Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Cortendijk and Neuss-Koenenlager
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
325 km
Riding-time estimate
4 h 32
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
A 325 km round trip from Hengstdal - roughly 4 h 32 in the saddle. On the way it passes Wesel-Flüren | Flürener Feld 1, Neuss-Koenenlager and back through Wesel-Flüren | Flürener Feld 1. It crosses from Netherlands into Germany - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Cortendijk
Water is the oldest luxury a city can have, and Roman Nijmegen insisted on it. A legion and a town of thousands needed clean drinking water, and the springs in the foothills at the edge of the plateau, near what is now Berg en Dal, provided it. The Romans built an aqueduct to carry it down to the fortress, a gently sloping channel which ran for several kilometres. Most of it was buried or built at ground level, so the remains are traces in the soil rather than tall arches, and archaeologists have followed it by digging and mapping, with a few sections uncovered and marked. It is one of the few places in the Netherlands where you can walk the line of a Roman water supply, and it forms part of the Lower German Limes on the UNESCO list.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Cortendijk is where the day begins. Next is Wesel-Flüren | Flürener Feld 1.
2. Wesel-Flüren | Flürener Feld 1
The Rhine at Wesel is broad and powerful, the main artery of northwestern Europe, and in Roman times it was the frontier of the empire. The Lower German Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2021, ran along the river from the Alps to the North Sea, with forts, camps and watchtowers guarding the crossings. At Flüren, on the edge of Wesel, archaeologists have found traces of Roman activity on the Flürener Feld, probably a temporary camp or military installation linked to campaigns across the river into Germania. Nothing is visible on the surface, but the site sits on the edge of the Rhine plain, with the river and its floodplain stretching away to the horizon.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wesel-Flüren | Flürener Feld 1 comes up about 85 km into the recorded legs. Next is Neuss-Koenenlager.
3. Neuss-Koenenlager
On the southern edge of Neuss, in a residential area near the Rhine, lies one of the most important Roman military sites in Germany, though you would hardly know it from the surface. This was Novaesium, a legionary fortress that housed thousands of soldiers for much of the first century, and it is known as the Koenenlager after Constantin Koenen, the local archaeologist who excavated it systematically in the late nineteenth century. His work revealed the layout of an entire legionary camp, with headquarters, barracks, granaries and a hospital, and it became a model for Roman military archaeology. The site is part of the Lower German Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2021.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Cortendijk. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Cortendijk to Wesel-Flüren | Flürener Feld 1
Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Cortendijk → Wesel-Flüren | Flürener Feld 1 is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Wesel-Flüren | Flürener Feld 1 to Neuss-Koenenlager
Wesel-Flüren | Flürener Feld 1 → Neuss-Koenenlager is 78 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Neuss-Koenenlager to back through Wesel-Flüren | Flürener Feld 1
Neuss-Koenenlager → back through Wesel-Flüren | Flürener Feld 1 is 78 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Wesel-Flüren | Flürener Feld 1 to Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Cortendijk
back through Wesel-Flüren | Flürener Feld 1 → Berg en Dal-aqueduct | Cortendijk is 83 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.