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.
322 km from Murrhardt to Murrhardt, about 5 h 10 of riding. It goes by way of Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35, Fort site and civil settlement of Osterbur, Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl and Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
The Limes in the Swabian-Franconian Forest has a quality that surprises people who expect Roman walls to follow hills: it runs in a dead-straight line, for kilometres at a stretch, regardless of what stands in the way. Near Murrhardt the line dives through woodland and valleys, and the signposted watchtower sites mark points where a timber and later stone tower stood on the frontier, with a ditch and a palisade or bank beside it. The numbering, with its slash, comes from the nineteenth-century surveyors who first mapped the frontier, and archaeologists still use it.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/100 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 9/100 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35.
Öhringen had not one but two Roman forts, known today as the Bürgkastell and the Rendelkastell, both on the Upper Germanic Limes, which ran past the town on its way south. The watchtowers numbered here were part of that frontier, and the town grew partly on the remains of the Roman settlement that clustered around the forts. Little is visible above ground, but finds are displayed in the local museum, and the line of the Limes can be followed on foot or by bike through the surrounding countryside.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35 comes up about 41 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Osterbur.
Osterburken is a small town in the Bauland of northern Baden-Württemberg, and the Romans left it one of the most interesting fort sites on the Upper German Limes. The fort here was built in the second century AD, when the frontier was moved forward, and it had an unusual annex fort added later, with walls that ran down the slope toward the stream, making it one of the few double fort complexes on the Limes. Large sections of the walls have been excavated and conserved, and the Roman museum next to the site displays finds from the fort and the civil settlement. The Upper German-Raetian Limes became a UNESCO site in 2005.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Osterbur write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 84 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Osterbur. 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, about halfway. 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 sits at 149 km, about halfway. 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.
back through Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl comes up about 195 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Osterbur.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Osterbur write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 240 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Fort site and civil settlement of Osterbur. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/100.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/100 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 322 km.
Watchtowers WP 9/100 → Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35 is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35 → Fort site and civil settlement of Osterbur is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Osterbur → Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl → Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Civil settlement of Niedernberg northern p → back through Watchtowers WP 7/1 to 7/36 including fortl is 34 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 Fort site and civil settlement of Osterbur is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Osterbur → back through Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35 is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35 → Watchtowers WP 9/100 is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.