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 304 km round trip from Neuss - roughly 4 h 56 in the saddle. On the way it passes Duisburg-Werthausen, Xanten-Fürstenberg, Kleve-Reichswald | East and Arnhem-Meinerswijk. It crosses from Germany into Netherlands - carry ID and check the toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 36 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
On the southern edge of Neuss, in a residential area near the Rhine, lies one of the most important Roman military sites in Germany, though you would hardly know it from the surface. This was Novaesium, a legionary fortress that housed thousands of soldiers for much of the first century, and it is known as the Koenenlager after Constantin Koenen, the local archaeologist who excavated it systematically in the late nineteenth century. His work revealed the layout of an entire legionary camp, with headquarters, barracks, granaries and a hospital, and it became a model for Roman military archaeology. The site is part of the Lower German Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2021.
Read the complete Neuss-Koenenlager write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Neuss-Koenenlager is where the day begins. Next is Duisburg-Werthausen.
Werthausen sits on the left bank of the Rhine in Duisburg, across the river from the steelworks, harbour cranes and bridges of one of Europe's great industrial cities. It is an unexpected place to look for Rome, but the Lower Rhine was the frontier of the Roman Empire for centuries, and the line of forts, fortlets and watch posts along it is now inscribed on the UNESCO list as the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, the Lower German Limes. The site at Werthausen is one of these components, part of the chain of military posts that watched the river between the legionary bases at Neuss and Xanten.
Read the complete Duisburg-Werthausen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Duisburg-Werthausen comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is Xanten-Fürstenberg.
The Fürstenberg is a low hill on the edge of the Lower Rhine plain, just south of Xanten, and two thousand years ago it was one of the most important military bases in the Roman Empire. Here the Romans built Vetera, a legionary fortress that housed up to two legions and served as a springboard for campaigns into Germania under Augustus. In AD 69 and 70, during the Batavian revolt, Vetera was besieged, starved into surrender and destroyed, and a new fortress was built nearby. The site on the Fürstenberg is part of the Lower German Limes, the Roman frontier along the Rhine from the Alps to the North Sea, which was added to the World Heritage list in 2021. On the ground there is little to see, mostly fields and woods, but the elevated position, with views over the river plain, explains why the Romans chose it.
Read the complete Xanten-Fürstenberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 80 km into the recorded legs you reach Xanten-Fürstenberg. Next is Kleve-Reichswald | East.
South of Kleve, near the Dutch border, the Reichswald is one of the largest forests in the Lower Rhine region, a mix of oak, beech and pine on a low ridge of sand and gravel left behind by the glaciers of the Ice Age. On its edge, the Romans built military installations as part of the Lower German Limes, the frontier along the Rhine, and the remains in the Reichswald, including traces of camps, are part of the World Heritage site listed by UNESCO in 2021. There is little to see above ground, but the forest itself is a quiet, beautiful place to walk.
Read the complete Kleve-Reichswald | East write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kleve-Reichswald | East, about halfway. Next is Arnhem-Meinerswijk.
The Rhine has always been a frontier here. In Roman times, the Lower Rhine marked the northern edge of the empire, and the Romans built a chain of forts, watchtowers and roads along its banks to guard it. At Meinerswijk, on the southern bank of the river opposite Arnhem, the remains of one of those forts lie buried in the floodplain. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Lower German Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2021. There is little to see on the surface, but the floodplain itself, a wide expanse of meadows, ponds and willows, is a pleasant place to walk, and markers explain the history.
Read the complete Arnhem-Meinerswijk write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Arnhem-Meinerswijk sits at 151 km, about halfway. Next is back through Kleve-Reichswald | East.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kleve-Reichswald | East write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Kleve-Reichswald | East comes up about 188 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Xanten-Fürstenberg.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Xanten-Fürstenberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 222 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Xanten-Fürstenberg. Next is back through Duisburg-Werthausen.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Duisburg-Werthausen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Duisburg-Werthausen, late in the day. Next is Neuss-Koenenlager.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Neuss-Koenenlager write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 304 km.
Neuss-Koenenlager → Duisburg-Werthausen is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Duisburg-Werthausen → Xanten-Fürstenberg is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Xanten-Fürstenberg → Kleve-Reichswald | East is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kleve-Reichswald | East → Arnhem-Meinerswijk is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Arnhem-Meinerswijk → back through Kleve-Reichswald | East is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kleve-Reichswald | East → back through Xanten-Fürstenberg is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Xanten-Fürstenberg → back through Duisburg-Werthausen is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Duisburg-Werthausen → Neuss-Koenenlager is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.