Neuss has been a garrison town for two thousand years, and it still carries the Roman name in a shortened form: Novaesium, the legionary fortress that stood on the Rhine near the mouth of the Erft, was one of the oldest Roman military sites in Germany, founded in the days of Augustus. The Rhine was the frontier here, the Lower Germanic Limes, with no wall but a river, fortresses and watchtowers like the one at Reckberg, and the whole line was added to the UNESCO list in 2021.
Reckberg lies on the left bank, on the edge of the Düsseldorf conurbation, among fields, allotments and suburban streets. A watchtower here would have watched the river traffic and the far bank, where the tribes of the Germanic lands lived. The site is a modest one, so go with the right expectations: an archaeological spot in a city landscape, where a bench and a sign tell the story. The pleasure lies in knowing what the flat plain once defended.
Düsseldorf, five kilometres to the east across the Rhine, is a big city, with all the fuel and food you could want, and its old town, the Altstadt, is famous as the longest bar in the world, serving Altbier, a dark, bitter beer, in small glasses. Neuss, with its Quirinus Minster and a good Roman museum at Hafen, is a comfortable place to stop for a coffee. The Rhine promenade in Düsseldorf is excellent for a late afternoon walk.
The riding is mostly urban or flat farmland, so expect traffic, roundabouts and the odd cobbled square. Early on a Sunday morning, the Rhine meadows are calm, with cyclists and herons. Further upriver, toward Cologne, and downriver toward Krefeld and the Lower Rhine, roads follow the old dikes, with wide views and strong headwinds in spring. Fog is common in late autumn, when the river valley fills with mist and the lights of the barges slide silently by.