Why this ride
A 359 km round trip from Hollum - roughly 6 h 47 in the saddle. It goes by way of Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal, Veenhuizen and back through Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Key Planning Decision and Veenhuizen
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 359 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 47
- 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. Key Planning Decision
It is hard to point at a spot, because there is no spot: the sea retreats twice a day, leaving miles of glistening mud, and then returns, often faster than you expect. The Wadden Sea is a UNESCO site shared by the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, and it is the largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats in the world.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal, 76 km on.
2. 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 comes up about 106 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 179 km into the recorded legs you reach Veenhuizen. Next is back through Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal, 76 km on.
4. back through 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
back through Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal, late in the day. Next is Key Planning Decision.
5. Key Planning Decision
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
Back at Key Planning Decision. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Key Planning Decision to Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal
Key Planning Decision → Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal is 106 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal to Veenhuizen
Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal → Veenhuizen is 73 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Veenhuizen to back through Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal
Veenhuizen → back through Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal to Key Planning Decision
back through Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal → Key Planning Decision is 108 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.