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.
A 257 km round trip from Dürnstein - roughly 4 h 20 in the saddle. On the way it passes Zwentendorf - Kastell, Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus, Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube and back through Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
For about 33 km this is Wachau Danube Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
44 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Between Dürnstein and Mautern, a small gully called the Windstallgraben cuts down toward the Danube, and somewhere along its edge stood a Roman watchtower. The Wachau valley was once the frontier of the empire, and the Danube was the line. The Romans built a chain of forts and watchtowers along the south bank, and Mautern, ancient Favianis, was one of the strongest. The Danube Limes in Austria and Germany is now part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing, and these modest remains are part of that long, thin story.
Read the complete Windstallgraben - Wachtturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Windstallgraben - Wachtturm is where the day begins. Next is Zwentendorf - Kastell.
The Danube flows broad and brown past Zwentendorf, a quiet village on the Tullnerfeld plain west of Vienna, and for once the most famous building in the area is not the oldest one. Zwentendorf is where Austria built a nuclear power station in the 1970s and then, after a national referendum in 1978, decided never to switch it on. The plant still stands by the river, complete and unused, now a training site and a curiosity.
Read the complete Zwentendorf - Kastell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Zwentendorf - Kastell comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus.
Klosterneuburg Abbey rises on a terrace above the Danube just north of Vienna, its baroque domes topped with an imperial crown and an archducal hat, and few visitors realise that beneath its walls lie the remains of a Roman fort. The Romans guarded this stretch of the Danube frontier, the Limes, with a chain of forts, and Klosterneuburg's position on a hill overlooking the river made it an obvious choice. The fort and the civil settlement around it are part of the UNESCO site of the Danube Limes, inscribed in 2021.
Read the complete Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus. Next is Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube.
Marcus Aurelius, emperor and philosopher, spent several years at Carnuntum during his wars against the Germanic tribes north of the Danube, and he is thought to have written part of his Meditations here; the third book carries the note that it was written at Carnuntum. In the second century, this was one of the most important places on the Roman frontier: a legionary fortress, an auxiliary fort and a civil town that grew into the capital of the province of Upper Pannonia, with tens of thousands of inhabitants. Today, the archaeological park at Petronell-Carnuntum and Bad Deutsch-Altenburg shows reconstructed houses, a bath and streets built using Roman methods, two amphitheatres, and the Heidentor, a great ruined triumphal arch standing alone in the fields. The Danube Limes became a World Heritage site in 2021.
Read the complete Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube, about halfway. Next is back through Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus sits at 189 km, about halfway. Next is back through Zwentendorf - Kastell.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zwentendorf - Kastell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Zwentendorf - Kastell comes up about 224 km into the recorded legs. Next is Windstallgraben - Wachtturm.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Windstallgraben - Wachtturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Windstallgraben - Wachtturm closes the day.
Windstallgraben - Wachtturm → Zwentendorf - Kastell is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zwentendorf - Kastell → Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus → Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube → back through Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus → back through Zwentendorf - Kastell is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Zwentendorf - Kastell → Windstallgraben - Wachtturm is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.