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.
A 190 km round trip from Krefeld - roughly 3 h 06 in the saddle. On the way it passes Neuss-Reckberg | Wachtturm, Cologne Cathedral, Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 and back through Cologne Cathedral. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 40 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Krefeld-Gellep is where the day begins. Next is Neuss-Reckberg | Wachtturm.
Neuss has been a garrison town for two thousand years, and it still carries the Roman name in a shortened form: Novaesium, the legionary fortress that stood on the Rhine near the mouth of the Erft, was one of the oldest Roman military sites in Germany, founded in the days of Augustus. The Rhine was the frontier here, the Lower Germanic Limes, with no wall but a river, fortresses and watchtowers like the one at Reckberg, and the whole line was added to the UNESCO list in 2021.
Read the complete Neuss-Reckberg | Wachtturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Neuss-Reckberg | Wachtturm comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cologne Cathedral.
Six hundred and thirty-two years. That is how long it took to finish Cologne Cathedral, from the laying of the foundation stone in 1248 to the completion of the spires in 1880, and when you stand at its foot by the main station it feels as though the building is still growing. The twin towers climb to around 157 metres, black with soot and weather, and for a few years after completion they made it the tallest building in the world.
Read the complete Cologne Cathedral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 65 km into the recorded legs you reach Cologne Cathedral. Next is Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1.
The Kottenforst looks like an ordinary Rhineland woodland of oak, beech and hornbeam, with walkers, joggers and the odd horse rider, but in the second half of the first century and beyond it was a training ground for the Roman army. In clearings of the forest, the legion stationed at Bonna, today's Bonn, built a series of temporary camps as exercises, digging ditches and raising ramparts to practise the rapid construction they would need in the field. The remains of these camps, faint earthworks under the trees, are included in the Lower Germanic Limes, which UNESCO listed in 2021. Am Weissen Stein is one of the northern groups.
Read the complete Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1, about halfway. Next is back through Cologne Cathedral.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cologne Cathedral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cologne Cathedral sits at 127 km, about halfway. Next is back through Neuss-Reckberg | Wachtturm.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Neuss-Reckberg | Wachtturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Neuss-Reckberg | Wachtturm comes up about 167 km into the recorded legs. Next is Krefeld-Gellep.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Krefeld-Gellep write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Krefeld-Gellep closes the day.
Krefeld-Gellep → Neuss-Reckberg | Wachtturm is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Neuss-Reckberg | Wachtturm → Cologne Cathedral is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cologne Cathedral → Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 → back through Cologne Cathedral is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cologne Cathedral → back through Neuss-Reckberg | Wachtturm is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Neuss-Reckberg | Wachtturm → Krefeld-Gellep is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.