CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
343 km from Groningen to Groningen, about 6 h 50 of riding. The stops in between: Key Planning Decision, Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker, Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal and back through Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Look at Groningen from the Martinitoren and you understand the whole north of the Netherlands in one view: the city is a dense knot of brick and canal, and beyond it the land goes flat and open all the way to the Wadden Sea. The tower, a bit over ninety metres of church spire, has been the landmark for centuries. The Grote Markt below it is a big square that fills with students, since the university dates from 1614 and a large part of the population is under thirty. That makes the evenings livelier than you would expect from the quiet reputation of the province.
Read the complete Groningen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Groningen is where the day begins. Next is Key Planning Decision.
It is hard to point at a spot, because there is no spot: the sea retreats twice a day, leaving miles of glistening mud, and then returns, often faster than you expect. The Wadden Sea is a UNESCO site shared by the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, and it is the largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats in the world.
Read the complete Key Planning Decision write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Key Planning Decision comes up 43 km in. Next is Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker.
Eise Eisinga was a wool comber in the Frisian town of Franeker, not a professional astronomer, and in the 1770s he built the solar system on his living-room ceiling. The story goes that in 1774 a local pastor predicted that the planets would align and bring disaster, and the town panicked. Eisinga, who knew some mathematics, wanted to show the real movements, and over the next seven years he built a scale model of the planets, with a clockwork mechanism hidden in the attic that still moves them today. It is generally described as the oldest working planetarium in the world, and it was listed by UNESCO in 2023.
Read the complete Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
85 km in you reach Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker. Next is Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker, about halfway. Next is Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal, 42 km on.
The Netherlands has always had to fight water, and Friesland's battle was won in part by a single building on the shore of the IJsselmeer near Lemmer. The Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal, a steam pumping station opened in 1920, is the largest steam-driven pumping station ever built that is still in working order, and it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. When the water in Friesland's canals and lakes rises too high, the old steam engines can still be fired up to pump it out.
Read the complete Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal sits at 170 km, about halfway. Next is back through Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker comes up 213 km in. Next is back through Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
255 km in you reach back through Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker. Next is back through Key Planning Decision.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Groningen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Key Planning Decision, late in the day. Next is Groningen.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Groningen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 340 km.
Groningen → Key Planning Decision is 82 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Key Planning Decision → Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker → Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal → back through Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker → Back to Groningen is 89 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.