Rivers are the border here, and Hochwald 3 sits on the ridge that looks across the plain toward both the Rhine and the Netherlands. About six kilometres from Uedem, the forest road passes through a country where the nearest big water is a short ride to the east: the Rhine, wide, brown and busy with barges, with a few small cable ferries still carrying people, cyclists and sometimes motorcycles from bank to bank. The Dutch frontier is not far to the west, and the city of Nijmegen, old and hilly by Dutch standards, lies a short day's trip beyond.
That mixture of Germany and the Netherlands is the real flavour of the Niederrhein. You see it in the architecture, the red brick and white window frames; in the bikes, which outnumber cars on small roads; in the food, where cheese and sweet syrup on bread are as common as sausage. Cleves, the next town of consequence to the north-west, was once the seat of dukes whose daughter Anne was married to Henry VIII of England in 1540 and divorced within months.
Riding in the Hochwald is calm to the point of drowsiness. The roads run level and the bends are gentle, with the occasional off-camber crown where the tarmac has been resurfaced. Traffic is light on weekdays and heavier on Sundays, when families head out on bicycles and motorcyclists arrive from the Ruhr. Watch for the junction priorities, since many minor roads give way to the right, and for farm vehicles that may take up the whole width.
Uedem has fuel, bakeries and a small supermarket, and larger towns such as Kalkar, Xanten or Goch offer more choices. If you plan to cross the Rhine by ferry, check the timetable first, because services change with the season and the water level, and don't count on them running in very low water or ice.
A late afternoon in September, when the sun drops over the plain and the woods smell of resin and damp earth, suits this spot best.