Watchtowers WP 8/11 to 8/28 including fort and Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Watchtowers WP 8/11 to 8/28 including fort

   The Romans did not much care for the shape of the land when they drew this frontier. Around Osterburken the Upper Germanic Limes stops following valleys and ridges and simply runs in long, stubborn straight lines across the Bauland, the rolling limestone country between the Odenwald and the Jagst. The watchtower sites numbered in this stretch were once timber, then stone, posts spaced so that each could see its neighbours, strung along a palisade and ditch that marked where the province ended and the unconquered north began.

   Read the complete Watchtowers WP 8/11 to 8/28 including fort write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Watchtowers WP 8/11 to 8/28 including fort is where the day begins. Next is Fortlet Lehnenwiesen.

2. 2. Fortlet Lehnenwiesen

   Götz von Berlichingen, the knight with the iron hand, was born in Jagsthausen around 1480, and he is remembered for a rude phrase he supposedly shouted at an enemy, made famous by Goethe in his play about the knight. Jagsthausen's castle, where Götz grew up, hosts an open-air theatre festival every summer, and the iron hand, a prosthesis he wore after losing his right hand in battle, is displayed there. A few kilometres away, in the fields near Widdern, the fortlet of Lehnenwiesen was a small Roman post on the Upper Germanic Limes, part of the chain of forts and watchtowers that ran through this landscape.

   Read the complete Fortlet Lehnenwiesen write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Fortlet Lehnenwiesen comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the.

3. 3. Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the

   For about eighty kilometres through northern Württemberg, the Roman frontier runs in a nearly perfectly straight line, ignoring hills, valleys and rivers as if someone had drawn it with a ruler on a map. Surveyors still argue about how the Romans managed it. The stretch with watchtowers 9/14 to 9/32, near Öhringen in the Hohenlohe region, lies along this remarkable line, and Öhringen itself grew from Roman forts, two of them, which guarded the frontier here. The line is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and the Limes trail follows it through fields and forests.

   Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 45 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 9/14 to 9/32 including the. Next is back through Fortlet Lehnenwiesen.

4. 4. back through Fortlet Lehnenwiesen

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Fortlet Lehnenwiesen write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Fortlet Lehnenwiesen, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 8/11 to 8/28 including fort.

5. 5. Watchtowers WP 8/11 to 8/28 including fort

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Watchtowers WP 8/11 to 8/28 including fort write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Watchtowers WP 8/11 to 8/28 including fort. That is the ride.