CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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 Xanten it runs 128 km to Xanten; allow about 2 h 44 of riding. It goes by way of Kalkar-Kalkarberg, Kleve-Reichswald | East, Berg en Dal-De Holdeurn | North and Elst-Grote Kerk. It crosses from Germany into Netherlands - carry ID and check the toll rules.
Xanten is an old Roman town that still behaves like a small, cosy market town on the Lower Rhine, and right next to it lies one of the largest archaeological parks in Germany. Colonia Ulpia Traiana, CUT for short, was founded around AD 100 under the emperor Trajan, who gave it the rank of a colonia and his family name. At its height it was a walled city of several thousand people, the second most important Roman city in the province of Lower Germany after Cologne.
Read the complete Xanten-CUT write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Xanten-CUT is where the day begins. Next is 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.
Read the complete Kalkar-Kalkarberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kalkar-Kalkarberg comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kleve-Reichswald | East.
South of Kleve, near the Dutch border, the Reichswald is one of the largest forests in the Lower Rhine region, a mix of oak, beech and pine on a low ridge of sand and gravel left behind by the glaciers of the Ice Age. On its edge, the Romans built military installations as part of the Lower German Limes, the frontier along the Rhine, and the remains in the Reichswald, including traces of camps, are part of the World Heritage site listed by UNESCO in 2021. There is little to see above ground, but the forest itself is a quiet, beautiful place to walk.
Read the complete Kleve-Reichswald | East write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 32 km into the recorded legs you reach Kleve-Reichswald | East. Next is Berg en Dal-De Holdeurn | North.
Just east of Nijmegen, where the Netherlands suddenly remembers how to make hills, a wooded slope near the village of Berg en Dal hides the remains of a Roman industrial site. De Holdeurn was where the Tenth Legion, Legio X Gemina, stationed at Nijmegen in the late first and early second centuries, made roof tiles, bricks and pottery, stamped with the legion's name and shipped all over the region. The kilns and workshops have been excavated, and the site is one of the many places that make up the Frontiers of the Roman Empire – the Lower German Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2021.
Read the complete Berg en Dal-De Holdeurn | North write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Berg en Dal-De Holdeurn | North, about halfway. Next is Elst-Grote Kerk.
Elst is a commuter town in the Betuwe, the flat river island between the Rhine and the Waal, halfway between Arnhem and Nijmegen. At first glance there is nothing remarkable about its big brick church on the market square. The surprise lies underneath it. Excavations in the twentieth century found the remains of two Roman temples beneath the floor, built one after another on the same spot, dedicated to a local god adopted into the Roman world. The site belongs to the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Lower German Limes, inscribed by UNESCO in 2021, and the foundations can be seen in the church cellar when it is open.
Read the complete Elst-Grote Kerk write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Elst-Grote Kerk sits at 71 km, about halfway. Next is back through Berg en Dal-De Holdeurn | North.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Berg en Dal-De Holdeurn | North write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Berg en Dal-De Holdeurn | North comes up about 81 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Kleve-Reichswald | East.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kleve-Reichswald | East write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 97 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Kleve-Reichswald | East. Next is back through Kalkar-Kalkarberg.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kalkar-Kalkarberg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Kalkar-Kalkarberg, late in the day. Next is Xanten-CUT.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Xanten-CUT write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 128 km.
Xanten-CUT → Kalkar-Kalkarberg is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kalkar-Kalkarberg → Kleve-Reichswald | East is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kleve-Reichswald | East → Berg en Dal-De Holdeurn | North is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Berg en Dal-De Holdeurn | North → Elst-Grote Kerk is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Elst-Grote Kerk → back through Berg en Dal-De Holdeurn | North is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Berg en Dal-De Holdeurn | North → back through Kleve-Reichswald | East is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kleve-Reichswald | East → back through Kalkar-Kalkarberg is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kalkar-Kalkarberg → Xanten-CUT is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.