Why this ride
A 317 km round trip from Leiderdorp - roughly 4 h 44 in the saddle. It goes by way of Van Nellefabriek, Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg, Works along the IJ before Diemerdam and Dutch Water Defence Lines. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan and Dutch Water Defence Lines
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 317 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 44
- 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
- 35 km
- Named road
- Dutch Flower Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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
Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan is where the day begins. Next is Van Nellefabriek.
2. 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 comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg.
3. Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg
Two thousand years ago the Rhine marked the northern edge of the Roman Empire here, and along its southern bank the army built a chain of forts, watchtowers and a road to link them. In the western suburbs of Utrecht, in the new district of Leidsche Rijn and the old village of De Meern, that road has been found again under the fields, a gravel and clay embankment with ditches either side, and part of it can be traced along the street called Zandweg. Nearby, at Castellum Hoge Woerd, the outline of a Roman fort has been rebuilt in a modern form, with a museum, a theatre and an observatory, and a flat-bottomed Roman river barge, found here in 1997 almost intact and complete with the cargo and personal belongings of its skipper, is on display. The Lower German Limes became a World Heritage site in 2021.
Read the complete Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg 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 Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg. Next is Works along the IJ before Diemerdam.
4. Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
Just east of Amsterdam, where the city's suburbs give way to water and polders, a narrow strip of land runs out along the old shore of the IJ and the IJmeer toward Muiden. The Diemerdam is an old dike, and the works along the IJ before it are part of the Dutch Water Defence Lines, the system of forts, dikes, sluices and inundation fields that the Dutch built over centuries to defend their cities by flooding the land around them. The Defence Line of Amsterdam, a ring of forts around the capital, was listed by UNESCO in 1996 and later joined with the New Dutch Waterline into a single site.
Read the complete Works along the IJ before Diemerdam write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Works along the IJ before Diemerdam, about halfway. Next is Dutch Water Defence Lines.
5. Dutch Water Defence Lines
Forget mountains and passes: the Dutch defended Amsterdam with water. Between the 1880s and the 1920s, the army built a ring of forts around the capital at a distance of roughly fifteen to twenty kilometres, the Stelling van Amsterdam, designed to flood the surrounding polders to a depth too shallow for boats but too deep to wade through. Forty-odd forts, along with dykes, sluices and batteries, formed the ring, and the area north of the city near De Rijp and the Beemster was part of it. The Defence Line of Amsterdam gained World Heritage status in 1996, and in 2021 it was extended to include the older New Dutch Waterline further south, the whole now known as the Dutch Water Defence Lines.
Read the complete Dutch Water Defence Lines write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dutch Water Defence Lines sits at 168 km, about halfway. Next is back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam.
6. back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Works along the IJ before Diemerdam write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam comes up about 197 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg.
7. back through Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 232 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg. Next is back through Van Nellefabriek.
8. 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, late in the day. Next is Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan.
9. 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
The route ends here after 317 km.
Leg by leg
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 Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg
Van Nellefabriek → Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg to Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg → Works along the IJ before Diemerdam is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Works along the IJ before Diemerdam to Dutch Water Defence Lines
Works along the IJ before Diemerdam → Dutch Water Defence Lines is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dutch Water Defence Lines to back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
Dutch Water Defence Lines → back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam to back through Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg
back through Works along the IJ before Diemerdam → back through Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg to back through Van Nellefabriek
back through Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg → back through Van Nellefabriek is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Van Nellefabriek to Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan
back through Van Nellefabriek → Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.