Watchtowers WP 9/100 and Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Watchtowers WP 9/100

   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.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Watchtowers WP 9/100 is where the day begins. Next is Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen.

2. 2. Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen

   The Swabian-Franconian Forest is a country of ridges and ravines northeast of Stuttgart, and the Mainhardt area lies on its northern edge, where the hills drop to wide clearings of meadow. The Romans pushed their frontier through here in the second century, building a line of watchtowers, small forts and a wooden palisade, and at Mainhardt they placed a larger fort, with smaller fortlets such as the one at Herrenwiesen along the frontier line. A fortlet was a compact post for a handful of soldiers who watched the forest, signalled to the next tower and checked travellers at the border.

   Read the complete Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35.

3. 3. 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.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 41 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 9/33 to 9/35. Next is back through Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen.

4. 4. back through Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 9/100.

5. 5. Watchtowers WP 9/100

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Watchtowers WP 9/100 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 9/100. That is the ride.