Why this ride
A 173 km round trip from Bad Ems - roughly 3 h 04 in the saddle. The stops in between: Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen, Watchtower SP 3/5*, Watchtower WP 3/49* and back through Watchtower SP 3/5*.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 and Watchtower WP 3/49*
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 173 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 04
- 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
Rhine Romantic Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 27 km this is Rhine Romantic Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 27 km
- Named road
- Rhine Romantic Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6
WP 2/5 and 2/6 sound like spare parts, but they are the numbers archaeologists gave to two watchtower positions on the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, the fortified frontier Rome drew across southern Germany. Here, in the hills above the Lahn near Bad Ems, the line ran up from the Rhine and over the high ground, and every few hundred metres a tower stood with a view to the next. Today most of what survives are low mounds, traces of the bank and ditch, and in some places a reconstructed tower to give you scale. The whole frontier became part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire in 2005.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 is where the day begins. Next is Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen.
2. Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen
Up on the high, rolling plateau between the Rhine and the Lahn, where the Taunus fades into fields and beech woods, the Romans built one of the better preserved stone forts on the Upper German Limes. Holzhausen an der Haide is a quiet village of a little over a thousand people, and the fort sits just outside it in the trees, the outline of its walls still traceable on the ground, with the gates and corner towers marked out where the stone survives. It is part of the UNESCO-listed frontier that once ran from the Rhine near Koblenz all the way to the Danube, a line of palisade, ditch, watchtowers and garrisons meant less to stop armies than to control who came and went, and what they paid for the privilege.
Read the complete Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower SP 3/5*.
3. Watchtower SP 3/5*
Taunusstein did not exist as a town until 1971, when ten villages on the high plateau north of Wiesbaden were merged into one municipality, and so it has no old centre, just a cluster of former villages, each with its church, its half-timbered houses and its fields. One of them, Wehen, gave its name to the football club SV Wehen Wiesbaden, which started here before moving to the city. The Roman frontier ran along the edge of this plateau, and watchtower SP 3/5, close to the line, is one of the many small sites that mark it in the forest between Taunusstein and Idstein.
Read the complete Watchtower SP 3/5* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 57 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower SP 3/5*. Next is Watchtower WP 3/49*.
4. Watchtower WP 3/49*
High in the Taunus, the wooded hills northwest of Frankfurt, the Roman Limes followed the ridge line, and its watchtowers looked out over the forests to the north. Watchtower WP 3/49, near Schmitten and Glashütten, is one of hundreds of such posts recorded along the frontier, and today its remains lie in the woods, a low mound or a scatter of stones. The Limes path, a long-distance walking trail, follows the line through the forest, and walkers can trace the ditch and bank of the old frontier for kilometres. The whole line is part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes World Heritage site.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/49* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 3/49*, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtower SP 3/5*.
5. back through Watchtower SP 3/5*
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower SP 3/5* write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Watchtower SP 3/5* sits at 100 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen.
6. back through Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen comes up about 147 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6.
7. Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 closes the day.
Leg by leg
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 to Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 → Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen to Watchtower SP 3/5*
Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen → Watchtower SP 3/5* is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower SP 3/5* to Watchtower WP 3/49*
Watchtower SP 3/5* → Watchtower WP 3/49* is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/49* to back through Watchtower SP 3/5*
Watchtower WP 3/49* → back through Watchtower SP 3/5* is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower SP 3/5* to back through Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen
back through Watchtower SP 3/5* → back through Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen to Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6
back through Fortsite of Holzhausen and civil settlemen → Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.