Why this ride
From Elst it runs 331 km to Elst; allow about 5 h 10 of riding. It goes by way of Tiel Inundation Canal, Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk, Works along the IJ before Diemerdam and Fort near Heemstede. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Elst-Grote Kerk and Fort near Heemstede
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 331 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 10
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 35 km this is Dutch Flower Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 35 km
- Named road
- Dutch Flower Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Elst-Grote Kerk
Elst is a commuter town in the Betuwe, the flat river island between the Rhine and the Waal, halfway between Arnhem and Nijmegen. At first glance there is nothing remarkable about its big brick church on the market square. The surprise lies underneath it. Excavations in the twentieth century found the remains of two Roman temples beneath the floor, built one after another on the same spot, dedicated to a local god adopted into the Roman world. The site belongs to the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Lower German Limes, inscribed by UNESCO in 2021, and the foundations can be seen in the church cellar when it is open.
Read the complete Elst-Grote Kerk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Elst-Grote Kerk is where the day begins. Next is Tiel Inundation Canal.
2. Tiel Inundation Canal
Tiel is a river town on the Waal, the main branch of the Rhine in the Netherlands, in the middle of the Betuwe, a region of orchards, dykes and meadows between the Waal and the Lower Rhine. Just outside the town, a wide, straight channel runs through the fields, crossed by bridges and lined by dykes. This is the Tiel inundation canal, built in the late nineteenth century as part of the New Dutch Waterline, the defensive system of controlled flooding that protected the heart of Holland, and it is now part of the UNESCO-listed Dutch Water Defence Lines.
Read the complete Tiel Inundation Canal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tiel Inundation Canal comes up 39 km in. Next is Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk.
3. Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk
Two layers of Dutch defence history sit on top of each other just south-east of Utrecht. Around two thousand years ago, the Romans built a fort here called Fectio, at the point where a branch of the Rhine met the Vecht, with a harbour for the fleet that patrolled the river frontier. Its remains lie buried in the fields near Vechten and are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Lower German Limes, a World Heritage site since 2021. Close by stands Fort bij Vechten, a nineteenth-century fortress of the New Dutch Waterline, a defensive system that could flood large areas of land to stop an invading army. That system is itself part of the UNESCO site of the Dutch Water Defence Lines. The fort now houses a museum explaining how the waterline worked, and how a country below sea level turned water into a weapon.
Read the complete Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
78 km in you reach Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk. Next is Works along the IJ before Diemerdam.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Fort near Heemstede.
5. 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
Fort near Heemstede sits at 157 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 196 km in. Next is back through Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk.
7. back through Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
235 km in you reach back through Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk. Next is back through Tiel Inundation Canal.
8. back through Tiel Inundation Canal
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tiel Inundation Canal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Tiel Inundation Canal, late in the day. Next is Elst-Grote Kerk.
9. Elst-Grote Kerk
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Elst-Grote Kerk 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 331 km.
Leg by leg
Elst-Grote Kerk to Tiel Inundation Canal
Elst-Grote Kerk → Tiel Inundation Canal is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tiel Inundation Canal to Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk
Tiel Inundation Canal → Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk to Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk → Works along the IJ before Diemerdam is 45 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 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort near Heemstede to back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
Fort near Heemstede → back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam to back through Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk
back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam → back through Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk to back through Tiel Inundation Canal
back through Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk → back through Tiel Inundation Canal is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tiel Inundation Canal to Elst-Grote Kerk
back through Tiel Inundation Canal → Elst-Grote Kerk is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.