Fort Werk IV and Voorburg-Arentsburg

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 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 Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden.

2. 2. 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 comes up about 59 km into the recorded legs. Next is Voorburg-Arentsburg.

3. 3. Voorburg-Arentsburg

   Under the suburbs between The Hague and Delft lie the remains of Forum Hadriani, the northernmost Roman town on the continent, founded in the early second century AD and named after the emperor Hadrian. At Arentsburg, a country estate in Voorburg, excavations revealed streets, houses, a harbour and a canal, the Fossa Corbulonis, dug by Roman soldiers to link the Rhine and the Meuse. The site is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Lower German Limes World Heritage Site, listed in 2021, which follows the Rhine frontier through the Netherlands and Germany.

   Read the complete Voorburg-Arentsburg write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 127 km into the recorded legs you reach Voorburg-Arentsburg. Next is back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden.

4. 4. 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, late in the day. Next is Fort Werk IV.

5. 5. 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

   Back at Fort Werk IV. That is the ride.