Why this ride
From Alfter it runs 102 km to Alfter; allow about 2 h 28 of riding. It goes by way of Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof, Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 and back through Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 2 and Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 102 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 28
- 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 2
Bornheim is asparagus country, and if you ride past the Kottenforst in late spring you will see why. The sandy soil on the Rhine terraces just south of Cologne suits the white spears perfectly, and from roughly April to the end of June the farm stands along the roads sell them by the kilo, along with strawberries that follow soon afterwards. This is the Vorgebirge, a low ridge between the Rhine plain and the Eifel foothills, long used for market gardening and orchards, and the Weißer Stein stop sits in the woodland at its edge.
Read the complete Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 2 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 2 is where the day begins. Next is Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof.
2. Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof
There is very little to see at first glance here, which is exactly what makes the place oddly moving. South of Bonn, in the edge of the Kottenforst near the Heiderhof quarter of Bad Godesberg and the town of Wachtberg, the forest floor hides the faint outlines of Roman practice camps. Legionaries stationed at the fortress of Bonna on the Rhine marched out here to train at the hard, boring work that won the empire its wars: digging ditches, throwing up earth ramparts and laying out a camp to the standard plan in a few hours. A handful of these training camps in the Kottenforst are part of the Lower German Limes, the Roman frontier along the Rhine recognised by UNESCO in 2021.
Read the complete Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2.
3. Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2
This is where it all begins, or ends, depending on which way you are walking. At Rheinbrohl, on the east bank of the Rhine between Bonn and Koblenz, the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes left the river and struck out across country, running more than five hundred kilometres to the Danube near Regensburg. The first watchtowers, numbered 1/1 and 1/2, stood here near the river, and the line can be followed into the hills from the edge of the village. The whole frontier is part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and Rheinbrohl has a modern museum, the RömerWelt, which brings the frontier to life with reconstructions, exhibits and hands-on activities.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 51 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2. Next is back through Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof.
4. back through Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof 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 | Heiderhof, late in the day. Next is Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 2.
5. Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 2
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 2 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 2. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 2 to Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof
Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 2 → Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof to Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2
Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof → Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 to back through Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof
Watchtowers WP 1/1 to 1/2 → back through Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof to Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 2
back through Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof → Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 2 is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.