Why this ride
A 268 km round trip from Dormagen - roughly 3 h 33 in the saddle. It goes by way of Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in, Xanten-CUT and back through Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Dormagen and Xanten-CUT
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 268 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 33
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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
Dormagen is where the day begins. Next is Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in.
2. Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in
The headframe of Shaft XII at Zollverein, with its red steel lattice and double wheels, is the Eiffel Tower of the Ruhr, and it is easy to see why. Designed by the architects Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer and opened in 1932, the shaft and its surrounding buildings were built in a clean, functional style influenced by the Bauhaus, and it was hailed as the most beautiful coal mine in the world. At its peak, Zollverein was one of the largest and most productive mines in Europe, and the adjacent coking plant processed coal into coke for the steel industry. The mine closed in 1986, the coking plant in 1993, and UNESCO listed the complex in 2001.
Read the complete Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in comes up about 69 km into the recorded legs. Next is Xanten-CUT.
3. Xanten-CUT
Xanten is an old Roman town that still behaves like a small, cosy market town on the Lower Rhine, and right next to it lies one of the largest archaeological parks in Germany. Colonia Ulpia Traiana, CUT for short, was founded around AD 100 under the emperor Trajan, who gave it the rank of a colonia and his family name. At its height it was a walled city of several thousand people, the second most important Roman city in the province of Lower Germany after Cologne.
Read the complete Xanten-CUT write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 128 km into the recorded legs you reach Xanten-CUT. Next is back through Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in.
4. back through Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in, late in the day. Next is Dormagen.
5. 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 at Dormagen. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Dormagen to Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in
Dormagen → Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in to Xanten-CUT
Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in → Xanten-CUT is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Xanten-CUT to back through Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in
Xanten-CUT → back through Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in to Dormagen
back through Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in → Dormagen is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.