Why this ride
From Bad Ems it runs 326 km to Bad Ems; allow about 6 h 07 of riding. The stops in between: Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24, Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof, Iversheim and Köln-Alteburg. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtower WP 1/93 and Köln-Alteburg
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 326 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 07
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Moselle Wine Route
For about 33 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 33 km
- Named road
- Moselle Wine Route
Iversheim → Köln-Alteburg
51 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 47 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtower WP 1/93
Dausenau is the village that leans, or at least its church tower does. The tower of St Kastor, in the Lahn valley just a couple of kilometres from this watchtower site, tilts noticeably, giving the half-timbered lanes below it a slightly drunken air that tourists enjoy. The tower stands beside a gate of the old town wall, and the village is a pretty, slightly sleepy place where the Lahn bends through steep wooded slopes. The Roman tower number on the label belongs to the Limes that ran up and over the hills above the valley, and the site lies on the heights rather than in the village itself.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/93 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 1/93 is where the day begins. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24.
2. Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24
The Upper German-Raetian Limes began at the Rhine, at Rheinbrohl, and climbed into the hills on the east bank, and towers WP 1/23 and 1/24, near the wine village of Leutesdorf, are among the first along its route. They are now marked by foundations or mounds in the forest above the river, and they are part of the World Heritage listing. From here the frontier ran for more than five hundred kilometres to the Danube, and it is fascinating to stand at the very beginning of such an enormous undertaking.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24 comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof.
3. Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof
There is very little to see at first glance here, which is exactly what makes the place oddly moving. South of Bonn, in the edge of the Kottenforst near the Heiderhof quarter of Bad Godesberg and the town of Wachtberg, the forest floor hides the faint outlines of Roman practice camps. Legionaries stationed at the fortress of Bonna on the Rhine marched out here to train at the hard, boring work that won the empire its wars: digging ditches, throwing up earth ramparts and laying out a camp to the standard plan in a few hours. A handful of these training camps in the Kottenforst are part of the Lower German Limes, the Roman frontier along the Rhine recognised by UNESCO in 2021.
Read the complete Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 76 km into the recorded legs you reach Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof. Next is Iversheim.
4. Iversheim
Iversheim is a village in the valley of the Erft, at the northern edge of the Eifel, just downstream from the old spa town of Bad Münstereifel. It is known for one thing: a Roman lime-burning works, one of the best preserved in Europe. The Romans built a series of kilns here to burn limestone from the surrounding hills into quicklime, which was used to make mortar for the forts, towns and roads of the province of Lower Germany. The kilns were worked by detachments of soldiers from the Rhine legions, as inscriptions found on the site show.
Read the complete Iversheim write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Iversheim, about halfway. Next is Köln-Alteburg.
5. Köln-Alteburg
The Roman navy is not the first thing most people associate with Cologne, but for almost two centuries the Rhine fleet, the Classis Germanica, had its main base here at Alteburg, just south of the Roman city. The fort sat on a terrace above the river in what is now the leafy district of Marienburg, near Bayenthal, and from here warships patrolled the Rhine, carried supplies and soldiers, and kept watch on the frontier. The site belongs to the Lower Germanic Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2021, though today it lies mostly under villas, streets and gardens, with only traces and information boards to show where it stood.
Read the complete Köln-Alteburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Köln-Alteburg sits at 163 km, about halfway. Next is back through Iversheim.
6. back through Iversheim
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Iversheim write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Iversheim comes up about 213 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof.
7. back through Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 250 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24.
8. back through Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24, late in the day. Next is Watchtower WP 1/93.
9. Watchtower WP 1/93
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/93 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 326 km.
Leg by leg
Watchtower WP 1/93 to Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24
Watchtower WP 1/93 → Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24 is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24 to Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof
Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24 → Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof to Iversheim
Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof → Iversheim is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Iversheim to Köln-Alteburg
Iversheim → Köln-Alteburg is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Köln-Alteburg to back through Iversheim
Köln-Alteburg → back through Iversheim is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Iversheim to back through Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof
back through Iversheim → back through Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof to back through Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24
back through Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof → back through Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24 is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24 to Watchtower WP 1/93
back through Watchtowers WP 1/23 to 1/24 → Watchtower WP 1/93 is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.