CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
289 km from Zwentendorf to Zwentendorf, about 4 h 41 of riding. On the way it passes Windstallgraben - Wachtturm, Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad, St. Lorenz - Wachtturm and Pöchlarn - Kastell Zentralbereich. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 37 km this is Wachau Danube Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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 38 km in. 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.
76 km in you reach Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad. Next is St. Lorenz - Wachtturm, 38 km on.
On the quiet south bank of the Danube in the Wachau, opposite the wine village of Weißenkirchen, the little church of St. Lorenz has a secret in its walls. Part of the building stands on, and incorporates, the masonry of a Roman watchtower, one of a chain of small fortifications that guarded the river frontier of the province of Noricum in late antiquity. The Danube was the edge of the empire here, and soldiers in the tower kept watch over the far bank for raiders. Today the site is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Danube Limes listing, inscribed by UNESCO in 2021.
Read the complete St. Lorenz - Wachtturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
St. Lorenz - Wachtturm, about halfway. Next is Pöchlarn - Kastell Zentralbereich.
Pochlarn is a quiet town on the Danube, but it has been famous for a long time. The Romans had a fort here called Arelape, built to guard the river and the mouth of the Erlauf, which flows in from the south. Later, in the medieval epic known as the Nibelungenlied, the town appears under the name Bechelaren, home of the margrave Rudiger, a loyal knight who is torn between his oath and his love. The region from Melk to Pochlarn is still called the Nibelungengau because of this.
Read the complete Pöchlarn - Kastell Zentralbereich write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pöchlarn - Kastell Zentralbereich sits at 153 km, about halfway. Next is back through St. Lorenz - Wachtturm, 38 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete St. Lorenz - Wachtturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through St. Lorenz - Wachtturm comes up 191 km in. 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.
229 km in 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 289 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 → St. Lorenz - Wachtturm is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
St. Lorenz - Wachtturm → Pöchlarn - Kastell Zentralbereich is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pöchlarn - Kastell Zentralbereich → back through St. Lorenz - Wachtturm is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through St. Lorenz - Wachtturm → back through Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad is 38 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.