Why this ride
A 369 km round trip from Bad Ems - roughly 6 h 39 in the saddle. The stops in between: Watchtower WP 1/39, Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof, Iversheim and Köln-Alteburg. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 and Köln-Alteburg
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 369 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 39
- 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 39 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
- 39 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. 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 Watchtower WP 1/39.
2. Watchtower WP 1/39
This single tower, WP 1/39, belongs to a stretch of the Upper German-Raetian Limes that runs close to Rengsdorf and Melsbach, on a gently rolling shoulder of the Westerwald. Unlike many of its neighbours it has been marked and reconstructed in a way that lets you see how it might have looked, with a timber tower over a stone base, and a cleared line of sight in each direction. The towers were usually just a few metres square, with a lookout floor on top and a ladder you could pull up. A handful of soldiers at most would have lived in one, which gives you a sense of scale: it was a sentry post, not a castle.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/39 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Watchtower WP 1/39 comes up about 39 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 97 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 167 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 234 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 271 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof. Next is back through Watchtower WP 1/39.
8. back through Watchtower WP 1/39
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 1/39 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Watchtower WP 1/39, late in the day. Next is Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6.
9. 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
The route ends here after 369 km.
Leg by leg
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 to Watchtower WP 1/39
Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 → Watchtower WP 1/39 is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 1/39 to Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof
Watchtower WP 1/39 → Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof is 58 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 Watchtower WP 1/39
back through Kottenforst Süd | Heiderhof → back through Watchtower WP 1/39 is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 1/39 to Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6
back through Watchtower WP 1/39 → Watchtowers WP 2/5 to 2/6 is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.