Why this ride
A 375 km round trip from Remagen - roughly 5 h 11 in the saddle. The stops in between: Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1, Dormagen, Krefeld-Gellep and Alpen-Drüpt. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Remagen and Alpen-Drüpt
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 375 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 11
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1.
2. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 comes up about 46 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dormagen.
3. Dormagen
Dormagen is not the sort of place that ends up on postcards, and it does not try to be. It is a working town of some sixty thousand on the left bank of the Rhine between Cologne and Düsseldorf, dominated on its northern side by a huge chemical park whose pipes and stacks glow at night. Yet the name itself comes from Roman times: Durnomagus was a fort on the Lower German Limes, the Rhine frontier that UNESCO listed in 2021, and a cavalry unit was stationed here to patrol the river and the road along it.
Read the complete Dormagen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 107 km into the recorded legs you reach Dormagen. Next is Krefeld-Gellep.
4. Krefeld-Gellep
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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Krefeld-Gellep, about halfway. Next is Alpen-Drüpt.
5. Alpen-Drüpt
On the flat farmland of the Lower Rhine, between Alpen and Rheinberg, there is little to catch the eye: fields of maize and potatoes, poplars along ditches, brick farmhouses and the occasional windmill. Yet this was once the edge of the Roman world. The Rhine formed the frontier of the empire, and along its banks the Romans built legionary fortresses, forts, watchtowers and temporary camps. Alpen-Drüpt is one of the sites included in the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Lower German Limes, inscribed by UNESCO in 2021; like many on the list, it survives mainly below ground, known from aerial photographs and excavations rather than standing ruins.
Read the complete Alpen-Drüpt write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Alpen-Drüpt sits at 169 km, about halfway. Next is back through Krefeld-Gellep.
6. back through Krefeld-Gellep
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Krefeld-Gellep write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Krefeld-Gellep comes up about 228 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Dormagen.
7. back through Dormagen
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dormagen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 268 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Dormagen. Next is back through Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1.
8. back through Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1, late in the day. Next is Remagen.
9. 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
The route ends here after 375 km.
Leg by leg
Remagen to Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1
Remagen → Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 to Dormagen
Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 → Dormagen is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dormagen to Krefeld-Gellep
Dormagen → Krefeld-Gellep is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Krefeld-Gellep to Alpen-Drüpt
Krefeld-Gellep → Alpen-Drüpt is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Alpen-Drüpt to back through Krefeld-Gellep
Alpen-Drüpt → back through Krefeld-Gellep is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Krefeld-Gellep to back through Dormagen
back through Krefeld-Gellep → back through Dormagen is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dormagen to back through Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1
back through Dormagen → back through Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 to Remagen
back through Kottenforst Nord | Am Weißen Stein 1 → Remagen is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.