Why this ride
A 110 km round trip from Alfter - roughly 1 h 59 in the saddle. It goes by way of Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg, Remagen and back through Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 and Remagen
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 110 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 59
- 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. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg.
2. 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
Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Remagen.
3. 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
about 55 km into the recorded legs you reach Remagen. Next is back through Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg.
4. 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
back through Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg, late in the day. Next is Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1.
5. 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 at Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
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 back through Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg
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 Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1
back through Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg → Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.