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 Welzheim it runs 162 km to Welzheim; allow about 3 h 22 of riding. On the way it passes Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard, Building remains south of the watchtower W, Watchtowers WP 9/100 and Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen.
In the Swabian Forest east of Stuttgart, the Roman frontier ran as straight as a ruler for some eighty kilometres, ignoring hills and valleys in a way that still puzzles historians. Welzheim lies on this straight stretch of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, and the town had two Roman forts, the west and east forts, with a civil settlement around them. The northern part of the settlement near the east fort is one of the components of the Limes World Heritage Site, and the Ostkastell has been turned into an archaeological park with a reconstructed gate.
Read the complete Welzheim-Ost civil settlement northern par write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Welzheim-Ost civil settlement northern par is where the day begins. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard.
A Roman cohort fort once stood where Murrhardt's streets now run, on the Upper Germanic Limes as it cut south through the forest toward Welzheim, and a civilian settlement of traders, craftsmen and soldiers' families grew up around it. Some remains have been found under the town, and the local museum tells the story. The Romans left, but the site remained attractive, and in the early Middle Ages a monastery was founded here, associated with Saint Walterich, a hermit whose small chapel, the Walterichskapelle, is a jewel of late Romanesque architecture.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 37 km into the recorded legs you reach Building remains south of the watchtower W. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 9/100, about halfway. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen sits at 67 km, about halfway. Next is back through 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.
back through Watchtowers WP 9/100 comes up about 102 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 124 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Building remains south of the watchtower W. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard, late in the day. Next is Welzheim-Ost civil settlement northern par.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Welzheim-Ost civil settlement northern par write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 162 km.
Welzheim-Ost civil settlement northern par → Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard → Building remains south of the watchtower W is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Building remains south of the watchtower W → Watchtowers WP 9/100 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 9/100 → Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fortlet Mainhardt-Herrenwiesen → back through Watchtowers WP 9/100 is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 9/100 → back through Building remains south of the watchtower W is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Building remains south of the watchtower W → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Murrhard → Welzheim-Ost civil settlement northern par is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.