CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
From Rosbach vor der Höhe it runs 328 km to Rosbach vor der Höhe; allow about 4 h 25 of riding. The stops in between: Fort site of Hungen-Inheiden, Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge, Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p and Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 39 km this is German Fairy Tale Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Kaiser Wilhelm II took a personal interest in the Roman frontier, and at the beginning of the twentieth century, he ordered the complete reconstruction of the Saalburg, a Roman fort on the crest of the Taunus near Bad Homburg. The result, with its walls, gates and buildings rebuilt on the original foundations, is the most complete reconstruction of a Roman fort in Germany and houses a museum of Roman life on the frontier. A few kilometres north-east, near Rosbach vor der Höhe, the ruins of the Kapersburg fort lie in the forest, and the watchtowers numbered WP 4/1 to 4/19a, on the section of the Limes running from the Taunus ridge toward the Wetterau, are part of the UNESCO listing of the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort is where the day begins. Next is Fort site of Hungen-Inheiden.
Hungen lies in the eastern Wetterau, on the edge of the Vogelsberg, the great extinct volcano of central Hesse, and the village of Inheiden is a short distance from it, in a fold of rolling farmland. The Roman fort at Inheiden was one of the smaller auxiliary forts on the Wetterau Limes, a modest rectangular enclosure with a ditch and a wall of earth and timber, later rebuilt in stone, and it held a unit of a few hundred soldiers. A fort of this size had a headquarters building in the middle, barracks, a granary, a bath building outside the wall and a small settlement of traders and families beside it.
Read the complete Fort site of Hungen-Inheiden write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site of Hungen-Inheiden comes up about 46 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge.
East of Frankfurt, on the low ground where the Kinzig valley opens toward Hanau, the Romans pushed their frontier forward in the late first century AD. Rückingen, today a part of Erlensee, was the site of a fort with a civil settlement around it, part of the Wetterau section of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Limes here ran south toward the Main, and the forts guarded crossings and roads leading into the Roman province. As with most of the frontier in this area, there is little to see above ground, but the line of the Limes is marked and explained along cycle and walking routes.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 92 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge. Next is Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p.
Niedernberg is a quiet village on the left bank of the Main, a few kilometres downstream from Aschaffenburg, where the river was the Roman frontier. The Upper German-Raetian Limes, after running across the Odenwald, used the Main as its boundary between Großkrotzenburg and Miltenberg, and a fort with a civil settlement stood at Niedernberg, guarding the river line. The northern part of the civil settlement is listed separately as part of the UNESCO site. There is little to see above ground, as the remains lie under fields and houses, but the location by the river makes the Roman logic clear.
Read the complete Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p, about halfway. Next is Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl.
At Miltenberg, the Roman frontier did something unusual: it stopped being a wall and became a river. North of the town, the Main served as the frontier for some fifty kilometres, guarded by forts and watchtowers along its western bank, and here, where the river bends, the land frontier began again, heading south through the Odenwald. The watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 belong to this stretch, and while most are only traces in fields and forests, they are part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire. The Romans built forts at Miltenberg, too, and some of their finds are displayed in the town museum.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl sits at 153 km, about halfway. Next is back through Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p comes up about 197 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 235 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge. Next is back through Fort site of Hungen-Inheiden.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site of Hungen-Inheiden write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site of Hungen-Inheiden, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 328 km.
Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort → Fort site of Hungen-Inheiden is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site of Hungen-Inheiden → Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge → Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p → Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl → back through Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge → back through Fort site of Hungen-Inheiden is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site of Hungen-Inheiden → Watchtowers WP 4/1 to 4/19a including fort is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.