Why this ride
190 km from Utrecht to Utrecht, about 3 h 11 of riding. On the way it passes Woerden-Centrum, Fort Werk IV, Works along the IJ before Diemerdam and Fort along the Pampus.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Utrecht afternoon · Fort along the Pampus
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 190 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 11
- 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. Utrecht
Utrecht is the middle of the Netherlands in a very literal way, and it feels it: trains from everywhere come through the station, and everything else is arranged around a canal that sits lower than the street. The Oudegracht has wharves and cellars cut into its banks, once warehouses for goods unloaded straight from boats, now cafes with tables at water level. Above it all stands the Dom Tower, a little over a hundred metres of Gothic stone, which you will see from the ring road long before you arrive.
Read the complete Utrecht write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Utrecht is where the day begins. Next is Woerden-Centrum.
2. Woerden-Centrum
Woerden is a small Dutch town on the Oude Rijn, the old Rhine, halfway between Utrecht and Leiden, in the middle of the Green Heart of Holland, a landscape of polders, meadows, ditches and cows. Its centre is a compact old town ringed by canals, with a castle, a big church and a windmill on the old ramparts. The Romans were here too: Woerden lies on the line of the Lower German Limes, and the remains of a Roman fort lie beneath the town centre.
Read the complete Woerden-Centrum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Woerden-Centrum comes up 21 km in. Next is Fort Werk IV.
3. 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
43 km in you reach Fort Werk IV. Next is Works along the IJ before Diemerdam.
4. 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
Works along the IJ before Diemerdam, about halfway. Next is Fort along the Pampus.
5. Fort along the Pampus
Out in the open water of the IJmeer, a few kilometres off the old fortified town of Muiden, a low circular fortress sits on an artificial island. This is Pampus, one of more than forty forts that make up the Defence Line of Amsterdam, a ring of fortifications built around the city in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The idea was simple and very Dutch: in case of attack, large areas of land around the city would be flooded to a depth that was too shallow for boats and too deep for soldiers to wade, and the forts would guard the roads, railways and dykes that crossed the flooded zone. Pampus guarded the approach to Amsterdam by water. The line was listed by UNESCO in 1996.
Read the complete Fort along the Pampus write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort along the Pampus sits at 85 km, about halfway. Next is back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam.
6. 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
back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam comes up 106 km in. Next is back through Fort Werk IV.
7. back through Fort Werk IV
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
128 km in you reach back through Fort Werk IV. Next is back through Woerden-Centrum.
8. back through Woerden-Centrum
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Woerden-Centrum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Woerden-Centrum, late in the day. Next is Utrecht.
9. Utrecht
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Utrecht 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 190 km.
Leg by leg
Utrecht to Woerden-Centrum
Utrecht → Woerden-Centrum is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Woerden-Centrum to Fort Werk IV
Woerden-Centrum → Fort Werk IV is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort Werk IV to Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
Fort Werk IV → Works along the IJ before Diemerdam is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Works along the IJ before Diemerdam to Fort along the Pampus
Works along the IJ before Diemerdam → Fort along the Pampus is 3 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort along the Pampus to back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
Fort along the Pampus → back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam is 3 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 Fort Werk IV
back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam → back through Fort Werk IV is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort Werk IV to back through Woerden-Centrum
back through Fort Werk IV → back through Woerden-Centrum is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Woerden-Centrum to Utrecht
back through Woerden-Centrum → Utrecht is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.