Why this ride
309 km from The Hague to The Hague, about 4 h 35 of riding. The stops in between: Utrecht-Domplein, Works along the IJ before Diemerdam, Culvert/Bridge Kromme Rijn and Culvert near Offerhausweg. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Hague long day · Culvert near Offerhausweg
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 309 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 35
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The Hague
The Hague is where the Dutch government sits, but not where the capital is, which is a characteristic Dutch compromise. Amsterdam is the capital, but the parliament, the ministries, the royal working palace and the embassies are all here, and the city has an air of quiet formality. The Binnenhof, a cluster of medieval buildings around a courtyard, is the centre of Dutch politics, and the Mauritshuis next door holds Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring and some of the finest Dutch paintings in the world. Close by, the Peace Palace, a vast, fairy-tale neo-Gothic building finished in 1913, houses the International Court of Justice. The city has long been the seat of international law.
Read the complete The Hague write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Hague is where the day begins. Next is Utrecht-Domplein.
2. Utrecht-Domplein
Dig under the Domplein in Utrecht and you hit a Roman fort. That is not a figure of speech: when the city was rebuilt after the great storm that brought down the nave of the cathedral in 1674, the foundations were already sitting on the foundations of something much older. The Romans built a fort here around the middle of the first century, on a low sandy rise beside the Rhine, and called it Traiectum, the crossing. When the legions left, the name stuck, and a thousand years of sound changes turned it into Utrecht.
Read the complete Utrecht-Domplein write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Utrecht-Domplein comes up 40 km in. Next is Works along the IJ before Diemerdam.
3. Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
Just east of Amsterdam, where the city's suburbs give way to water and polders, a narrow strip of land runs out along the old shore of the IJ and the IJmeer toward Muiden. The Diemerdam is an old dike, and the works along the IJ before it are part of the Dutch Water Defence Lines, the system of forts, dikes, sluices and inundation fields that the Dutch built over centuries to defend their cities by flooding the land around them. The Defence Line of Amsterdam, a ring of forts around the capital, was listed by UNESCO in 1996 and later joined with the New Dutch Waterline into a single site.
Read the complete Works along the IJ before Diemerdam write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least 84 km in you reach Works along the IJ before Diemerdam. Next is Culvert/Bridge Kromme Rijn.
4. Culvert/Bridge Kromme Rijn
A river that has lost its job is a curious thing to ride beside. The Kromme Rijn, the crooked Rhine, was once the main channel of the Rhine through the middle Netherlands, and the Romans used it as their northern frontier. They built forts along it at intervals, among them one at Vechten, just east of Utrecht, and another at Bunnik, and the river served as a road for supply boats. In the Middle Ages the Rhine silted up and shifted, and what is left is a gentle, winding stream with willows and farm bridges, in a landscape of meadows and moated estates.
Read the complete Culvert/Bridge Kromme Rijn write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Culvert/Bridge Kromme Rijn, about halfway. Next is Culvert near Offerhausweg.
5. Culvert near Offerhausweg
The name tells you what is here, a culvert, a small tunnel for water under a path or a bank, and the humble nature of the place is its charm. The Netherlands is a country made of managed water, and this part of Utrecht, on the eastern edge of the city near the university campus of De Uithof, is cut by streams, ditches and old defensive works that were all designed to move water about, or to hold it back. A culvert is the kind of detail that engineers make a country work with, and that most travellers never see.
Read the complete Culvert near Offerhausweg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Culvert near Offerhausweg sits at 158 km, about halfway. Next is back through Culvert/Bridge Kromme Rijn.
6. back through Culvert/Bridge Kromme Rijn
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Culvert/Bridge Kromme Rijn write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Culvert/Bridge Kromme Rijn comes up 198 km in. Next is back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam.
7. back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Works along the IJ before Diemerdam write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
237 km in you reach back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam. Next is back through Utrecht-Domplein.
8. back through Utrecht-Domplein
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Utrecht-Domplein write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Utrecht-Domplein, late in the day. Next is The Hague.
9. The Hague
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Hague 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 309 km.
Leg by leg
The Hague to Utrecht-Domplein
The Hague → Utrecht-Domplein is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Utrecht-Domplein to Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
Utrecht-Domplein → Works along the IJ before Diemerdam is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Works along the IJ before Diemerdam to Culvert/Bridge Kromme Rijn
Works along the IJ before Diemerdam → Culvert/Bridge Kromme Rijn is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Culvert/Bridge Kromme Rijn to back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
back through Culvert/Bridge Kromme Rijn → back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam to back through Utrecht-Domplein
back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam → back through Utrecht-Domplein is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Utrecht-Domplein to The Hague
back through Utrecht-Domplein → The Hague is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.