Why this ride
A 70 km round trip from Bad Schwalbach - roughly 1 h 13 in the saddle. The stops in between: Fortlet of Pfarrhofen, Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort and back through Fortlet of Pfarrhofen.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just and Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 70 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 13
- 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 22 km this is Rhine Romantic Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 22 km
- Named road
- Rhine Romantic Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just
Bad Schwalbach is a spa town that never quite lost its nineteenth-century manners: a long, leafy valley, a Kurpark with pavilions, and iron-rich springs that once drew the fashionable from across Europe to take the waters. Just above it, on the high ground of the Taunus, the Roman frontier ran through the forests, and the stretch catalogued as watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 passes within a few kilometres of the town. Here the Upper German Limes followed the ridge, with wooden and later stone towers set at intervals within sight of one another, a palisade in front, and a ditch and bank added later. In the beech woods you can still trace the low line of the bank in places, a quiet scar running through the trees for kilometre after kilometre.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just is where the day begins. Next is Fortlet of Pfarrhofen.
2. Fortlet of Pfarrhofen
In the second century, the Roman frontier in Germany ran across the hills of the Taunus north of the Rhine as a line of wooden palisades, ditches, earth banks, watchtowers and forts, stretching over five hundred kilometres from the Rhine to the Danube. The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, as it is called, is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, listed by UNESCO in 2005, and the fortlet of Pfarrhofen, near Holzhausen an der Haide in the western Taunus, is one of the many small installations along its course. A fortlet was a small fort with a garrison of a few dozen men, guarding a road crossing or a section of the frontier between larger forts.
Read the complete Fortlet of Pfarrhofen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fortlet of Pfarrhofen comes up about 15 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort.
3. Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort
Between the Lahn and the Rhine, the Roman frontier crossed a high, wooded plateau known locally as the Einrich, and the watchtowers from 2/7 to 2/13 stood on this stretch, near the village of Dachsenhausen. In the forest, the earth bank and ditch can still be followed, and small forts, built to house the soldiers who manned the towers, have left their outlines in the ground. Here, as elsewhere in Germany, the Limes belongs to the frontiers of the Roman Empire on the World Heritage list, but the forest is quiet, and you may walk the line for an hour without meeting anyone.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 37 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort. Next is back through Fortlet of Pfarrhofen.
4. back through Fortlet of Pfarrhofen
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortlet of Pfarrhofen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fortlet of Pfarrhofen, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just.
5. Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just to Fortlet of Pfarrhofen
Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just → Fortlet of Pfarrhofen is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortlet of Pfarrhofen to Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort
Fortlet of Pfarrhofen → Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort to back through Fortlet of Pfarrhofen
Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort → back through Fortlet of Pfarrhofen is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fortlet of Pfarrhofen to Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just
back through Fortlet of Pfarrhofen → Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.