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 354 km round trip from Zwentendorf - roughly 5 h 01 in the saddle. On the way it passes Windstallgraben - Wachtturm, Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad, Wallsee - Kleinkastell and Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg. The line favours views over speed.
For about 37 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.
The ride follows Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad → Wallsee - Kleinkastell for 50 km.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Windstallgraben - Wachtturm.
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 comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
Read the complete Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 77 km into the recorded legs you reach Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad. Next is Wallsee - Kleinkastell.
Wallsee is the kind of Danube town you only notice if you slow down: a market square, a big castle on a rock above the river, and a long, quiet waterfront where the cycle path runs past willows and moored boats. Beneath the streets lie the remains of a small Roman fort, one of the posts that lined the river frontier of the province of Noricum, and archaeologists have also traced a larger fort nearby. Both are part of the Danube Limes World Heritage listing inscribed in 2021, though above ground the medieval and Baroque town has long since taken over.
Read the complete Wallsee - Kleinkastell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Wallsee - Kleinkastell, about halfway. Next is Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg.
Linz is a city that has reinvented itself. For much of the twentieth century it was known mainly for its steelworks and its uncomfortable links with the Nazi period; today it markets itself as a city of culture and technology, with the Ars Electronica centre glowing on the Danube bank at night, the Lentos art museum opposite, and a lively music scene. The Schlossberg, the castle hill above the old town, is where it all began: the Romans had a fort here called Lentia, part of the Danube frontier of the empire, and the Danube Limes is now on the World Heritage list. The castle that stands there now dates largely from the Renaissance, built for Emperor Frederick III, who spent his last years in Linz and died here in 1493. It houses a branch of the Upper Austrian state museum.
Read the complete Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg sits at 176 km, about halfway. Next is back through Wallsee - Kleinkastell.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wallsee - Kleinkastell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Wallsee - Kleinkastell comes up about 223 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 273 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad. Next is back through 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.
back through Windstallgraben - Wachtturm, late in the day. Next is 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.
The route ends here after 354 km.
Zwentendorf - Kastell → Windstallgraben - Wachtturm is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Windstallgraben - Wachtturm → Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad → Wallsee - Kleinkastell is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wallsee - Kleinkastell → Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg → back through Wallsee - Kleinkastell is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Wallsee - Kleinkastell → back through Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad → back through Windstallgraben - Wachtturm is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Windstallgraben - Wachtturm → Zwentendorf - Kastell is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.