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 Kalkar it runs 204 km to Kalkar; allow about 3 h 41 of riding. It goes by way of Kleve-Keeken, Arnhem-Meinerswijk, Tiel Inundation Canal and back through Arnhem-Meinerswijk. It crosses from Germany into Netherlands - carry ID and check the toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Near the Dutch border, where the Rhine flows through wide meadows and dyked farmland, the small town of Kalkar holds a surprising amount of history. The Kalkarberg is a low rise near Altkalkar, and on it stood the Roman fort of Burginatium, one of the posts along the Lower German Limes, now part of the UNESCO-listed Frontiers of the Roman Empire. The rise would have given a valuable view over the river plain, and the fort controlled the road between Xanten and Nijmegen. Today it is fields and trees, but the shape of the land still hints at the old fortification.
Read the complete Kalkar-Kalkarberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kalkar-Kalkarberg is where the day begins. Next is Kleve-Keeken.
Here the Rhine stops being a German river. Just downstream of the village of Keeken, the great river crosses the border into the Netherlands, and a few kilometres further on it divides, with the Waal carrying most of the water west and the Pannerdens Canal leading to the Nederrijn and the IJssel. In Roman times, this was the northern frontier of the empire, the Lower German Limes, and Keeken is one of the sites listed as part of the UNESCO frontier, with traces of Roman military installations along the old river course.
Read the complete Kleve-Keeken write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kleve-Keeken comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Arnhem-Meinerswijk.
The Rhine has always been a frontier here. In Roman times, the Lower Rhine marked the northern edge of the empire, and the Romans built a chain of forts, watchtowers and roads along its banks to guard it. At Meinerswijk, on the southern bank of the river opposite Arnhem, the remains of one of those forts lie buried in the floodplain. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Lower German Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2021. There is little to see on the surface, but the floodplain itself, a wide expanse of meadows, ponds and willows, is a pleasant place to walk, and markers explain the history.
Read the complete Arnhem-Meinerswijk write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 58 km into the recorded legs you reach Arnhem-Meinerswijk. Next is Tiel Inundation Canal.
Tiel is a river town on the Waal, the main branch of the Rhine in the Netherlands, in the middle of the Betuwe, a region of orchards, dykes and meadows between the Waal and the Lower Rhine. Just outside the town, a wide, straight channel runs through the fields, crossed by bridges and lined by dykes. This is the Tiel inundation canal, built in the late nineteenth century as part of the New Dutch Waterline, the defensive system of controlled flooding that protected the heart of Holland, and it is now part of the UNESCO-listed Dutch Water Defence Lines.
Read the complete Tiel Inundation Canal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tiel Inundation Canal, about halfway. Next is back through Arnhem-Meinerswijk.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Arnhem-Meinerswijk write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Arnhem-Meinerswijk sits at 131 km, about halfway. Next is back through Kleve-Keeken.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kleve-Keeken write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Kleve-Keeken comes up about 181 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kalkar-Kalkarberg.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kalkar-Kalkarberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kalkar-Kalkarberg closes the day.
Kalkar-Kalkarberg → Kleve-Keeken is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kleve-Keeken → Arnhem-Meinerswijk is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Arnhem-Meinerswijk → Tiel Inundation Canal is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tiel Inundation Canal → back through Arnhem-Meinerswijk is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Arnhem-Meinerswijk → back through Kleve-Keeken is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kleve-Keeken → Kalkar-Kalkarberg is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.