Why this ride
From Voorschoten it runs 189 km to Voorschoten; allow about 3 h 07 of riding. It goes by way of Van Nellefabriek, Woerden-Centrum, Rietveld Schröderhuis and back through Woerden-Centrum. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Corbulo's canal | Vlietvoorde and Rietveld Schröderhuis
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 189 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 07
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. 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 about 28 km this is Zeeland Delta Works Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 28 km
- Named road
- Zeeland Delta Works Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Corbulo's canal | Vlietvoorde
A straight line on a Dutch map is nearly always a canal, and this one is two thousand years old. The Fossa Corbulonis, or Corbulo's canal, was dug in AD 47 by Roman soldiers under the general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, to link the Rhine with the Meuse and give supply ships a safe route that avoided the open sea. It ran through the dunes and marsh of what is now South Holland, and today the line of the Vliet, the canal between Leiden and Delft, follows part of it. Corbulo, so the story goes, dug it to keep his idle legions busy, and the emperor Claudius called his troops back from beyond the Rhine soon afterwards. Vlietvoorde, near Voorschoten, is one of the places where the route can be traced, and the site is part of the Lower German Limes, which won World Heritage status in 2021.
Read the complete Corbulo's canal | Vlietvoorde write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Corbulo's canal | Vlietvoorde is where the day begins. Next is Van Nellefabriek.
2. Van Nellefabriek
The Van Nelle factory, on the edge of Rotterdam, is one of the most beautiful industrial buildings ever made. Built between 1925 and 1931 for a company that processed coffee, tea and tobacco, it is a long, light building of glass and steel, with curtain walls that let daylight flood into the workspaces. The designers, Johannes Brinkman and Leendert van der Vlugt, created what became an icon of modernist architecture, a factory of light and air for its workers. It was added to the UNESCO list in 2014.
Read the complete Van Nellefabriek write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Van Nellefabriek comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. 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
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Woerden-Centrum. Next is Rietveld Schröderhuis.
4. Rietveld Schröderhuis
On a quiet residential street in Utrecht, a few minutes from the centre by bicycle, stands a small box-shaped house made of white and grey planes, with black frames and touches of red, yellow and blue, which looks as though it had been made from a Mondrian painting. This is the Rietveld Schroder House, built in 1924 and inscribed by UNESCO in 2000 as a masterpiece of the De Stijl movement and of modern architecture. The old centre of Utrecht, with its cathedral tower and its canals, is under two kilometres away.
Read the complete Rietveld Schröderhuis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Rietveld Schröderhuis, about halfway. Next is back through Woerden-Centrum.
5. 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 sits at 132 km, about halfway. Next is back through Van Nellefabriek.
6. back through Van Nellefabriek
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Van Nellefabriek write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Van Nellefabriek comes up about 163 km into the recorded legs. Next is Corbulo's canal | Vlietvoorde.
7. Corbulo's canal | Vlietvoorde
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Corbulo's canal | Vlietvoorde write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Corbulo's canal | Vlietvoorde closes the day.
Leg by leg
Corbulo's canal | Vlietvoorde to Van Nellefabriek
Corbulo's canal | Vlietvoorde → Van Nellefabriek is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Van Nellefabriek to Woerden-Centrum
Van Nellefabriek → Woerden-Centrum is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Woerden-Centrum to Rietveld Schröderhuis
Woerden-Centrum → Rietveld Schröderhuis is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rietveld Schröderhuis to back through Woerden-Centrum
Rietveld Schröderhuis → back through Woerden-Centrum is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Woerden-Centrum to back through Van Nellefabriek
back through Woerden-Centrum → back through Van Nellefabriek is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Van Nellefabriek to Corbulo's canal | Vlietvoorde
back through Van Nellefabriek → Corbulo's canal | Vlietvoorde is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.