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 Alfter it runs 404 km to Alfter; allow about 5 h 09 of riding. It goes by way of Watchtowers WP 1/36*, Neuss-Reckberg | Kleinkastell and back through Watchtowers WP 1/36*. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
West of the Rhine, between Bonn and the low hills of the Vorgebirge, a broad belt of oak and beech woodland covers a plateau called the Kottenforst. For centuries it was a hunting preserve of the Electors of Cologne, who lived in Bonn, and the forest still carries the marks of that history. Long straight rides, called Schneisen, cut through the trees in star patterns, laid out so that riders and hounds could drive deer toward the hunters, and some of these old alleys are now cycle paths and walking tracks. The southern and northern parts of the woodland are now a nature park, shared with the Ville, part of the Rhineland's wider belt of forests.
Read the complete Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/36*.
Julius Caesar put a bridge across the Rhine somewhere near here in 55 BC, a feat of carpentry that his own account says took ten days. Scholars still argue about the exact spot, but the Neuwied basin is one of the favourite candidates, and that gives the surrounding hills an extra layer of legend. A century and a half later the Romans came back for good and built the Limes along the heights above the river, with a chain of timber towers watching the Germanic side. The asterisk on this tower's number marks it as a conjectural position rather than a confirmed one.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/36* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 1/36* comes up about 79 km into the recorded legs. Next is Neuss-Reckberg | Kleinkastell.
The Rhine was the northern frontier of the Roman Empire for centuries, and the string of forts, towers and camps along its western bank is now recognised as the Lower Germanic Limes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2021.
Read the complete Neuss-Reckberg | Kleinkastell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 202 km into the recorded legs you reach Neuss-Reckberg | Kleinkastell. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 1/36*.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/36* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtowers WP 1/36*, late in the day. Next is Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4. That is the ride.
Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4 → Watchtowers WP 1/36* is 79 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 1/36* → Neuss-Reckberg | Kleinkastell is 123 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Neuss-Reckberg | Kleinkastell → back through Watchtowers WP 1/36* is 121 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Watchtowers WP 1/36* → Kottenforst Nord | Domhecken 4 is 81 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.