Gmünd you can still trace where they drew the line. A string of watchtower sites, numbered by archaeologists along the stretch between Mögglingen, Heuchlingen and Böbingen, marks the course of the Raetian Limes, the frontier that guarded the province of Raetia in the second and third centuries. Here the frontier was a stone wall, which later locals, puzzled by the long ruined bank, called the Teufelsmauer, the Devil's Wall.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo.
3. Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo
Lorch is where two Roman frontiers shook hands. The Upper Germanic Limes, a line of wooden palisade and watchtowers running down from the Rhine, met the Raetian Limes, a stone wall stretching east towards the Danube, in the hills near this small town in the Rems valley. The watchtower numbers jump here from series 9, the end of the Upper Germanic stretch, to 12, the start of the Raetian, and the whole system is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo 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 Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/100.
4. Watchtowers WP 9/100
The Limes in the Swabian-Franconian Forest has a quality that surprises people who expect Roman walls to follow hills: it runs in a dead-straight line, for kilometres at a stretch, regardless of what stands in the way. Near Murrhardt the line dives through woodland and valleys, and the signposted watchtower sites mark points where a timber and later stone tower stood on the frontier, with a ditch and a palisade or bank beside it. The numbering, with its slash, comes from the nineteenth-century surveyors who first mapped the frontier, and archaeologists still use it.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/100 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 9/100, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo.
5. back through Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo 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 9/132 to 12/38 including fo sits at 103 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59.
6. back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 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 12/40 to 12/59 comes up about 139 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85.
7. Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 closes the day.
Leg by leg
Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 to Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59
Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 → Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 to Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo
Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 → Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo to Watchtowers WP 9/100
Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo → Watchtowers WP 9/100 is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 9/100 to back through Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo
Watchtowers WP 9/100 → back through Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo to back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59
back through Watchtowers WP 9/132 to 12/38 including fo → back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 to Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85
back through Watchtowers WP 12/40 to 12/59 → Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.