Southwest of Bonn, an old forest runs for miles across a low plateau, a place of oak and hornbeam, beech and quiet paths. The Kottenforst is one of the few big woods in the Rhineland, and the area known as Durrenbruch, on the northern side, is typical: flat, damp, shady, with wide forest roads, ditches, small ponds and a thick floor of leaf litter. Its name means dry marsh, a typically contradictory piece of German, and the ground really does flip between puddle and dust depending on the season.
The forest was a hunting ground of the Electors of Cologne, who ruled the region from Bonn and rode out here in the eighteenth century with their courts, and straight alleys cut through the trees radiate from old hunting lodges. Later it was used for timber, and today it belongs to the regional forestry service and to the people of Bonn, who run, cycle and walk here in great numbers. Wild boar, deer, woodpeckers and owls live in the woods, and in spring, bluebells and wood anemones carpet the ground.
Do not expect to ride through the woods themselves. Forest tracks here are closed to motor vehicles, and the paths are meant for walkers and cyclists, so keep to the public roads around the edge. These are quiet, tree-lined and pleasant, running through villages like Alfter, a town of about twenty-two thousand people just to the north. The riding is gentle, with long, easy bends and gentle gradients, and the hazards are mostly cyclists, joggers and dogs.
Fuel and food are easy in Alfter and in Bonn, which is a few minutes away and has everything. Bonn was the capital of West Germany until 1990 and is the birthplace of Beethoven, and it is also home to the headquarters of Haribo, the gummy bear company, founded here in 1920. The best seasons are spring, when the forest is fresh, and autumn, with warm colours and a smell of damp leaves. Winter mornings can be foggy. A walk among the trees is a quiet complement to a day on the road.