Why this ride
From Bonn it runs 193 km to Bonn; allow about 2 h 51 of riding. It goes by way of Köln-Alteburg, Dormagen, Krefeld-Gellep and back through Dormagen. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Bonn and Krefeld-Gellep
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 193 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 51
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Bonn → Köln-Alteburg
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 27 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 24 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Bonn
Bonn is a university city that spent forty years pretending to be a capital, and it carried it off with a modest air. After the war it became the seat of the West German government, and the former federal quarter along the Rhine still has the clean, low-key look of ministries designed not to impress. Before that, Bonn had been a seat of the Cologne prince-electors, whose baroque palace now houses the university, and it was also the birthplace of Beethoven, whose small house in the old town is one of the most visited composer museums anywhere.
Read the complete Bonn write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bonn is where the day begins. Next is Köln-Alteburg.
2. Köln-Alteburg
The Roman navy is not the first thing most people associate with Cologne, but for almost two centuries the Rhine fleet, the Classis Germanica, had its main base here at Alteburg, just south of the Roman city. The fort sat on a terrace above the river in what is now the leafy district of Marienburg, near Bayenthal, and from here warships patrolled the Rhine, carried supplies and soldiers, and kept watch on the frontier. The site belongs to the Lower Germanic Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2021, though today it lies mostly under villas, streets and gardens, with only traces and information boards to show where it stood.
Read the complete Köln-Alteburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Köln-Alteburg comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dormagen.
3. Dormagen
Dormagen is not the sort of place that ends up on postcards, and it does not try to be. It is a working town of some sixty thousand on the left bank of the Rhine between Cologne and Düsseldorf, dominated on its northern side by a huge chemical park whose pipes and stacks glow at night. Yet the name itself comes from Roman times: Durnomagus was a fort on the Lower German Limes, the Rhine frontier that UNESCO listed in 2021, and a cavalry unit was stationed here to patrol the river and the road along it.
Read the complete Dormagen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 53 km into the recorded legs you reach Dormagen. Next is Krefeld-Gellep.
4. Krefeld-Gellep
Most people pass Krefeld-Gellep without a second thought, because the view is dominated by the harbour of Uerdingen, chemical works and Rhine barges. Yet this is one of the most important Roman and early medieval sites on the Lower Rhine. The Roman fort here was called Gelduba, and it belongs to the Lower German Limes, the frontier along the river that UNESCO recognised in 2021. Tacitus mentions Gelduba in his account of the Batavian revolt of 69 and 70 AD, when legions and rebels fought around the camp, and archaeologists have found traces of that violence in the ground.
Read the complete Krefeld-Gellep write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Krefeld-Gellep, about halfway. Next is back through Dormagen.
5. back through Dormagen
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dormagen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Dormagen sits at 129 km, about halfway. Next is back through Köln-Alteburg.
6. back through Köln-Alteburg
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Köln-Alteburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Köln-Alteburg comes up about 166 km into the recorded legs. Next is Bonn.
7. Bonn
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bonn write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bonn closes the day.
Leg by leg
Bonn to Köln-Alteburg
Bonn → Köln-Alteburg is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Köln-Alteburg to Dormagen
Köln-Alteburg → Dormagen is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dormagen to Krefeld-Gellep
Dormagen → Krefeld-Gellep is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Krefeld-Gellep to back through Dormagen
Krefeld-Gellep → back through Dormagen is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dormagen to back through Köln-Alteburg
back through Dormagen → back through Köln-Alteburg is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Köln-Alteburg to Bonn
back through Köln-Alteburg → Bonn is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.