CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
305 km from Heemstede to Heemstede, about 5 h 16 of riding. On the way it passes Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Lower, Van Nellefabriek, Béguinage de Hoogstraten and back through Van Nellefabriek. It crosses from Netherlands into Belgium - carry ID and check the toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 30 km this is Dutch Flower Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort near Heemstede is where the day begins. Next is Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Lower.
Where the old Rhine reached the North Sea, near the modern town of Katwijk, the Romans built a string of forts, and Valkenburg was one of them. The Dutch Valkenburg, a village near Leiden, not to be confused with its namesake in Limburg, was the site of a fort and harbour called Praetorium Agrippinae, a base on the northern frontier of the empire that stood on the south bank of the river. Along this stretch the Rhine formed the border of the Roman province of Lower Germany, and the line of forts, watchtowers and roads along it is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage listing.
Read the complete Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Lower write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Lower comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Van Nellefabriek.
The Van Nelle factory, on the edge of Rotterdam, is one of the most beautiful industrial buildings ever made. Built between 1925 and 1931 for a company that processed coffee, tea and tobacco, it is a long, light building of glass and steel, with curtain walls that let daylight flood into the workspaces. The designers, Johannes Brinkman and Leendert van der Vlugt, created what became an icon of modernist architecture, a factory of light and air for its workers. It was added to the UNESCO list in 2014.
Read the complete Van Nellefabriek write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 69 km into the recorded legs you reach Van Nellefabriek. Next is Béguinage de Hoogstraten.
A béguinage is one of the most peaceful places in the Low Countries: a walled enclosure of small houses around a green courtyard and a church, built in the Middle Ages for béguines, women who lived a religious life of prayer and work without taking permanent vows. They could own property, leave if they wished and support themselves by weaving, teaching or nursing, which made the béguinages a unique form of female independence in medieval Europe. The béguinage at Hoogstraten, in the north of Antwerp province near the Dutch border, is one of thirteen Flemish béguinages on the World Heritage list, and it is a quiet, charming place, with whitewashed houses, a baroque church and a garden where time seems to slow.
Read the complete Béguinage de Hoogstraten write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Béguinage de Hoogstraten, about halfway. Next is back through Van Nellefabriek.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Van Nellefabriek write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Van Nellefabriek sits at 203 km, about halfway. Next is back through Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Lower.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Lower write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Lower comes up about 276 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort near Heemstede.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort near Heemstede write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort near Heemstede closes the day.
Fort near Heemstede → Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Lower is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Lower → Van Nellefabriek is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Van Nellefabriek → Béguinage de Hoogstraten is 84 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Béguinage de Hoogstraten → back through Van Nellefabriek is 84 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Van Nellefabriek → back through Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Lower is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Lower → Fort near Heemstede is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.