Why this ride
118 km from Uitgeest to Uitgeest, about 2 h 09 of riding. On the way it passes Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden, Fort near Heemstede and back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Dutch Water Defence Lines and Fort near Heemstede
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 118 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 09
- 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
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 24 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 31 km
- Named road
- Dutch Flower Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden.
2. Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden
At the mouth of the North Sea Canal, where giant locks let ocean-going ships into the waterway that leads to Amsterdam, a round island fort sits in the middle of the harbour. This is Fort IJmuiden, also called Forteiland, built in the 1880s as the westernmost stronghold of the Defence Line of Amsterdam, a ring of forts, dikes and flood fields designed to protect the capital by inundating the land around it. The Defence Line, now part of the UNESCO-listed Dutch Water Defence Lines, is one of the more ingenious military systems ever devised: rather than walls, it relied on water a few decimetres deep, too shallow for boats and too deep for marching.
Read the complete Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden comes up about 31 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 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort near Heemstede. Next is back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden.
4. back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden, late in the day. Next is Dutch Water Defence Lines.
5. Dutch Water Defence Lines
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
Back at Dutch Water Defence Lines. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Dutch Water Defence Lines to Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden
Dutch Water Defence Lines → Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden to Fort near Heemstede
Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden → Fort near Heemstede is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort near Heemstede to back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden
Fort near Heemstede → back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden to Dutch Water Defence Lines
back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden → Dutch Water Defence Lines is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.