Why this ride
A 181 km round trip from Waldems - roughly 2 h 44 in the saddle. On the way it passes Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456, Fort Schrenzer, Watchtowers WP 4/72 to 4/73 and back through Fort Schrenzer.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP and Watchtowers WP 4/72 to 4/73
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 181 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 44
- 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
Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP → Civil settlement of Saalb
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 25 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 27 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP
On the western side of the Taunus, the hills are lower and the forest gives way more often to farmland, with villages in the folds of the valleys. Idstein, a small town with a remarkable old centre, sits on this side, with Waldems and Glashütten nearby. Through the woods above them ran the Roman frontier, and the stretch of watchtowers numbered WP 3/24 to 3/40 followed the ridges here, part of the Upper Germanic Limes and of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire site.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP is where the day begins. Next is Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456.
2. Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456
The Saalburg is the Roman fort that Germany rebuilt. On the crest of the Taunus north of Bad Homburg, where the Limes crossed a pass, archaeologists excavated the remains of a fort in the nineteenth century, and between 1897 and 1907, with the enthusiastic support of Kaiser Wilhelm II, it was reconstructed with walls, gates, barracks and a headquarters building. Today it is a museum and archaeological park, and the civil settlement, or vicus, that grew up outside the fort lies east of the B 456 road. It is part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort Schrenzer.
3. Fort Schrenzer
Butzbach sits at the northern edge of the Wetterau, a broad, fertile plain north of Frankfurt, where the Taunus ends and the land opens out into fields of wheat, sugar beet and rapeseed. The Romans prized this land, and their frontier made a long detour around it, swinging east and then south to include the Wetterau within the empire. Near Butzbach, on the Schrenzer hill, they built a small fort, the Kastell Schrenzer, to guard the frontier where it left the Taunus and began its loop around the plain. The fort and the frontier nearby are part of the frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site, and the remains, low earthworks in the woods, can be visited on foot.
Read the complete Fort Schrenzer write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort Schrenzer. Next is Watchtowers WP 4/72 to 4/73.
4. Watchtowers WP 4/72 to 4/73
Behind the name is a number system, because the Limes archaeologists gave every watchtower a code. WP means Wachposten, a watchtower, and 4/72 means the seventy-second one on the fourth section of the frontier, the one that crosses the Wetterau. This pair of towers stands in farmland near Hungen, in central Hesse, and the Romans placed them on a gentle rise from which a watchman could see across the open plain and signal to the next tower along the line.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/72 to 4/73 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 4/72 to 4/73, about halfway. Next is back through Fort Schrenzer.
5. back through Fort Schrenzer
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort Schrenzer write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fort Schrenzer sits at 99 km, about halfway. Next is back through Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456.
6. back through Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 comes up about 148 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP.
7. Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP closes the day.
Leg by leg
Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP to Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456
Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP → Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 to Fort Schrenzer
Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 → Fort Schrenzer is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort Schrenzer to Watchtowers WP 4/72 to 4/73
Fort Schrenzer → Watchtowers WP 4/72 to 4/73 is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 4/72 to 4/73 to back through Fort Schrenzer
Watchtowers WP 4/72 to 4/73 → back through Fort Schrenzer is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort Schrenzer to back through Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456
back through Fort Schrenzer → back through Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 to Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP
back through Civil settlement of Saalburg east of B 456 → Watchtowers WP 3/24 to 3/40Watchtowers WP is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.