Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the and Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
210 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 58
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.
A 210 km round trip from Glashütten - roughly 2 h 58 in the saddle. On the way it passes Watchtower WP 4/17*, Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg, Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor and back through Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg.
Scenic road chapters
Watchtower WP 4/17* → Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg
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
24 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the
High in the Taunus hills northwest of Frankfurt, the Upper German Limes runs along the main ridge, and here, between Glashütten and Schmitten, a series of watchtower sites and the remains of a small fort follow the frontier through dense beech and spruce forest. The bank and ditch of the Limes are still clearly visible, winding over the hills like a long scar, and the area is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. Nearby, on the Kleiner Feldberg, lie the remains of a Roman fort, and a few kilometres east, the Saalburg near Bad Homburg is a fully reconstructed fort with a museum, the best place in Germany to imagine life on the frontier.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the is where the day begins. Next is Watchtower WP 4/17*.
2. Watchtower WP 4/17*
The Limes crosses the Wetterau, the fertile plain north of Frankfurt, in a long arc, and Watchtower 4/17 is one small point in it. The Wetterau is loess farmland, rich and flat, with wide fields of wheat and sugar beet, and the Romans valued it as an agricultural region, planting farms and estates beside the frontier. The tower itself, as at most of these sites, is represented today by a low mound or a marker, and a short walk will let you see the line of the frontier running across the fields.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 4/17* comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg.
3. Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg
Arnsburg confuses people, and for good reason. The name belongs first to a Cistercian monastery in the Wetter valley near Lich, whose roofless Gothic church stands in a meadow as one of the most romantic ruins in Hesse. But on the wooded hill nearby lies an older layer: a Roman fort on the Limes, sometimes called the Alteburg, with its civil settlement, and the frontier itself running past on its way around the northern edge of the Wetterau.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 67 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg. Next is Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor.
4. Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor
The Wetterau is a broad, fertile basin north of Frankfurt, a land of rich loess soils, wheat fields, orchards and old villages, and the Romans wanted it badly. Their frontier, the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, bulged out here to take in the whole basin, looping around it in a wide arc. At Ober-Florstadt stood a fort with a civilian settlement beside it, where soldiers' families, traders and craftsmen lived. Today little is visible, but the site is part of the World Heritage frontier, and information boards help to picture the scene.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the closes the day.
Leg by leg
Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the to Watchtower WP 4/17*
Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the → Watchtower WP 4/17* is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 4/17* to Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg
Watchtower WP 4/17* → Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg to Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor
Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg → Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor to back through Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg
Fortsite and civil settlement of Ober-Flor → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg to back through Watchtower WP 4/17*
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Arnsburg → back through Watchtower WP 4/17* is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 4/17* to Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the
back through Watchtower WP 4/17* → Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.