CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Oosterbeek it runs 159 km to Oosterbeek; allow about 3 h 30 of riding. The stops in between: Nijmegen-Valkhof area | Valkhofpark, Kleve-Keeken, Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Louisedal and Kleve-Reichswald | West. It crosses from Netherlands into Germany - carry ID and check the toll rules.
The Rhine has always been a frontier here. In Roman times, the Lower Rhine marked the northern edge of the empire, and the Romans built a chain of forts, watchtowers and roads along its banks to guard it. At Meinerswijk, on the southern bank of the river opposite Arnhem, the remains of one of those forts lie buried in the floodplain. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Lower German Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2021. There is little to see on the surface, but the floodplain itself, a wide expanse of meadows, ponds and willows, is a pleasant place to walk, and markers explain the history.
Read the complete Arnhem-Meinerswijk write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Arnhem-Meinerswijk is where the day begins. Next is Nijmegen-Valkhof area | Valkhofpark.
Nijmegen calls itself the oldest city in the Netherlands, and it has a good case. The Romans founded a military camp on the hill here in the last years BC, and a town followed, which was given full town rights around AD 100. Many centuries later, on the same hill by the Waal, Charlemagne built a palace, the Valkhof, and Frederick Barbarossa rebuilt it in the twelfth century as a magnificent imperial residence. Little survives except for a chapel and a ruined apse, but the Valkhofpark, with its terraced slopes and view across the river, still marks the site of one of the most important places in the medieval empire.
Read the complete Nijmegen-Valkhof area | Valkhofpark write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Nijmegen-Valkhof area | Valkhofpark comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kleve-Keeken.
Here the Rhine stops being a German river. Just downstream of the village of Keeken, the great river crosses the border into the Netherlands, and a few kilometres further on it divides, with the Waal carrying most of the water west and the Pannerdens Canal leading to the Nederrijn and the IJssel. In Roman times, this was the northern frontier of the empire, the Lower German Limes, and Keeken is one of the sites listed as part of the UNESCO frontier, with traces of Roman military installations along the old river course.
Read the complete Kleve-Keeken write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 36 km into the recorded legs you reach Kleve-Keeken. Next is Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Louisedal.
The Romans were water engineers, and the Berg en Dal aqueduct, near Nijmegen, is a trace of that skill in the Dutch landscape. Nijmegen was a major Roman centre, called Noviomagus, with a legion fortress on the Hunerberg and a town that grew beside it, and it needed a good water supply. The solution was to tap springs in the hills to the east, in the hills around Berg en Dal, and carry the water in a channel for several kilometres. Remains have been found near Louisedal, in the form of stone foundations and traces of the channel.
Read the complete Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Louisedal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Louisedal, about halfway. Next is Kleve-Reichswald | West.
Kleve sits on the lower Rhine, a few kilometres from the Dutch border, in a landscape so flat that the one low hill outside the town counts as an event. West of it, the Reichswald is a big, dark forest of pine and beech, one of the largest wooded areas in this part of North Rhine-Westphalia, and for a rider coming from the Ruhr it feels like an exhale. The forest roads are straight and shaded, and the surrounding villages, Kranenburg among them, are neat, brick-built and utterly peaceful.
Read the complete Kleve-Reichswald | West write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kleve-Reichswald | West sits at 73 km, about halfway. Next is back through Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Louisedal.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Louisedal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Louisedal comes up about 99 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Kleve-Keeken.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kleve-Keeken write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 121 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Kleve-Keeken. Next is back through Nijmegen-Valkhof area | Valkhofpark.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nijmegen-Valkhof area | Valkhofpark write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Nijmegen-Valkhof area | Valkhofpark, late in the day. Next is Arnhem-Meinerswijk.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Arnhem-Meinerswijk write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 159 km.
Arnhem-Meinerswijk → Nijmegen-Valkhof area | Valkhofpark is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nijmegen-Valkhof area | Valkhofpark → Kleve-Keeken is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kleve-Keeken → Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Louisedal is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Louisedal → Kleve-Reichswald | West is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kleve-Reichswald | West → back through Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Louisedal is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Louisedal → back through Kleve-Keeken is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kleve-Keeken → back through Nijmegen-Valkhof area | Valkhofpark is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Nijmegen-Valkhof area | Valkhofpark → Arnhem-Meinerswijk is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.