Why this ride
A 307 km round trip from Lemmer - roughly 5 h 26 in the saddle. On the way it passes Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord, Veenhuizen, Key Planning Decision and back through Veenhuizen. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal and Key Planning Decision · 307 km from Lemmer
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 307 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 26
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal
The Netherlands has always had to fight water, and Friesland's battle was won in part by a single building on the shore of the IJsselmeer near Lemmer. The Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal, a steam pumping station opened in 1920, is the largest steam-driven pumping station ever built that is still in working order, and it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. When the water in Friesland's canals and lakes rises too high, the old steam engines can still be fired up to pump it out.
Read the complete Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal is where the day begins. Next is Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord.
2. Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord
In 1818, after years of war, famine and poverty, a former general named Johannes van den Bosch founded the Society of Benevolence in the Netherlands, with a radical idea: to take poor families from the cities and give them a new life as farmers in the empty heathlands of the north east. The first colony was established at Frederiksoord, in the south of Drenthe, and others followed at Wilhelminaoord, Willemsoord, Veenhuizen and elsewhere. Each family was given a small house, a plot of land and training in farming, and children were educated in schools, an unusual provision for the time. The Colonies of Benevolence, in the Netherlands and Belgium, were listed by UNESCO in 2021.
Read the complete Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord comes up about 53 km into the recorded legs. Next is Veenhuizen.
3. Veenhuizen
Veenhuizen does not look like a prison town at first. It looks like an orderly village in the flat green countryside of Drenthe, with long avenues of trees, neat brick buildings, canals and fields. But read the inscriptions on the gables, with mottos like "Werken is zalig", work is blessed, and the history starts to show. In 1818, a philanthropic organisation called the Society of Benevolence, founded by General Johannes van den Bosch, began establishing colonies in the poor, empty peatlands of the northern Netherlands, where poor families from the cities could be resettled and taught to farm. Veenhuizen became a colony for orphans, beggars and vagrants, and over time it turned into a state institution, and then into a prison village.
Read the complete Veenhuizen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 87 km into the recorded legs you reach Veenhuizen. Next is Key Planning Decision.
4. Key Planning Decision
The name on the map is bureaucratic, but the place is anything but. Key Planning Decision is a translation of the Dutch legal designation used to protect the Wadden Sea, and the spot here sits on the coast near Delfzijl, at the eastern edge of the province of Groningen, where the Dutch Wadden meets the estuary of the Ems. The Wadden Sea is the largest unbroken system of tidal flats in the world, stretching along the coasts of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, and it was listed by UNESCO in 2009.
Read the complete Key Planning Decision write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Key Planning Decision, about halfway. Next is back through Veenhuizen.
5. back through Veenhuizen
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Veenhuizen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Veenhuizen sits at 194 km, about halfway. Next is back through Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord.
6. back through Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord comes up about 252 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal, 48 km on.
7. Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal closes the day.
Leg by leg
Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal to Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord
Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal → Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord to Veenhuizen
Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord → Veenhuizen is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Veenhuizen to Key Planning Decision
Veenhuizen → Key Planning Decision is 69 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Key Planning Decision to back through Veenhuizen
Key Planning Decision → back through Veenhuizen is 62 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Veenhuizen to back through Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord
back through Veenhuizen → back through Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord to Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal
back through Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord → Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.