Why this ride
From Bad Ems it runs 298 km to Bad Ems; allow about 5 h 08 of riding. It goes by way of Remagen, Dormagen and back through Remagen. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 and Dormagen
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 298 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 08
- 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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Moselle Wine Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 63 km this is Moselle Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 63 km
- Named road
- Moselle Wine Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6
WP 2/5 and 2/6 sound like spare parts, but they are the numbers archaeologists gave to two watchtower positions on the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, the fortified frontier Rome drew across southern Germany. Here, in the hills above the Lahn near Bad Ems, the line ran up from the Rhine and over the high ground, and every few hundred metres a tower stood with a view to the next. Today most of what survives are low mounds, traces of the bank and ditch, and in some places a reconstructed tower to give you scale. The whole frontier became part of the UNESCO Frontiers of the Roman Empire in 2005.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 is where the day begins. Next is Remagen.
2. 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 comes up about 63 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 149 km into the recorded legs you reach Dormagen. Next is back through Remagen.
4. back through 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
back through Remagen, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6.
5. Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 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 2/5 to 2/6. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 to Remagen
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 → Remagen is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Remagen to Dormagen
Remagen → Dormagen is 86 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Dormagen to back through Remagen
Dormagen → back through Remagen is 86 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Remagen to Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6
back through Remagen → Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.