Wind is the main character on the Lower Rhine plain, and Hochwald 8.1 is the place where you can feel what it does. Standing in the forest roughly seven kilometres from Uedem, the trees give you a rest from it, but a few minutes in either direction and you are out on open polder with nothing between you and the sea but a few hedges and the odd church tower. Riders from the hills learn quickly that flat does not mean easy.
The area is also bicycle country, with a network of signed cycle routes joining villages, farms and forests, and the landscape has been shaped by it. Wide cycle tracks run beside most roads, drivers expect cyclists to be everywhere, and the locals often ride in rows of two or three at a time, chatting. As a motorcyclist you share the lanes rather than own them. A calm, patient style suits the place, and slow overtakes with plenty of space are the norm; a loud, fast approach will get you a frown or worse.
Weather comes in from the west and is mostly mild and damp. Light rain on a summer afternoon is common, followed by a clear evening and a low golden sun, and thunderstorms can build quickly on hot days. The forest roads stay wetter than the open ones, since the leaves block the sun. Autumn brings fog in the early morning and slippery roads after leaf fall, and winter can bring black ice in the shaded patches.
Uedem has fuel, bakeries, and a market on certain weekdays, and Xanten and Kalkar are close enough for anything further. If you have a few hours, the Rhine itself, with its dikes, meadows and barge traffic, is a good short detour to the east, and walking up onto the dike on a clear day gives a wide view of the river and the plain.
Late summer evenings, when the heat has left the air and the sun is low, are my pick for this spot.