Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort and Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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

   Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort is where the day begins. Next is Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30.

2. 2. Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30

   Kastell Holzhausen is one of the best-preserved Roman forts along the German Limes, and it lies in a forest clearing near the village of Holzhausen an der Haide in the western Taunus, where the remains of its stone walls, gates and corner towers still stand to a height of a metre or more. The fort housed an auxiliary cohort of several hundred soldiers in the second and third centuries, and it guarded a section of the frontier, the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, along with a chain of watchtowers spaced at regular intervals along the line. The watchtowers numbered WP 2/26 to 2/30, part of the UNESCO listing, stood on this section between the fort and its neighbours.

   Read the complete Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just.

3. 3. 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

   about 33 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 2/50 to 2/55 including Just. Next is back through Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30.

4. 4. back through Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Watchtoers WP 2/26 to 2/30, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort.

5. 5. Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   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

   Back at Watchtowers WP 2/7 and 2/13 including fort. That is the ride.