Why this ride
A 310 km round trip from Bussum - roughly 4 h 39 in the saddle. The stops in between: Woerden-Centrum, Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan, Van Nellefabriek and Leiden-Roomburg | Park Matilo. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Fort Werk IV and Leiden-Roomburg | Park Matilo
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 310 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 39
- 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
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 35 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 34 km
- Named road
- Dutch Flower Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fort Werk IV
The Gooi, the area east of Amsterdam around Bussum, Naarden and Hilversum, is one of the few places in the western Netherlands with hills, if you can call low sandy ridges hills. It is a region of heathland, woods and wealthy villages. On the edge of Bussum, close to the fortified town of Naarden, stands Fort Werk IV, a small fortification that was part of the New Dutch Waterline and the Defence Line of Amsterdam, and is now part of the UNESCO-listed Dutch Water Defence Lines.
Read the complete Fort Werk IV write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort Werk IV is where the day begins. Next is Woerden-Centrum.
2. Woerden-Centrum
Woerden is a small Dutch town on the Oude Rijn, the old Rhine, halfway between Utrecht and Leiden, in the middle of the Green Heart of Holland, a landscape of polders, meadows, ditches and cows. Its centre is a compact old town ringed by canals, with a castle, a big church and a windmill on the old ramparts. The Romans were here too: Woerden lies on the line of the Lower German Limes, and the remains of a Roman fort lie beneath the town centre.
Read the complete Woerden-Centrum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Woerden-Centrum comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan.
3. Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan
The Rhine ends in a whimper rather than a bang. After its long journey from the Alps, its old main branch, the Oude Rijn, winds quietly through the flat polders of South Holland past Leiden toward the North Sea, and for the Romans this sluggish waterway was the northern frontier of the empire. At Roomburg, on the edge of Leiden and Leiderdorp, stood the fort of Matilo, guarding the river and the canal that linked it with the Meuse, and today its site is part of the Roomburgerpark, a green space with information points and outlines marking where the fort stood. It belongs to the Lower Germanic Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2021.
Read the complete Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 84 km into the recorded legs you reach Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan. Next is Van Nellefabriek.
4. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Van Nellefabriek, about halfway. Next is Leiden-Roomburg | Park Matilo.
5. Leiden-Roomburg | Park Matilo
Leiden gave the world a university, a painter and a puzzle about a Roman fort. The fort was called Matilo, and it stood on the south bank of the Oude Rijn, the old arm of the Rhine, in what is now the Roomburg district west of the old town, between about AD 40 and 270. It guarded the frontier that ran along the river from Germany to the sea, with a garrison of auxiliary troops and a civilian settlement beside it, and its name survives on the Roman road maps. Today the site is a green park, Park Matilo, where the outlines of the fort are marked out, and information panels tell the story. The Lower German Limes was inscribed by UNESCO in 2021.
Read the complete Leiden-Roomburg | Park Matilo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Leiden-Roomburg | Park Matilo sits at 143 km, about halfway. Next is back through Van Nellefabriek.
6. back through Van Nellefabriek
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Van Nellefabriek write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Van Nellefabriek comes up about 190 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan.
7. back through Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 224 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan. Next is back through Woerden-Centrum.
8. back through Woerden-Centrum
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Woerden-Centrum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Woerden-Centrum, late in the day. Next is Fort Werk IV.
9. Fort Werk IV
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort Werk IV 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 310 km.
Leg by leg
Fort Werk IV to Woerden-Centrum
Fort Werk IV → Woerden-Centrum is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Woerden-Centrum to Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan
Woerden-Centrum → Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan to Van Nellefabriek
Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan → Van Nellefabriek is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Van Nellefabriek to Leiden-Roomburg | Park Matilo
Van Nellefabriek → Leiden-Roomburg | Park Matilo is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Leiden-Roomburg | Park Matilo to back through Van Nellefabriek
Leiden-Roomburg | Park Matilo → back through Van Nellefabriek is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Van Nellefabriek to back through Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan
back through Van Nellefabriek → back through Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan to back through Woerden-Centrum
back through Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan → back through Woerden-Centrum is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Woerden-Centrum to Fort Werk IV
back through Woerden-Centrum → Fort Werk IV is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.