Why this ride
A 202 km round trip from Muiden - roughly 3 h 58 in the saddle. The stops in between: Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams, Fort near Heemstede, Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden and Dutch Water Defence Lines.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Fort along the Pampus and Dutch Water Defence Lines
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 202 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 58
- 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
For about 26 km this is Dutch Flower Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 26 km
- Named road
- Dutch Flower Route
Dutch Flower Route
29 km on Dutch Flower Route.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 29 km
- Named road
- Dutch Flower Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fort along the Pampus
Out in the open water of the IJmeer, a few kilometres off the old fortified town of Muiden, a low circular fortress sits on an artificial island. This is Pampus, one of more than forty forts that make up the Defence Line of Amsterdam, a ring of fortifications built around the city in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The idea was simple and very Dutch: in case of attack, large areas of land around the city would be flooded to a depth that was too shallow for boats and too deep for soldiers to wade, and the forts would guard the roads, railways and dykes that crossed the flooded zone. Pampus guarded the approach to Amsterdam by water. The line was listed by UNESCO in 1996.
Read the complete Fort along the Pampus write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort along the Pampus is where the day begins. Next is Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams.
2. 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 comes up about 16 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 42 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort near Heemstede. Next is Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden.
4. 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, 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 84 km, about halfway. Next is back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden.
6. 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 comes up about 133 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 161 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Fort near Heemstede. Next is back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams.
8. back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams, late in the day. Next is Fort along the Pampus.
9. Fort along the Pampus
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort along the Pampus 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 202 km.
Leg by leg
Fort along the Pampus to Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams
Fort along the Pampus → Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams to Fort near Heemstede
Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams → Fort near Heemstede is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort near Heemstede to Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden
Fort near Heemstede → Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden to Dutch Water Defence Lines
Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden → Dutch Water Defence Lines is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dutch Water Defence Lines to back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden
Dutch Water Defence Lines → back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden to back through Fort near Heemstede
back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden → back through Fort near Heemstede is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort near Heemstede to back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams
back through Fort near Heemstede → back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams to Fort along the Pampus
back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams → Fort along the Pampus is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.