Why this ride
From Franeker it runs 293 km to Franeker; allow about 5 h 54 of riding. It goes by way of Key Planning Decision, Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal, Schokland and Surroundings and back through Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker and Schokland and Surroundings
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 293 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 54
- 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. Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker
Eise Eisinga was a wool comber in the Frisian town of Franeker, not a professional astronomer, and in the 1770s he built the solar system on his living-room ceiling. The story goes that in 1774 a local pastor predicted that the planets would align and bring disaster, and the town panicked. Eisinga, who knew some mathematics, wanted to show the real movements, and over the next seven years he built a scale model of the planets, with a clockwork mechanism hidden in the attic that still moves them today. It is generally described as the oldest working planetarium in the world, and it was listed by UNESCO in 2023.
Read the complete Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker is where the day begins. Next is Key Planning Decision.
2. Key Planning Decision
It is hard to point at a spot, because there is no spot: the sea retreats twice a day, leaving miles of glistening mud, and then returns, often faster than you expect. The Wadden Sea is a UNESCO site shared by the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, and it is the largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats in the world.
Read the complete Key Planning Decision write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Key Planning Decision comes up about 65 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal, 49 km on.
3. Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal
The Netherlands has always had to fight water, and Friesland's battle was won in part by a single building on the shore of the IJsselmeer near Lemmer. The Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal, a steam pumping station opened in 1920, is the largest steam-driven pumping station ever built that is still in working order, and it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. When the water in Friesland's canals and lakes rises too high, the old steam engines can still be fired up to pump it out.
Read the complete Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 171 km into the recorded legs you reach Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal. Next is Schokland and Surroundings.
4. Schokland and Surroundings
Schokland was once an island in the Zuiderzee, a long, narrow strip of peat and clay surrounded by an inland sea that constantly threatened to swallow it. For centuries, its inhabitants lived on raised mounds and fought a losing battle against the water, as storms ate away at the island's edges. By the mid-nineteenth century, life had become so precarious that in 1859 the Dutch government ordered the island to be evacuated. Then, in the twentieth century, the Dutch did something extraordinary: they enclosed the Zuiderzee with a dam, the Afsluitdijk, completed in 1932, and drained large parts of it to create new land. The Noordoostpolder, drained in 1942, swallowed Schokland, and the former island now rises slightly above the surrounding fields, a long green ridge in a flat landscape of farmland. In 1995, Schokland became the first Dutch site to be listed by UNESCO, as a symbol of the Netherlands' heroic struggle against the water.
Read the complete Schokland and Surroundings write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Schokland and Surroundings, about halfway. Next is back through Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal, 48 km on.
5. back through Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal sits at 195 km, about halfway. Next is back through Key Planning Decision.
6. Back to Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Key Planning Decision comes up about 293 km into the recorded legs. Next is Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker.
7. Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker closes the day.
Leg by leg
Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker to Key Planning Decision
Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker → Key Planning Decision is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Key Planning Decision to Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal
Key Planning Decision → Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal is 106 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal to Schokland and Surroundings
Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal → Schokland and Surroundings is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Schokland and Surroundings to back through Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal
Schokland and Surroundings → back through Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal to Back to Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker
back through Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal → Back to Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker is 56 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.