Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 2 and Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 2

   Kottenforst is the name of a forest, but on the ride it is a long, patient place to be. This is the southern end of that great woodland ridge above Bonn, and the Wattendorfer Allee is one of the straight, wide avenues driven through it in the eighteenth century for the Electors of Cologne. The avenues radiate from older hunting points, and they still run dead straight for kilometres, so that from the right spot you can look down a green corridor that ends in a pinprick of light.

   Read the complete Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 2 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 2 is where the day begins. Next is Remagen.

2. 2. 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

   Remagen comes up about 19 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the.

3. 3. Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the

   Here is where the Upper German-Raetian Limes, the longest stretch of Roman frontier in Europe, begins. The Romans started the line at the Rhine near Rheinbrohl and ran it up over the hills of the Westerwald, then on through the Taunus and beyond for more than five hundred kilometres to the Danube. The section with watchtowers numbered WP 1/11 to 1/20 follows the first climb away from the river through the forests above Rheinbrohl, Hammerstein and Niederbreitbach. Most of the towers survive only as low mounds of stone in the woods, but the course of the frontier ditch and rampart can often be traced on foot, and there are information boards and a few reconstructions along the way.

   Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 37 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 1/11 to 1/20 including the. Next is back through Remagen.

4. 4. back through Remagen

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   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

   back through Remagen, late in the day. Next is Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 2.

5. 5. Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 2

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Kottenforst Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 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 Süd | Wattendorfer Allee 2. That is the ride.