Why this ride
A 260 km round trip from Wachtberg - roughly 3 h 45 in the saddle. It goes by way of Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at, Dormagen, Krefeld-Gellep and back through Dormagen. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg and Krefeld-Gellep
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 260 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 45
- 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
Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg → Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust a
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 31 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 46 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at.
2. Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at
Clemens August of Bavaria, prince-elector and archbishop of Cologne in the eighteenth century, loved two things above all: hunting with falcons and building in the latest style. At Brühl, just south of Cologne, he created two of the finest rococo buildings in Germany. Augustusburg Palace, his summer residence, has a staircase designed by Balthasar Neumann that is one of the masterpieces of the period, a whirl of marble, stucco and frescoes, and a formal French garden that stretches toward the forest. Falkenlust, a smaller hunting lodge at the end of a long avenue, was built for falconry, with a delightful interior decorated with tiles and lacquerwork. The two castles were listed by UNESCO in 1984.
Read the complete Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at comes up about 46 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dormagen.
3. Dormagen
Dormagen is not the sort of place that ends up on postcards, and it does not try to be. It is a working town of some sixty thousand on the left bank of the Rhine between Cologne and Düsseldorf, dominated on its northern side by a huge chemical park whose pipes and stacks glow at night. Yet the name itself comes from Roman times: Durnomagus was a fort on the Lower German Limes, the Rhine frontier that UNESCO listed in 2021, and a cavalry unit was stationed here to patrol the river and the road along it.
Read the complete Dormagen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 88 km into the recorded legs you reach Dormagen. Next is Krefeld-Gellep.
4. Krefeld-Gellep
Most people pass Krefeld-Gellep without a second thought, because the view is dominated by the harbour of Uerdingen, chemical works and Rhine barges. Yet this is one of the most important Roman and early medieval sites on the Lower Rhine. The Roman fort here was called Gelduba, and it belongs to the Lower German Limes, the frontier along the river that UNESCO recognised in 2021. Tacitus mentions Gelduba in his account of the Batavian revolt of 69 and 70 AD, when legions and rebels fought around the camp, and archaeologists have found traces of that violence in the ground.
Read the complete Krefeld-Gellep write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Krefeld-Gellep, about halfway. Next is back through Dormagen.
5. back through Dormagen
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dormagen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Dormagen sits at 147 km, about halfway. Next is back through Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at.
6. back through Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at comes up about 214 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg.
7. 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
Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg closes the day.
Leg by leg
Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg to Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at
Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg → Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at to Dormagen
Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at → Dormagen is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dormagen to Krefeld-Gellep
Dormagen → Krefeld-Gellep is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Krefeld-Gellep to back through Dormagen
Krefeld-Gellep → back through Dormagen is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dormagen to back through Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at
back through Dormagen → back through Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at to Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg
back through Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at → Kottenforst Süd | Riesenweg is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.