The Hochwald is a long wooded ridge on the left bank of the Lower Rhine, between Uedem and Xanten, and it stands out because everything around it is flat. It is a terminal moraine, a pile of rubble pushed up by an ice sheet in the last ice age, and its slopes carry beech and oak and pine, a cool green island in a plain of fields and pastures. Near Uedem, the Hochwald runs for some kilometres in a line, and walkers use the forest paths.
Close by lies the old Roman world. Xanten, about seven kilometres away, was the site of a Roman city, Colonia Ulpia Traiana, and of the legionary fortress of Vetera, and today it has one of the biggest archaeological parks in Europe, with reconstructed gates, temple, amphitheatre and a large museum. The Lower Germanic Limes, the frontier along the Rhine, was listed by UNESCO in 2021, and the ridge near here was a place of military interest, with camps and roads on the high ground that gave a view over the river plain.
The Lower Rhine is a peaceful stretch of Germany, close to the Dutch border. The roads run straight across a plain of fields, hedgerows, poplars and farms, and the sky seems huge. The riding is easy but can be monotonous, with gusty wind from the west, and a few shower clouds are normal. Spring brings asparagus stalls along the road, and autumn brings geese in their thousands from the north, which feed in the fields. Cyclists are numerous.
Uedem is a small town of nearly nine thousand people, and Xanten, about twenty-one thousand, has fuel, hotels and restaurants. Xanten also claims to be the home of Siegfried of the Nibelung legend, and the name of the legendary hero shows up on the signs. The Rhine itself is not far away, a wide, slow, brown river with barges, and it is a good place to watch the evening light. Take a waterproof layer, because this part of Germany is rarely completely dry.