Two rivers meet at the tip of Koblenz, and a gigantic bronze-and-stone monument marks the spot. The German Corner, the Deutsches Eck, is a green point of land where the Moselle slides into the Rhine, with a copy of an equestrian statue of Emperor Wilhelm I standing on a high plinth at the end. The Romans called the place Confluentes, the confluence, and the name has worn down over two thousand years into Koblenz. Across the Rhine, the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein sits on a rocky ridge above the water, reached by cable car, and the view from the walls takes in both rivers and the whole old town.
For riders, Koblenz is the doorway to two of Germany's best valley rides. Upstream along the Rhine, the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a World Heritage landscape since 2002, runs for about sixty kilometres to Bingen, through a steep gorge lined with vineyards, half-timbered villages and more than thirty castles. The road follows the river on either bank, with pleasant bends, sudden views and the freight trains rattling along the opposite side. The Loreley rock, a slate cliff of about a hundred and thirty metres, was a feared bend for boatmen and is the home of a legendary siren in a poem by Heinrich Heine. Traffic can be heavy in summer and at weekends, so a weekday morning is calmer.
The Moselle Wine Route heads in the other direction, southwest toward Trier, along a river that twists in great loops between steep slate slopes planted with Riesling. The road is narrower, quieter and more intimate than the Rhine, with pretty towns such as Cochem, topped by a neo-Gothic castle, and Bernkastel-Kues, with a crooked market square of timbered houses. Sudden speed limits and cameras catch the unwary in every village. The best months are May to October, and the harvest in autumn, when vineyards turn gold and red, is superb, though wine festivals fill the villages.
Koblenz itself is a city of about a hundred thousand, so it has everything needed: fuel stations on the main roads, repair shops, hotels and plenty of cafes. The old town is compact, and a Riesling in a courtyard is a pleasant way to end the day, though the motorcyclist might prefer the Rhenish potato pancakes called Reibekuchen with apple sauce. Rain is possible at any time, so carry a waterproof, and leave extra time at weekends, when the river valleys fill with tourists.