Wesel-Flüren | Flürener Feld 4 and Arnhem-Meinerswijk
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
183 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 21
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.
From Wesel it runs 183 km to Wesel; allow about 3 h 21 of riding. The stops in between: Kalkar-Kalkarberg, Kleve-Keeken, Arnhem-Meinerswijk and back through Kleve-Keeken. It crosses from Germany into Netherlands - carry ID and check the toll rules.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Wesel-Flüren | Flürener Feld 4
Here the Rhine bends through some of the emptiest farmland in western Germany. The fields at Flüren, north of Wesel, are flat enough to see a church tower from ten kilometres away, and the land runs in long, straight lines of willows, poplars and drainage ditches towards the Dutch border. This is the Niederrhein, a region where people have lived with floods for as long as they have farmed, and where the cycling routes are signposted better than the main roads.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wesel-Flüren | Flürener Feld 4 is where the day begins. Next is Kalkar-Kalkarberg.
2. Kalkar-Kalkarberg
Near the Dutch border, where the Rhine flows through wide meadows and dyked farmland, the small town of Kalkar holds a surprising amount of history. The Kalkarberg is a low rise near Altkalkar, and on it stood the Roman fort of Burginatium, one of the posts along the Lower German Limes, now part of the UNESCO-listed Frontiers of the Roman Empire. The rise would have given a valuable view over the river plain, and the fort controlled the road between Xanten and Nijmegen. Today it is fields and trees, but the shape of the land still hints at the old fortification.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kalkar-Kalkarberg comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kleve-Keeken.
3. Kleve-Keeken
Here the Rhine stops being a German river. Just downstream of the village of Keeken, the great river crosses the border into the Netherlands, and a few kilometres further on it divides, with the Waal carrying most of the water west and the Pannerdens Canal leading to the Nederrijn and the IJssel. In Roman times, this was the northern frontier of the empire, the Lower German Limes, and Keeken is one of the sites listed as part of the UNESCO frontier, with traces of Roman military installations along the old river course.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 56 km into the recorded legs you reach Kleve-Keeken. Next is Arnhem-Meinerswijk.
4. Arnhem-Meinerswijk
The Rhine has always been a frontier here. In Roman times, the Lower Rhine marked the northern edge of the empire, and the Romans built a chain of forts, watchtowers and roads along its banks to guard it. At Meinerswijk, on the southern bank of the river opposite Arnhem, the remains of one of those forts lie buried in the floodplain. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Lower German Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2021. There is little to see on the surface, but the floodplain itself, a wide expanse of meadows, ponds and willows, is a pleasant place to walk, and markers explain the history.