Wien - Canabae West und Gräberfeld and Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
268 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 50
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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 268 km round trip from Innere Stadt - roughly 3 h 50 in the saddle. The stops in between: Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich, Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich, Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad and back through Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Scenic road chapters
Wachau Danube Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 47 km this is Wachau Danube Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
Length
47 km
Named road
Wachau Danube Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Wien - Canabae West und Gräberfeld
Vienna began as a Roman legionary camp, Vindobona, on a terrace above the Danube, and its streets still follow some of the old lines. The camp itself was in what is now the inner city, around Hoher Markt, and the canabae, the civilian settlement that grew up beside it, spread out to the west and south with workshops, taverns, houses and cemeteries. The Gräberfeld, the field of graves, lay beyond, as Roman custom demanded. The remains here are mostly underground and under pavements, which suits a city that has built on every layer of its past.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wien - Canabae West und Gräberfeld is where the day begins. Next is Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich.
2. Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich
The Nibelungenlied, the great medieval German epic, sends Kriemhild down the Danube to marry Etzel, king of the Huns, and has her meet him at Tulln, which says something about the town's importance on the river for centuries. Long before that, the Romans built a cavalry fort here called Comagena, and its walls still lurk beneath the town centre. The best survival is the Salzturm, a tower by the river whose lower parts are Roman, among the best preserved Roman structures in Austria. The fort is part of the Danube Limes World Heritage listing.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich.
3. Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich
In the fifth century, as Roman authority along the Danube collapsed, a holy man named Severinus lived at a place called Favianis, organising food supplies, ransoming captives and negotiating with barbarian kings on behalf of the remaining Roman population. His biography, written by his disciple Eugippius, is one of the most vivid accounts of the end of Roman rule in central Europe, and Favianis is generally identified with Mautern, a small town on the south bank of the Danube opposite Krems. The Roman fort here, parts of which survive in the town walls, is part of the Danube Limes World Heritage listing.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 89 km into the recorded legs you reach Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich. Next is Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad.
4. Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad
Pöchlarn is a small town on the south bank of the Danube, a few kilometres upstream from Melk, where the river is broad and slow and the Wachau valley is about to begin. The Romans called it Arelape and kept a fort here on the frontier of the empire, with a civilian settlement, the vicus, and a bathhouse for the garrison. Not much is visible above ground, but the town is part of the Danube Limes World Heritage site, which traces that long line of forts and watchtowers through Austria.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wien - Canabae West und Gräberfeld closes the day.
Leg by leg
Wien - Canabae West und Gräberfeld to Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich
Wien - Canabae West und Gräberfeld → Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich to Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich
Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich → Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich to Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad
Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich → Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad to back through Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich
Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad → back through Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich to back through Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich
back through Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich → back through Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich to Wien - Canabae West und Gräberfeld
back through Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich → Wien - Canabae West und Gräberfeld is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.