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.
A 266 km round trip from Buchen in Odenwald - roughly 4 h 39 in the saddle. The stops in between: Building remains south of the watchtower W, Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 and back through Building remains south of the watchtower W. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The Odenwald Limes is famous for its stubborn straightness. For about eighty kilometres, from the Main near Miltenberg south to the Neckar near Neckarburken, the Romans drew their frontier almost as a ruler line across the wooded hills, ignoring valleys and ridges, and surveyors today still marvel at it. The watchtowers numbered 7/38 to 8/10 belong to this stretch, including a small fort, and the line here passes through the countryside around Buchen, in the Neckar-Odenwald district of Baden-Württemberg, a quiet region of beech forest, meadows and farms. The wooden towers of the first phase were later replaced by stone, and the palisade was supported by a bank and ditch that survive in the woods as a long, shallow trough.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 7/38 to 8/10 including fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 7/38 to 8/10 including fort is where the day begins. Next is Building remains south of the watchtower W.
Mainhardt sits high in the Swabian-Franconian Forest, between Heilbronn and Schwäbisch Hall, on a wooded plateau that the Romans chose for one of the forts guarding their frontier. The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes runs through here on its long, ruler-straight stretch heading south towards Welzheim, and along it stood watchtowers every few hundred metres, with small buildings nearby for the soldiers who manned them. The remains south of one of these towers are modest, low foundations in a clearing or under the forest floor, but they are part of the World Heritage frontier that runs for more than five hundred kilometres across Germany. The village has a small Roman museum that explains the fort and its garrison.
Read the complete Building remains south of the watchtower W write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Building remains south of the watchtower W comes up about 73 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85.
In the forests near Ellwangen the Roman frontier changes character. Here the Upper Germanic Limes, with its timber palisade and ditch, meets the Raetian Limes, which the Romans eventually built as a stone wall, and the stretch of watchtowers numbered 12/69 to 12/85 runs through the farmland and woods east of the Jagst. Archaeologists number the towers with slashes and digits, which makes them sound like spare parts, but each one was a small stone or timber post with a few soldiers watching the border, passing signals along the line. Together they form part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 133 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85. Next is back through Building remains south of the watchtower W.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Building remains south of the watchtower W write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Building remains south of the watchtower W, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 7/38 to 8/10 including fort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 7/38 to 8/10 including fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Watchtowers WP 7/38 to 8/10 including fort. That is the ride.
Watchtowers WP 7/38 to 8/10 including fort → Building remains south of the watchtower W is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Building remains south of the watchtower W → Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 12/69 to 12/85 → back through Building remains south of the watchtower W is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Building remains south of the watchtower W → Watchtowers WP 7/38 to 8/10 including fort is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.