Why this ride
210 km from Maarssen to Maarssen, about 3 h 26 of riding. On the way it passes Works along the IJ before Diemerdam, Droogmakerij de Beemster, Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams and back through Droogmakerij de Beemster.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Dutch Water Defence Lines and Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 210 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 26
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Dutch Water Defence Lines
The Dutch had a clever idea for defending their heartland: instead of building walls, they would drown the approaches. The Dutch Water Defence Lines, a World Heritage site, consist of a long belt of land around Amsterdam and Utrecht that could be flooded deliberately in wartime, with water deep enough to stop soldiers on foot and wagons, but too shallow for boats. Forts, dikes, sluices and pumping stations controlled the water. The New Dutch Waterline, built in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, ran south-east of Amsterdam through the area around Maarssen and the Loosdrecht lakes, and it was mobilised during the First and Second World Wars, though aircraft and modern artillery had made it largely obsolete by then.
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 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 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Droogmakerij de Beemster.
3. Droogmakerij de Beemster
In 1612 a lake north of Amsterdam disappeared. Wealthy merchants, flush with money from the Dutch trading boom, financed the draining of the Beemster, and the engineer Jan Adriaenszoon Leeghwater used dozens of windmills to pump the water out into a ring canal. What remained was a polder several metres below sea level, laid out in a perfectly regular grid of roads, canals and fields based on Renaissance ideas of order and proportion. The Beemster was inscribed by UNESCO in 1999 as a masterpiece of creative planning, and from above it looks like a ruled sheet of paper.
Read the complete Droogmakerij de Beemster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 76 km into the recorded legs you reach Droogmakerij de Beemster. Next is Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams.
4. Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams
Nobody rides a motorbike into the Amsterdam canal ring for the curves. You come because in the early seventeenth century, the city at the height of its Golden Age planned an extension of startling ambition: three main canals, the Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht, laid out in concentric arcs around the medieval core, lined with tall, narrow merchants' houses with gabled roofs and hoisting beams. Work began in 1613, and the result, a UNESCO site since 2010, is still one of the most admired examples of urban planning in the world.
Read the complete Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams, about halfway. Next is back through Droogmakerij de Beemster.
5. back through Droogmakerij de Beemster
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Droogmakerij de Beemster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Droogmakerij de Beemster sits at 117 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 about 177 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dutch Water Defence Lines.
7. 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
Dutch Water Defence Lines closes the day.
Leg by leg
Dutch Water Defence Lines to Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
Dutch Water Defence Lines → Works along the IJ before Diemerdam is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Works along the IJ before Diemerdam to Droogmakerij de Beemster
Works along the IJ before Diemerdam → Droogmakerij de Beemster is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Droogmakerij de Beemster to Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams
Droogmakerij de Beemster → Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams to back through Droogmakerij de Beemster
Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams → back through Droogmakerij de Beemster is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Droogmakerij de Beemster to back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
back through Droogmakerij de Beemster → back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam to Dutch Water Defence Lines
back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam → Dutch Water Defence Lines is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.