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.
251 km from Kalkar to Kalkar, about 4 h 35 of riding. On the way it passes Fort Pannerden, Xanten-Fürstenberg, Moers-Asberg and back through Xanten-Fürstenberg. It crosses from Germany into Netherlands - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Till is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort Pannerden comes up about 31 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 88 km into the recorded legs you reach Xanten-Fürstenberg. 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.
Moers-Asberg, about halfway. 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.
back through Xanten-Fürstenberg sits at 155 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fort Pannerden.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort Pannerden write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort Pannerden comes up about 221 km into the recorded legs. Next is Till.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Till write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Till closes the day.
Till → Fort Pannerden is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort Pannerden → Xanten-Fürstenberg is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Xanten-Fürstenberg → Moers-Asberg is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Moers-Asberg → back through Xanten-Fürstenberg is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Xanten-Fürstenberg → back through Fort Pannerden is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort Pannerden → Till is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.