Nijmegen-Hunerberg and Kalkar-Kalkarberg

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Nijmegen-Hunerberg

   Julius Civilis was a Batavian noble who had served in the Roman army, and in the year 69 he turned against it. The Batavians, a Germanic people who lived on the Rhine delta, rose in revolt during the civil war that followed Nero's death, and for a year they threatened Roman power on the northern frontier. Nijmegen, then a Batavian town, was burned, and when the rebellion was crushed, the Romans built a new, massive legionary fortress on the Hunerberg, a rise on the edge of the town, to keep control. The Tenth Legion, called Gemina, was stationed there for more than thirty years, and the settlement that grew beside it became a Roman town with a grid of streets, baths and a market.

   Read the complete Nijmegen-Hunerberg write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Nijmegen-Hunerberg is where the day begins. Next is Till.

2. 2. Till

   The Lower Rhine around Kalkar and Kleve is wide, flat country: green polders, willows along drainage ditches, brick farmhouses and church spires visible for miles. Till is a small village here, part of Bedburg-Hau, just off the Rhine embankments between Kalkar and Kleve, with Emmerich across the river. It lies close to the line of the Roman frontier, the Lower German Limes, which followed the Rhine to the North Sea.

   Read the complete Till write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Till comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort Pannerden.

3. 3. Fort Pannerden

   Right where the Rhine enters the Netherlands and splits in two, the Dutch put a fort. Fort Pannerden was built around 1870 at the point where the river divides into the Waal, flowing west toward Nijmegen and Rotterdam, and the Pannerdens Kanaal, which feeds the Nederrijn and the IJssel. Control the split, and you control how much water goes where, which in a country defended by deliberate flooding mattered enormously. The fort, a low, heavy brick and earth structure surrounded by a moat, guarded the dykes and sluices that could send water into the defensive lines further west. It is counted among the Dutch Water Defence Lines listed by UNESCO.

   Read the complete Fort Pannerden write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 64 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort Pannerden. Next is Kalkar-Kalkarberg.

4. 4. Kalkar-Kalkarberg

   Near the Dutch border, where the Rhine flows through wide meadows and dyked farmland, the small town of Kalkar holds a surprising amount of history. The Kalkarberg is a low rise near Altkalkar, and on it stood the Roman fort of Burginatium, one of the posts along the Lower German Limes, now part of the UNESCO-listed Frontiers of the Roman Empire. The rise would have given a valuable view over the river plain, and the fort controlled the road between Xanten and Nijmegen. Today it is fields and trees, but the shape of the land still hints at the old fortification.

   Read the complete Kalkar-Kalkarberg write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Kalkar-Kalkarberg, about halfway. Next is back through Fort Pannerden.

5. 5. back through Fort Pannerden

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Fort Pannerden write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Fort Pannerden sits at 123 km, about halfway. Next is back through Till.

6. 6. back through Till

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Till write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Till comes up about 175 km into the recorded legs. Next is Nijmegen-Hunerberg.

7. 7. Nijmegen-Hunerberg

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Nijmegen-Hunerberg write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Nijmegen-Hunerberg closes the day.