Why this ride
296 km from Utrecht to Utrecht, about 4 h 29 of riding. It goes by way of Works along the IJ before Diemerdam, Fort near Heemstede, Works along the IJ before Durgerdam and Dutch Water Defence Lines. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Culvert near Offerhausweg and Dutch Water Defence Lines
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 296 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 29
- 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
Dutch Flower Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 34 km this is Dutch Flower Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 34 km
- Named road
- Dutch Flower Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Works along the IJ before Diemerdam.
2. 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 comes up about 41 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort near Heemstede.
3. Fort near Heemstede
Between Haarlem and the bulb fields of the Dutch coast, near the town of Heemstede and the hamlet of De Glip, lies a squat, grassy fort surrounded by a moat. This is the Fort near Heemstede, built around the turn of the twentieth century as part of the Defence Line of Amsterdam, a ring of forts, dykes and flooding zones around the city, and now part of the UNESCO-listed Dutch Water Defence Lines.
Read the complete Fort near Heemstede write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 75 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort near Heemstede. Next is Works along the IJ before Durgerdam.
4. Works along the IJ before Durgerdam
East of Amsterdam, where the IJ widens into the IJmeer and the city gives way to water and sky, the old dike village of Durgerdam sits on a strip of land between the sea wall and the polders. Its wooden houses, painted in strong colours and leaning on each other along the dike, look out over a lake that was once the Zuiderzee, open to the North Sea until the Afsluitdijk closed it in 1932. The works along the IJ here belong to the Defence Line of Amsterdam, now part of the Dutch Water Defence Lines World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Works along the IJ before Durgerdam 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 Durgerdam, about halfway. Next is Dutch Water Defence Lines.
5. Dutch Water Defence Lines
Forget mountains and passes: the Dutch defended Amsterdam with water. Between the 1880s and the 1920s, the army built a ring of forts around the capital at a distance of roughly fifteen to twenty kilometres, the Stelling van Amsterdam, designed to flood the surrounding polders to a depth too shallow for boats but too deep to wade through. Forty-odd forts, along with dykes, sluices and batteries, formed the ring, and the area north of the city near De Rijp and the Beemster was part of it. The Defence Line of Amsterdam gained World Heritage status in 1996, and in 2021 it was extended to include the older New Dutch Waterline further south, the whole now known as the Dutch Water Defence Lines.
Read the complete Dutch Water Defence Lines write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dutch Water Defence Lines sits at 144 km, about halfway. Next is back through Works along the IJ before Durgerdam.
6. back through Works along the IJ before Durgerdam
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Works along the IJ before Durgerdam 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 Durgerdam comes up about 179 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Fort near Heemstede.
7. back through Fort near Heemstede
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort near Heemstede write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 217 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Fort near Heemstede. Next is back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam.
8. 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, late in the day. Next is Culvert near Offerhausweg.
9. Culvert near Offerhausweg
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
The route ends here after 296 km.
Leg by leg
Culvert near Offerhausweg to Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
Culvert near Offerhausweg → Works along the IJ before Diemerdam is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Works along the IJ before Diemerdam to Fort near Heemstede
Works along the IJ before Diemerdam → Fort near Heemstede is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort near Heemstede to Works along the IJ before Durgerdam
Fort near Heemstede → Works along the IJ before Durgerdam is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Works along the IJ before Durgerdam to Dutch Water Defence Lines
Works along the IJ before Durgerdam → Dutch Water Defence Lines is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dutch Water Defence Lines to back through Works along the IJ before Durgerdam
Dutch Water Defence Lines → back through Works along the IJ before Durgerdam is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Works along the IJ before Durgerdam to back through Fort near Heemstede
back through Works along the IJ before Durgerdam → back through Fort near Heemstede is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort near Heemstede to back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
back through Fort near Heemstede → back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam to Culvert near Offerhausweg
back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam → Culvert near Offerhausweg is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.