Why this ride
A 417 km round trip from Voorburg - roughly 6 h 36 in the saddle. On the way it passes Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout, Woerden-Centrum, Fort Werk IV and Tiel Inundation Canal. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Corbulo's canal | Romeinsepad and Tiel Inundation Canal
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 417 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 36
- 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
Zeeland Delta Works Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 38 km this is Zeeland Delta Works Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 38 km
- Named road
- Zeeland Delta Works Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Corbulo's canal | Romeinsepad
Some two thousand years ago, in the year 47, the Roman general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo had a canal dug between the Old Rhine and the Maas to give his ships a safe route behind the dunes and avoid the dangerous coastal sea. Tacitus mentions it, and later sources say that Corbulo, recalled by the emperor Claudius from further conquests in Germania, kept his soldiers busy with the digging rather than let them grow idle. The channel is known as the Fossa Corbulonis, and in today's landscape it is usually identified with the Vliet, the old waterway that runs between Leiden and Delft through Voorburg.
Read the complete Corbulo's canal | Romeinsepad write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Corbulo's canal | Romeinsepad is where the day begins. Next is Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout.
2. Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout
Nineteen windmills stand in two rows along the canals at Kinderdijk, their sails turning slowly against the wide Dutch sky, and it is one of the most iconic sights in the Netherlands. They were built in the eighteenth century to pump water out of the Alblasserwaard, a low-lying polder between the rivers Lek and Noord, which would otherwise be flooded. Each mill lifted water from a lower canal to a higher one, and from there it was let out into the river. Over time steam, diesel and electric pumping stations took over the job, and the most recent ones still keep the polder dry today. The mill network was listed by UNESCO in 1997.
Read the complete Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout comes up 44 km in. Next is Woerden-Centrum.
3. 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
89 km in you reach Woerden-Centrum. Next is Fort Werk IV.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Tiel Inundation Canal.
5. Tiel Inundation Canal
Tiel is a river town on the Waal, the main branch of the Rhine in the Netherlands, in the middle of the Betuwe, a region of orchards, dykes and meadows between the Waal and the Lower Rhine. Just outside the town, a wide, straight channel runs through the fields, crossed by bridges and lined by dykes. This is the Tiel inundation canal, built in the late nineteenth century as part of the New Dutch Waterline, the defensive system of controlled flooding that protected the heart of Holland, and it is now part of the UNESCO-listed Dutch Water Defence Lines.
Read the complete Tiel Inundation Canal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tiel Inundation Canal sits at 178 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fort Werk IV.
6. 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
back through Fort Werk IV comes up 222 km in. Next is back through Woerden-Centrum.
7. 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
266 km in you reach back through Woerden-Centrum. Next is back through Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout.
8. back through Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout, late in the day. Next is Corbulo's canal | Romeinsepad.
9. Corbulo's canal | Romeinsepad
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Corbulo's canal | Romeinsepad 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 417 km.
Leg by leg
Corbulo's canal | Romeinsepad to Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout
Corbulo's canal | Romeinsepad → Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout to Woerden-Centrum
Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout → Woerden-Centrum is 38 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 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort Werk IV to Tiel Inundation Canal
Fort Werk IV → Tiel Inundation Canal is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tiel Inundation Canal to back through Fort Werk IV
Tiel Inundation Canal → back through Fort Werk IV is 63 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 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Woerden-Centrum to back through Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout
back through Woerden-Centrum → back through Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout to Corbulo's canal | Romeinsepad
back through Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout → Corbulo's canal | Romeinsepad is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.