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.
A 155 km round trip from Elst - roughly 3 h 20 in the saddle. On the way it passes Kleve-Reichswald | West, Uedem-Hochwald | Hochwald 1, Kleve-Reichswald | East and back through Uedem-Hochwald | Hochwald 1. It crosses from Netherlands into Germany - carry ID and check the toll rules.
Elst is a commuter town in the Betuwe, the flat river island between the Rhine and the Waal, halfway between Arnhem and Nijmegen. At first glance there is nothing remarkable about its big brick church on the market square. The surprise lies underneath it. Excavations in the twentieth century found the remains of two Roman temples beneath the floor, built one after another on the same spot, dedicated to a local god adopted into the Roman world. The site belongs to the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Lower German Limes, inscribed by UNESCO in 2021, and the foundations can be seen in the church cellar when it is open.
Read the complete Elst-Grote Kerk write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Elst-Grote Kerk is where the day begins. 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 comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Uedem-Hochwald | Hochwald 1.
Hochwald is a ridge of woods, which is a surprising thing to find in the flat country of the Lower Rhine. The ground here was pushed up by the glaciers of the Ice Age, which shoved sand and gravel into long, low ridges known as push moraines, and the woods that cover the ridge near Uedem have been left in peace for generations. Beech and oak form a canopy over the old lanes, and in autumn the leaf litter is deep and the air smells of mushrooms. For a rider used to the endless flatness of the Niederrhein, even a modest hill feels like an event.
Read the complete Uedem-Hochwald | Hochwald 1 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 53 km into the recorded legs you reach Uedem-Hochwald | Hochwald 1. Next is Kleve-Reichswald | East.
South of Kleve, near the Dutch border, the Reichswald is one of the largest forests in the Lower Rhine region, a mix of oak, beech and pine on a low ridge of sand and gravel left behind by the glaciers of the Ice Age. On its edge, the Romans built military installations as part of the Lower German Limes, the frontier along the Rhine, and the remains in the Reichswald, including traces of camps, are part of the World Heritage site listed by UNESCO in 2021. There is little to see above ground, but the forest itself is a quiet, beautiful place to walk.
Read the complete Kleve-Reichswald | East write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kleve-Reichswald | East, about halfway. Next is back through Uedem-Hochwald | Hochwald 1.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Uedem-Hochwald | Hochwald 1 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Uedem-Hochwald | Hochwald 1 sits at 114 km, about halfway. Next is back through Kleve-Reichswald | West.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kleve-Reichswald | West write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Kleve-Reichswald | West comes up about 125 km into the recorded legs. Next is Elst-Grote Kerk.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Elst-Grote Kerk write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Elst-Grote Kerk closes the day.
Elst-Grote Kerk → Kleve-Reichswald | West is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kleve-Reichswald | West → Uedem-Hochwald | Hochwald 1 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Uedem-Hochwald | Hochwald 1 → Kleve-Reichswald | East is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kleve-Reichswald | East → back through Uedem-Hochwald | Hochwald 1 is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Uedem-Hochwald | Hochwald 1 → back through Kleve-Reichswald | West is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kleve-Reichswald | West → Elst-Grote Kerk is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.