Why this ride
From Wachtberg it runs 355 km to Wachtberg; allow about 5 h 31 of riding. It goes by way of Iversheim, Köln-Alteburg, Monheim-Haus Bürgel and Krefeld-Gellep. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 1 and Krefeld-Gellep
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 355 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 31
- 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
Iversheim → Köln-Alteburg
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 51 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 48 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 1
The Kottenforst is a big, flat-topped wooded ridge south-west of Bonn, an island of oak and hornbeam in a landscape of fields and commuter towns. It was a hunting forest of the Electors of Cologne, and the straight avenues that cut through it, still named Allee, were laid out in the eighteenth century so that a hunting party could ride after game, or follow falcons, in a precise geometric pattern. Elector Clemens August, who built the Augustusburg palace at Brühl and the little hunting lodge of Falkenlust beside it, loved heron hunting with falcons, and the avenues were part of that grand and slightly absurd game.
Read the complete Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 1 is where the day begins. Next is Iversheim.
2. Iversheim
Iversheim is a village in the valley of the Erft, at the northern edge of the Eifel, just downstream from the old spa town of Bad Münstereifel. It is known for one thing: a Roman lime-burning works, one of the best preserved in Europe. The Romans built a series of kilns here to burn limestone from the surrounding hills into quicklime, which was used to make mortar for the forts, towns and roads of the province of Lower Germany. The kilns were worked by detachments of soldiers from the Rhine legions, as inscriptions found on the site show.
Read the complete Iversheim write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Iversheim comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Köln-Alteburg.
3. 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
about 80 km into the recorded legs you reach Köln-Alteburg. Next is Monheim-Haus Bürgel.
4. Monheim-Haus Bürgel
Haus Bürgel is a manor farm that sits on top of a Roman fort, quite literally. The walls of a late Roman fortification, built in the fourth century to guard the Rhine frontier, form part of the foundations and outer walls of the medieval and later farm buildings, and the site is part of the Lower German Limes World Heritage Site, inscribed in 2021. Between Monheim and Düsseldorf-Urdenbach, it lies in a broad meadow landscape on the right bank of the Rhine.
Read the complete Monheim-Haus Bürgel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monheim-Haus Bürgel, about halfway. Next is Krefeld-Gellep.
5. 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 sits at 156 km, about halfway. Next is back through Monheim-Haus Bürgel.
6. back through Monheim-Haus Bürgel
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monheim-Haus Bürgel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Monheim-Haus Bürgel comes up about 226 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Köln-Alteburg.
7. back through 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
about 269 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Köln-Alteburg. Next is back through Iversheim.
8. back through Iversheim
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Iversheim write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Iversheim, late in the day. Next is Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 1.
9. Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 1
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 1 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 355 km.
Leg by leg
Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 1 to Iversheim
Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 1 → Iversheim is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Iversheim to Köln-Alteburg
Iversheim → Köln-Alteburg is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Köln-Alteburg to Monheim-Haus Bürgel
Köln-Alteburg → Monheim-Haus Bürgel is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monheim-Haus Bürgel to Krefeld-Gellep
Monheim-Haus Bürgel → Krefeld-Gellep is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Krefeld-Gellep to back through Monheim-Haus Bürgel
Krefeld-Gellep → back through Monheim-Haus Bürgel is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Monheim-Haus Bürgel to back through Köln-Alteburg
back through Monheim-Haus Bürgel → back through Köln-Alteburg is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Köln-Alteburg to back through Iversheim
back through Köln-Alteburg → back through Iversheim is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Iversheim to Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 1
back through Iversheim → Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 1 is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.