South of Bonn, between the Rhine and the Eifel foothills, the Kottenforst is a big forest that most people drive around and few really enter. For centuries it was a hunting forest of the Electors of Cologne, who ran straight rides through the trees for their parties, and some of those long avenues survive as forest tracks. Oak and beech dominate, with ponds and damp hollows where the Villiper Bach, a small stream, begins its journey toward the Rhine. In spring the floor is carpeted with wood anemones, and in autumn the leaf litter smells sharp and sweet.
Roman soldiers knew this country too. The Rhine formed the frontier of the empire here, with the legionary base of Bonna at Bonn and a line of watchtowers and posts along the river and across the hills behind it, and the numbered towers named on the maps for this area refer to that chain. The stones are mostly gone, but the logic of the landscape is clear: high ground with a view over the river plain, close enough to send a signal.
The nearest town is Wachtberg, with about twenty thousand people, and Meckenheim and Königswinter are within easy range. Wachtberg has an unusual history as the home of many foreign embassies and offices in the years when Bonn was the capital of West Germany, and the villages around still have an international air. Fuel is easy to find in all three towns, and bakeries and cafés abound.
For riding, the Kottenforst offers calm, shaded roads through the trees, with smooth tarmac and gentle bends, ideal for an early morning or a hot day. The edges of the forest open into fields and orchards, and to the east you can see the Siebengebirge, the seven hills crowned by the Drachenfels. Weekends bring cyclists, walkers and horse riders, so slow down on the forest roads. Spring and autumn are lovely, and winter fog can make the roads damp and slippery.