Why this ride
267 km from Amsterdam to Amsterdam, about 4 h 00 of riding. The stops in between: Fort near Heemstede, Droogmakerij de Beemster, Fort Werk IV and back through Droogmakerij de Beemster.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Amsterdam afternoon · Fort Werk IV
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 267 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 00
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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
Dutch Flower Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 25 km this is Dutch Flower Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 25 km
- Named road
- Dutch Flower Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Amsterdam
Amsterdam is built on water and wood. The city was founded in the thirteenth century as a fishing village on a dam across the Amstel, and in the seventeenth century it grew into the richest trading city in the world, and the canals that circle the centre in concentric arcs were dug in that Golden Age. Merchants built tall, narrow houses along them, with gabled fronts and hoisting beams so that goods could be lifted to the upper floors. The canal ring is on the UNESCO list. The houses lean forward slightly, partly by design, and sink on their wooden piles, so that some visibly tilt.
Read the complete Amsterdam write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Amsterdam is where the day begins. Next is Fort near Heemstede.
2. Fort near Heemstede
Between Haarlem and the bulb fields of the Dutch coast, near the town of Heemstede and the hamlet of De Glip, lies a squat, grassy fort surrounded by a moat. This is the Fort near Heemstede, built around the turn of the twentieth century as part of the Defence Line of Amsterdam, a ring of forts, dykes and flooding zones around the city, and now part of the UNESCO-listed Dutch Water Defence Lines.
Read the complete Fort near Heemstede write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort near Heemstede comes up 29 km in. Next is Droogmakerij de Beemster.
3. Droogmakerij de Beemster
In 1612 a lake north of Amsterdam disappeared. Wealthy merchants, flush with money from the Dutch trading boom, financed the draining of the Beemster, and the engineer Jan Adriaenszoon Leeghwater used dozens of windmills to pump the water out into a ring canal. What remained was a polder several metres below sea level, laid out in a perfectly regular grid of roads, canals and fields based on Renaissance ideas of order and proportion. The Beemster was inscribed by UNESCO in 1999 as a masterpiece of creative planning, and from above it looks like a ruled sheet of paper.
Read the complete Droogmakerij de Beemster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
57 km in you reach Droogmakerij de Beemster. Next is Droogmakerij de Beemster.
4. Droogmakerij de Beemster
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Droogmakerij de Beemster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Droogmakerij de Beemster, about halfway. Next is Fort Werk IV.
5. Fort Werk IV
The Gooi, the area east of Amsterdam around Bussum, Naarden and Hilversum, is one of the few places in the western Netherlands with hills, if you can call low sandy ridges hills. It is a region of heathland, woods and wealthy villages. On the edge of Bussum, close to the fortified town of Naarden, stands Fort Werk IV, a small fortification that was part of the New Dutch Waterline and the Defence Line of Amsterdam, and is now part of the UNESCO-listed Dutch Water Defence Lines.
Read the complete Fort Werk IV write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort Werk IV sits at 114 km, about halfway. Next is back through Droogmakerij de Beemster.
6. back through Droogmakerij de Beemster
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Droogmakerij de Beemster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Droogmakerij de Beemster comes up 143 km in. Next is back through Droogmakerij de Beemster.
7. back through Droogmakerij de Beemster
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Droogmakerij de Beemster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
171 km in you reach back through Droogmakerij de Beemster. Next is back through Fort near Heemstede.
8. back through Fort near Heemstede
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort near Heemstede write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fort near Heemstede, late in the day. Next is Amsterdam.
9. Amsterdam
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Amsterdam 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 267 km.
Leg by leg
Amsterdam to Fort near Heemstede
Amsterdam → Fort near Heemstede is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort near Heemstede to Droogmakerij de Beemster
Fort near Heemstede → Droogmakerij de Beemster is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Droogmakerij de Beemster to Fort Werk IV
Droogmakerij de Beemster → Fort Werk IV is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort Werk IV to back through Droogmakerij de Beemster
Fort Werk IV → back through Droogmakerij de Beemster is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Droogmakerij de Beemster to back through Fort near Heemstede
back through Droogmakerij de Beemster → back through Fort near Heemstede is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort near Heemstede to Amsterdam
back through Fort near Heemstede → Amsterdam is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.