Why this ride
214 km from Bad Ems to Bad Ems, about 4 h 07 of riding. The stops in between: Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66, Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a, Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 and Watchtower WP 1/39.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtowers WP 2/2 to 2/4 and Watchtower WP 1/39
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 214 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 07
- 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 21 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 21 km
- Named road
- Moselle Wine Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtowers WP 2/2 to 2/4
Bad Ems sits in a narrow bend of the Lahn river, and the hills above it are steep, wooded and cut by short valleys. The watchtowers listed here, from WP 2/2 to 2/4, belong to the second section of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, the Roman frontier that UNESCO added to its list in 2005. In this stretch the line climbed away from the Rhine and cut over the high ground of the Taunus and Westerwald fringes, and the Romans placed their towers where the view was best. What you see now are mostly foundations and low mounds, with a few reconstructed pieces nearby, so bring imagination and leave the high expectations at home.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/2 to 2/4 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 2/2 to 2/4 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66.
2. 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 comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a.
3. Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a
Between Rengsdorf and Anhausen the Westerwald is open farmland and beech woods, and a Roman frontier ran straight through it. The Upper German-Raetian Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2005, started on the Rhine near Rheinbrohl and ran for hundreds of kilometres to the Danube, a line of timber towers, a palisade, and in places a ditch and bank. The code WP 1/39 a is not poetry, it is bookkeeping: the old German Reichs-Limeskommission numbered the frontier by section and then by watchtower, and archaeologists still use their numbers. Here, a section of the line survives as a low bank and shallow hollow in the grass, which you will walk past without noticing unless someone points it out.
Read the complete Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 48 km into the recorded legs you reach Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Watchtower WP 1/39.
5. 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 sits at 68 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10.
6. back through 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
back through Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 comes up about 130 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a.
7. back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 157 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66.
8. back through Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/2 to 2/4.
9. Watchtowers WP 2/2 to 2/4
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/2 to 2/4 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 214 km.
Leg by leg
Watchtowers WP 2/2 to 2/4 to Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66
Watchtowers WP 2/2 to 2/4 → Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66 is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66 to Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a
Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66 → Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a to Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10
Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a → Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 to Watchtower WP 1/39
Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 → Watchtower WP 1/39 is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/39 to back through Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10
Watchtower WP 1/39 → back through Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 to back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a
back through Watchtowers WP 1/3 to 1/10 → back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a to back through Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66
back through Limessection between watchtowers WP 1/39 a → back through Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66 is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66 to Watchtowers WP 2/2 to 2/4
back through Watchtowers WP 1/67 to 1/66 → Watchtowers WP 2/2 to 2/4 is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.