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.
From Pfofeld it runs 369 km to Pfofeld; allow about 6 h 48 of riding. On the way it passes Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho, Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85, Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh and Ehrenstein. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 37 km this is Romantic Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Here the frontier changes character. West of the Franconian lakes the Romans built the Raetian Limes not as a palisade but, in its final form, as a stone wall, a metre or so thick and perhaps three high, running across Middle Franconia toward the Danube. Medieval villagers who found its rubble in their fields had no idea who had built it and called it the Teufelsmauer, the Devil's Wall, which tells you how thoroughly the empire had been forgotten. The watchtowers numbered in this section sat along that wall in the farmland around Pfofeld and Gunzenhausen, close to where the line crosses the Altmühl valley.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 14/1 to 14/27 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 14/1 to 14/27 including the is where the day begins. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho.
There is nothing to climb at Ruffenhofen, and that is the clever part. The Roman fort here, on gently rising ground above the Wörnitz near Weiltingen and Wittelshofen, has never been rebuilt in stone. Instead, the outline of the walls, gates and the buildings of the settlement around it has been traced across the fields with hedges, trees and mown strips, so the whole place reads like a plan drawn in plants. From the little viewing hill you can see the shape of a garrison that has been underground for seventeen centuries.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 74 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh.
On the southern edge of Schwäbisch Gmünd, near the Schirenhof farm, the outline of a Roman fort and the foundations of its bath house lie in the grass, with walls and hypocaust heating systems laid out for visitors to see. The fort guarded the point where the Upper Germanic Limes met the Raetian Limes, the two great frontier lines of Roman Germany, and a civilian settlement grew up around it. The site is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and it is one of the more rewarding Limes stops in Baden-Württemberg, with visible remains and a lovely setting above the town.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh, about halfway. Next is Ehrenstein.
Ehrenstein is a small district on the western edge of Ulm, in the Blau valley, where the little Blau river flows from its spring at Blaubeuren towards the Danube. In the 1950s and 60s, archaeologists found here the remains of a Neolithic village, built on the damp ground of the valley floor around six thousand years ago, with wooden houses, hearths and remarkably well-preserved organic material. The site is part of the World Heritage list of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, though there is nothing to see above ground today.
Read the complete Ehrenstein write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ehrenstein sits at 174 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh comes up about 248 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 294 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 14/1 to 14/27 including the.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 14/1 to 14/27 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 369 km.
Watchtowers WP 14/1 to 14/27 including the → Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho → Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 → Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh → Ehrenstein is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ehrenstein → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Schirenh → back through Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Ruffenho → Watchtowers WP 14/1 to 14/27 including the is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.