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 Erlensee it runs 295 km to Erlensee; allow about 4 h 12 of riding. The stops in between: Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p, Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl, Building remains south of Götzingen and Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Between Hanau and the river Main, the plain is flat, fertile and dense with small towns, and it hardly looks like a frontier. Yet around the year 100 the Romans ran their Upper Germanic Limes down this way to meet the Main near Großkrotzenburg, with a palisade, ditch and a line of wooden watchtowers set at intervals of a few hundred metres. The towers on the maps are labelled by section and number, and WP 5/11 and 5/12 are two of them, neighbours in a long chain that once stretched across Germany for hundreds of kilometres.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 5/11 to 5/12 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 5/11 to 5/12 is where the day begins. 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 comes up about 40 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 73 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl. Next is Building remains south of Götzingen.
Between the Odenwald and the Tauber country lies the Bauland, a high, open plateau of limestone, cornfields and small villages that most travellers cross without slowing down. Just south of Götzingen, among fields and woodland edges between Buchen and Osterburken, are the remains of a Roman building on the line of the Upper Germanic Limes. It is not a grand ruin, more a footprint in the ground, but it belongs to one of the best documented stretches of the frontier, the section that runs straight as a ruler through this part of northern Baden-Württemberg.
Read the complete Building remains south of Götzingen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Building remains south of Götzingen, about halfway. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe.
Miltenberg is one of those German towns that seem almost too pretty to be real, with half-timbered houses leaning over the cobbled streets, a market square sloping down toward the river, a castle on the hill above and the Main flowing slowly past. The Romans were here first. Two forts guarded this point on the frontier, one near the old town and another to the east, where the Limes left the river and ran overland through the Odenwald, and the sites, with their civilian settlements, are part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire. A museum in the town displays finds from the forts.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe sits at 143 km, about halfway. Next is back through Building remains south of Götzingen.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Building remains south of Götzingen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Building remains south of Götzingen comes up about 190 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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.
about 228 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl. 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, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 5/11 to 5/12.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 5/11 to 5/12 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 295 km.
Watchtowers WP 5/11 to 5/12 → Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p is 40 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 → Building remains south of Götzingen is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Building remains south of Götzingen → Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Miltenbe → back through Building remains south of Götzingen is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Building remains south of Götzingen → back through Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through 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 → Watchtowers WP 5/11 to 5/12 is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.