Between Bonn and the Eifel lies the Kottenforst, a broad, flat forest of oak, beech and hornbeam on the plateau of the Ville, once a hunting ground of the Electors of Cologne, who laid out long straight rides through the trees for their stag hunts. Hidden in the woods are the faint outlines of Roman camps, earthworks left by soldiers who trained or camped here when Bonn, then called Bonna, was the base of a Roman legion on the Rhine frontier. The site at Domhecken, in the northern part of the forest, is one of the components of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Lower German Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2021. Like many such sites, it is subtle, a low bank and ditch among the trees, but it adds a layer of history to a walk or a ride through the forest.
The Romans left another, more visible mark on this region: the Eifel aqueduct, one of the longest in the Roman world, which carried water from springs in the Eifel hills to Cologne, a distance of nearly a hundred kilometres. Sections of the aqueduct can still be seen in several places, and the hard lime deposits that formed inside it were later quarried and used as a kind of artificial marble in churches across the Rhineland. At Iversheim, to the south, the remains of Roman lime kilns have been excavated and can be visited.
The riding around the Kottenforst is gentle, with roads crossing the forest and running through the farmland and villages of the Vorgebirge, the foothills between Bonn and Cologne, known for fruit and vegetable growing. The roads are good but can be busy, especially near Bonn and the motorways. To the south, the Eifel offers some of the best riding in Germany, with winding roads through volcanic hills, crater lakes and valleys, and the famous Nürburgring racetrack, which is open to the public on certain days for laps of the Nordschleife, a legendary and demanding circuit.
Alfter, about four kilometres away, and Bornheim are small towns with fuel and shops, and Bonn, the former capital of West Germany and the birthplace of Beethoven, is a lively city with everything you could need. The weather is mild, with rain likely at any time of year, and the forest roads can be slippery with wet leaves in autumn.