Why this ride
A 193 km round trip from Bayenthal - roughly 3 h 47 in the saddle. The stops in between: Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1, Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg, Remagen and Kottenforst Süd | Bellerbuschallee.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Köln-Alteburg and Kottenforst Süd | Bellerbuschallee
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 193 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 47
- 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
Köln-Alteburg → Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 25 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 23 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1.
2. Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1
The Kottenforst looks like an ordinary Rhineland woodland of oak, beech and hornbeam, with walkers, joggers and the odd horse rider, but in the second half of the first century and beyond it was a training ground for the Roman army. In clearings of the forest, the legion stationed at Bonna, today's Bonn, built a series of temporary camps as exercises, digging ditches and raising ramparts to practise the rapid construction they would need in the field. The remains of these camps, faint earthworks under the trees, are included in the Lower Germanic Limes, which UNESCO listed in 2021. Am Weissen Stein is one of the northern groups.
Read the complete Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg.
3. Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg
South of Bonn the land rises into the Kottenforst, a big forest on a low plateau that the archbishops of Cologne once kept as a hunting ground. They cut long straight rides through it, many meeting at star-shaped junctions so that a hunting party could see the quarry and follow it, and the pattern survives. The woods are mostly beech and oak, with a few conifer plantations and damp hollows, and they cover a large part of the area between Bonn, Meckenheim and Wachtberg. The Riesenweg, the Giants' Way, is one of the paths that cross it, a name that suggests something older and bigger than the track you walk on.
Read the complete Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg. Next is Remagen.
4. Remagen
On 7 March 1945, soldiers of the US 9th Armored Division reached Remagen and found the Ludendorff railway bridge across the Rhine still standing, despite German attempts to blow it. They rushed across, and for the first time the Allies had a foothold on the far bank of the great river. Ten days later the damaged bridge collapsed, but by then pontoons had been built and the war in the west had entered its last chapter. What remains today are the black stone towers on both banks, and those on the Remagen side house a small peace museum telling the story with honesty and without glorification.
Read the complete Remagen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Remagen, about halfway. Next is Kottenforst Süd | Bellerbuschallee.
5. Kottenforst Süd | Bellerbuschallee
The Kottenforst is a big, flat, rather mysterious forest on the plateau south-west of Bonn, crossed by long, dead-straight avenues laid out by the Electors of Cologne in the eighteenth century as hunting rides. The Bellerbuschallee is one of them, and walking or riding along it you pass oak and beech, wet hollows and the occasional deer. Under the trees, though, lie traces much older than the Electors: the low ramparts of Roman practice camps, where legionaries from Bonn learned to dig defences quickly. These camps form part of the Lower German Limes World Heritage listing inscribed in 2021.
Read the complete Kottenforst Süd | Bellerbuschallee write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kottenforst Süd | Bellerbuschallee sits at 77 km, about halfway. Next is back through Remagen.
6. back through Remagen
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Remagen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Remagen comes up about 115 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg.
7. back through Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 134 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg. Next is back through Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1.
8. back through Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1, late in the day. Next is Köln-Alteburg.
9. 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
The route ends here after 193 km.
Leg by leg
Köln-Alteburg to Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1
Köln-Alteburg → Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 to Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg
Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 → Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg to Remagen
Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg → Remagen is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Remagen to Kottenforst Süd | Bellerbuschallee
Remagen → Kottenforst Süd | Bellerbuschallee is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kottenforst Süd | Bellerbuschallee to back through Remagen
Kottenforst Süd | Bellerbuschallee → back through Remagen is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Remagen to back through Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg
back through Remagen → back through Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg to back through Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1
back through Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg → back through Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 to Köln-Alteburg
back through Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 → Köln-Alteburg is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.