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 Langgöns it runs 337 km to Langgöns; allow about 4 h 59 of riding. It goes by way of Fortlet Lochmühle, Watchtower WP 3/23*, Watchtower WP 2/31 and Fort site and civil settlement of Niederbe. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The ride follows Watchtowers WP 4/45 to 4/52 including the → Fortlet Lochmühle for 35 km.
For about 35 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
North of Frankfurt, the Wetterau opens out as a wide, fertile basin between the Taunus and the Vogelsberg, and the Roman frontier made a long bulge around it to bring this rich farmland inside the empire. This section of the Upper Germanic Limes, with watchtowers WP 4/45 to 4/52, runs through the woods and fields between Langgöns and Lich, at the northern tip of that bulge. The towers are long gone, but traces of the wall and ditch can still be found in the forest.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/45 to 4/52 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 4/45 to 4/52 including the is where the day begins. Next is Fortlet Lochmühle.
The Lochmühle is a small fortlet on the Limes in the Taunus, near Wehrheim and the famous Saalburg, and it guarded a spot where the frontier crossed the valley of the Erlenbach stream. Fortlets like this were small outposts, housing a handful of soldiers who watched the border and controlled traffic, and they formed a link between the watchtowers and the larger forts. Its remains are modest, but the location, in a quiet valley surrounded by forest, has a peaceful charm. The name comes from a nearby mill, now a popular leisure park for families with play areas and farm animals.
Read the complete Fortlet Lochmühle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortlet Lochmühle comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtower WP 3/23*.
On the wooded ridges near Idstein, the Taunus Limes crossed some of its highest and most remote ground, and Watchtower WP 3/23 is one of the many sites along this stretch. The asterisk in the official label suggests a site whose exact location is uncertain or reconstructed from survey work, which is common along the frontier, where many towers survive only as faint mounds in the forest. Still, walking the Limes trail here, with the bank and ditch running through the beech woods, gives a real sense of the Roman border.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/23* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 96 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtower WP 3/23*. Next is Watchtower WP 2/31.
Holzhausen an der Haide is a small village on the high ground of the western Taunus, between the Rhine and the Lahn, and it has one of the better-preserved Roman fort sites along the Limes. The stone walls of Kastell Holzhausen still stand to a modest height in the fields just outside the village, outlining the fort's rectangle with its rounded corners and gates. Watchtower WP 2/31 belongs to the chain of towers that linked forts like this one along the frontier, and in this open landscape you can easily imagine the signals passing from hill to hill.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 2/31 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 2/31, about halfway. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Niederbe.
On the heights above the right bank of the Rhine, opposite Koblenz, the suburb of Niederberg sits on top of a Roman fort. It is one of the forts of the Upper Germanic Limes, which ran through the hills here a few kilometres back from the river, and the label refers to the fort site and the civilian settlement that grew up around it, part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. Not much is visible today, as the area is built over, but the location explains a great deal.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Niederbe write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Niederbe sits at 142 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtower WP 2/31.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 2/31 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtower WP 2/31 comes up about 206 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtower WP 3/23*.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/23* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 257 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtower WP 3/23*. Next is back through Fortlet Lochmühle.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortlet Lochmühle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fortlet Lochmühle, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 4/45 to 4/52 including the.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/45 to 4/52 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 337 km.
Watchtowers WP 4/45 to 4/52 including the → Fortlet Lochmühle is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortlet Lochmühle → Watchtower WP 3/23* is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/23* → Watchtower WP 2/31 is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 2/31 → Fort site and civil settlement of Niederbe is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Niederbe → back through Watchtower WP 2/31 is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 2/31 → back through Watchtower WP 3/23* is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 3/23* → back through Fortlet Lochmühle is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fortlet Lochmühle → Watchtowers WP 4/45 to 4/52 including the is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.