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.
305 km from Zeiselmauer to Zeiselmauer, about 4 h 48 of riding. On the way it passes Traismauer - Kastell Römertor, Blashausgraben - Wachtturm, Ybbs - Kleinkastell and St. Johann im Mauerthale - Wachtturm. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 40 km this is Wachau Danube Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
A Roman fort is built around its gates, and the Kastentor at Zeiselmauer is where the road once entered the fort of Cannabiaca. Gates were the weak point of any fort, so they were guarded by towers and given heavy doors, and the roads that led through them were the arteries of the frontier. This gate faced the main road along the Danube, and soldiers, merchants and messengers passed through it for generations. The excavation of the gate gave archaeologists a close look at how the fort was built and how it changed over time.
Read the complete Zeiselmauer - Kastell Kastentor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Zeiselmauer - Kastell Kastentor is where the day begins. Next is Traismauer - Kastell Römertor.
A Roman gate still stands in Traismauer, a small town on the Traisen just before the river reaches the Danube, and cars and bicycles pass through it every day. The Römertor, as it is called, is one of the best preserved Roman gates in Austria, part of the fort of Augustianis, which guarded the Danube frontier, the Limes, here. The fort was modified and reused in later centuries, and towers and walls survive in the town's fabric. Since 2021, the Danube Limes has been a piece of the World Heritage property for the frontiers of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Traismauer - Kastell Römertor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Traismauer - Kastell Römertor comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is Blashausgraben - Wachtturm.
The Wachau is the most beautiful stretch of the Danube in Austria, a narrow valley between Melk and Krems where the river winds between steep hills covered in vineyards and forest, with castles, abbeys and villages on its banks. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site in its own right. Near the village of Aggsbach, on the southern bank, a small Roman watchtower stood in the Blashausgraben, a side valley, as part of the Danube frontier of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Blashausgraben - Wachtturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 79 km into the recorded legs you reach Blashausgraben - Wachtturm. Next is Ybbs - Kleinkastell.
Ybbs an der Donau and Persenbeug face each other across the Danube in Lower Austria, connected by a hydroelectric dam that was one of the first built on the Austrian Danube after the war. Persenbeug is dominated by its castle, perched on a rock above the river, which belonged to the Habsburgs and was the birthplace of Emperor Charles I, the last emperor of Austria-Hungary. On the Ybbs side, the remains of a small Roman fort have been found, part of the Danube frontier of the Roman Empire.
Read the complete Ybbs - Kleinkastell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ybbs - Kleinkastell, about halfway. Next is St. Johann im Mauerthale - Wachtturm, 39 km on.
Above the Wachau, in the forested hills on the south bank, a watchtower stood in the Roman period, and its stones are a quiet reminder that this valley was once the border of an empire. The Danube was the northern frontier of the province of Noricum, and the Romans guarded it with forts and signal towers every few kilometres, a chain that now forms part of the UNESCO listing for the Danube Limes. The tower near St Johann im Mauerthale was one of these, placed to see along the river and warn of anyone crossing from the north. Not much remains but the foundations, and they sit in a place with a long view.
Read the complete St. Johann im Mauerthale - Wachtturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
St. Johann im Mauerthale - Wachtturm sits at 155 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ybbs - Kleinkastell.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ybbs - Kleinkastell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Ybbs - Kleinkastell comes up about 196 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Blashausgraben - Wachtturm.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Blashausgraben - Wachtturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 226 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Blashausgraben - Wachtturm. Next is back through Traismauer - Kastell Römertor.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Traismauer - Kastell Römertor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Traismauer - Kastell Römertor, late in the day. Next is Zeiselmauer - Kastell Kastentor.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zeiselmauer - Kastell Kastentor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 305 km.
Zeiselmauer - Kastell Kastentor → Traismauer - Kastell Römertor is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Traismauer - Kastell Römertor → Blashausgraben - Wachtturm is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Blashausgraben - Wachtturm → Ybbs - Kleinkastell is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ybbs - Kleinkastell → St. Johann im Mauerthale - Wachtturm is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
St. Johann im Mauerthale - Wachtturm → back through Ybbs - Kleinkastell is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ybbs - Kleinkastell → back through Blashausgraben - Wachtturm is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Blashausgraben - Wachtturm → back through Traismauer - Kastell Römertor is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Traismauer - Kastell Römertor → Zeiselmauer - Kastell Kastentor is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.