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 Altstadt Nord it runs 309 km to Altstadt Nord; allow about 5 h 46 of riding. The stops in between: Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4, Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2, Watchtower WP 1/64 and Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f. The line favours views over speed.
34 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it — speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
For about 33 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Six hundred and thirty-two years. That is how long it took to finish Cologne Cathedral, from the laying of the foundation stone in 1248 to the completion of the spires in 1880, and when you stand at its foot by the main station it feels as though the building is still growing. The twin towers climb to around 157 metres, black with soot and weather, and for a few years after completion they made it the tallest building in the world.
Read the complete Cologne Cathedral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cologne Cathedral is where the day begins. Next is Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4.
West of the Rhine, between Bonn and the low hills of the Vorgebirge, a broad belt of oak and beech woodland covers a plateau called the Kottenforst. For centuries it was a hunting preserve of the Electors of Cologne, who lived in Bonn, and the forest still carries the marks of that history. Long straight rides, called Schneisen, cut through the trees in star patterns, laid out so that riders and hounds could drive deer toward the hunters, and some of these old alleys are now cycle paths and walking tracks. The southern and northern parts of the woodland are now a nature park, shared with the Ville, part of the Rhineland's wider belt of forests.
Read the complete Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4 comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2.
This is where it all begins, or ends, depending on which way you are walking. At Rheinbrohl, on the east bank of the Rhine between Bonn and Koblenz, the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes left the river and struck out across country, running more than five hundred kilometres to the Danube near Regensburg. The first watchtowers, numbered 1/1 and 1/2, stood here near the river, and the line can be followed into the hills from the edge of the village. The whole frontier is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and Rheinbrohl has a modern museum, the RömerWelt, which brings the frontier to life with reconstructions, exhibits and hands-on activities.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 78 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2. Next is Watchtower WP 1/64.
Höhr-Grenzhausen smells of clay and fire. The town, in the Westerwald hills north east of Koblenz, is the heart of the Kannenbäckerland, the jug-bakers' land, where potters have been making salt-glazed stoneware for centuries, with its characteristic grey body and cobalt blue decoration. Westerwald stoneware jugs, mugs and pots were exported across Europe and beyond, and the craft is still alive today, with workshops, a ceramics museum and a college for ceramic design. The Roman frontier ran right past the town, and the site of watchtower WP 1/64, near Höhr-Grenzhausen, is one of the many traces of the Upper German Limes, part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/64 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 1/64, about halfway. Next is Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f.
North of the Taunus ridge, the Limes crossed a high, open plateau between the Rhine and the Lahn, and the stretch with watchtowers 2/23 to 2/26 runs through the farmland and woods near Miehlen and Singhofen in the Rhein-Lahn district. The remains here are subtle, mostly low banks and the traces of towers in fields and forest edges, but the line of the frontier is marked by the long-distance Limes trail and information boards. This is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire, a stretch of the line that few visitors ever see.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f sits at 147 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtower WP 1/64.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/64 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtower WP 1/64 comes up about 197 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 232 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2. Next is back through Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4, late in the day. Next is Cologne Cathedral.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cologne Cathedral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 309 km.
Cologne Cathedral → Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4 is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4 → Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 → Watchtower WP 1/64 is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/64 → Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP WP 2/23 to 2/26 including f → back through Watchtower WP 1/64 is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 1/64 → back through Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 → back through Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4 is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4 → Cologne Cathedral is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.