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 334 km round trip from Hengstdal - roughly 4 h 47 in the saddle. It goes by way of Kalkar-Kalkarberg, Moers-Asberg, Neuss-Koenenlager and Cologne Cathedral. It crosses from Netherlands into Germany - carry ID and check the toll rules. Open plateau country, wide and exposed.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 42 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Climb to the northern edge of the Kops Plateau and the land falls away to a wide green river valley, the Waal, the Rhine's biggest arm, and beyond it the flat polders of the Betuwe stretch toward the horizon. The ridge you stand on is a relic of the Ice Age. About a hundred and fifty thousand years ago an enormous glacier pushed ahead of itself a wall of sand and gravel, and the hills around Nijmegen, which locals call the seven hills even though nobody agrees which seven, are its leftovers. For the Dutch, who live mostly below sea level, this is genuinely high ground.
Read the complete Nijmegen-Kops Plateau | North write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Nijmegen-Kops Plateau | North is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kalkar-Kalkarberg comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is Moers-Asberg.
Asberg is a quiet district on the southern edge of Moers, on the left bank of the Lower Rhine, and beneath its houses and fields lies the Roman fort of Asciburgium, one of the earliest military bases on the Rhine frontier. It was founded around the time of the emperor Augustus or soon after, garrisoned by cavalry and auxiliary troops, and abandoned toward the end of the first century, when the Rhine shifted its course and moved away from the fort. The site is now part of the Lower German Limes UNESCO site, and although there is little to see above ground, information boards and outlines help you imagine the scene.
Read the complete Moers-Asberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 92 km into the recorded legs you reach Moers-Asberg. Next is Neuss-Koenenlager.
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, about halfway. 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.
Cologne Cathedral sits at 177 km, about halfway. Next is back through 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.
back through Neuss-Koenenlager comes up about 205 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Moers-Asberg.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Moers-Asberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 243 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Moers-Asberg. Next is back through Kalkar-Kalkarberg.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kalkar-Kalkarberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Kalkar-Kalkarberg, late in the day. Next is Nijmegen-Kops Plateau | North.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nijmegen-Kops Plateau | North write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 334 km.
Nijmegen-Kops Plateau | North → Kalkar-Kalkarberg is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kalkar-Kalkarberg → Moers-Asberg is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Moers-Asberg → Neuss-Koenenlager is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Neuss-Koenenlager → Cologne Cathedral is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cologne Cathedral → back through Neuss-Koenenlager is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Neuss-Koenenlager → back through Moers-Asberg is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Moers-Asberg → back through Kalkar-Kalkarberg is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kalkar-Kalkarberg → Nijmegen-Kops Plateau | North is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.