Watchtowers WP 1/36* and Monheim-Haus Bürgel

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Watchtowers WP 1/36*

   Julius Caesar put a bridge across the Rhine somewhere near here in 55 BC, a feat of carpentry that his own account says took ten days. Scholars still argue about the exact spot, but the Neuwied basin is one of the favourite candidates, and that gives the surrounding hills an extra layer of legend. A century and a half later the Romans came back for good and built the Limes along the heights above the river, with a chain of timber towers watching the Germanic side. The asterisk on this tower's number marks it as a conjectural position rather than a confirmed one.

   Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/36* write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Watchtowers WP 1/36* is where the day begins. Next is Kottenforst Nord | Pfaffenmaar 1 and 2.

2. 2. Kottenforst Nord | Pfaffenmaar 1 and 2

   In the Kottenforst, a Maar is not a volcano's crater, as it would be in the nearby Eifel, but a small pond or wet hollow in the forest floor, and the Pfaffenmaar, the priests' pond, is a good example. The word has been used locally for centuries for any round, water-filled depression, and these hollows give the forest a dotted pattern of reeds, alders and dark water. The reason is the heavy clay under the thin soil, which holds rainwater and keeps parts of the woods boggy for much of the year.

   Read the complete Kottenforst Nord | Pfaffenmaar 1 and 2 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Kottenforst Nord | Pfaffenmaar 1 and 2 comes up about 80 km into the recorded legs. Next is Monheim-Haus Bürgel.

3. 3. Monheim-Haus Bürgel

   Haus Bürgel is a manor farm that sits on top of a Roman fort, quite literally. The walls of a late Roman fortification, built in the fourth century to guard the Rhine frontier, form part of the foundations and outer walls of the medieval and later farm buildings, and the site is part of the Lower German Limes World Heritage Site, inscribed in 2021. Between Monheim and Düsseldorf-Urdenbach, it lies in a broad meadow landscape on the right bank of the Rhine.

   Read the complete Monheim-Haus Bürgel write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 146 km into the recorded legs you reach Monheim-Haus Bürgel. Next is back through Kottenforst Nord | Pfaffenmaar 1 and 2.

4. 4. back through Kottenforst Nord | Pfaffenmaar 1 and 2

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Kottenforst Nord | Pfaffenmaar 1 and 2 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 | Pfaffenmaar 1 and 2, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 1/36*.

5. 5. Watchtowers WP 1/36*

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Watchtowers WP 1/36* write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Watchtowers WP 1/36*. That is the ride.