Why this ride
From Alblasserdam it runs 360 km to Alblasserdam; allow about 5 h 28 of riding. The stops in between: Fort near Heemstede, Schokland and Surroundings and back through Fort near Heemstede. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout and Schokland and Surroundings starting at Alblasserdam
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 360 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 28
- 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
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 73 km this is Dutch Flower Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 73 km
- Named road
- Dutch Flower Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout
Nineteen windmills stand in two rows along the canals at Kinderdijk, their sails turning slowly against the wide Dutch sky, and it is one of the most iconic sights in the Netherlands. They were built in the eighteenth century to pump water out of the Alblasserwaard, a low-lying polder between the rivers Lek and Noord, which would otherwise be flooded. Each mill lifted water from a lower canal to a higher one, and from there it was let out into the river. Over time steam, diesel and electric pumping stations took over the job, and the most recent ones still keep the polder dry today. The mill network was listed by UNESCO in 1997.
Read the complete Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout is where the day begins. Next is Fort near Heemstede.
2. Fort near Heemstede
Between Haarlem and the bulb fields of the Dutch coast, near the town of Heemstede and the hamlet of De Glip, lies a squat, grassy fort surrounded by a moat. This is the Fort near Heemstede, built around the turn of the twentieth century as part of the Defence Line of Amsterdam, a ring of forts, dykes and flooding zones around the city, and now part of the UNESCO-listed Dutch Water Defence Lines.
Read the complete Fort near Heemstede write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort near Heemstede comes up about 73 km into the recorded legs. Next is Schokland and Surroundings.
3. Schokland and Surroundings
Schokland was once an island in the Zuiderzee, a long, narrow strip of peat and clay surrounded by an inland sea that constantly threatened to swallow it. For centuries, its inhabitants lived on raised mounds and fought a losing battle against the water, as storms ate away at the island's edges. By the mid-nineteenth century, life had become so precarious that in 1859 the Dutch government ordered the island to be evacuated. Then, in the twentieth century, the Dutch did something extraordinary: they enclosed the Zuiderzee with a dam, the Afsluitdijk, completed in 1932, and drained large parts of it to create new land. The Noordoostpolder, drained in 1942, swallowed Schokland, and the former island now rises slightly above the surrounding fields, a long green ridge in a flat landscape of farmland. In 1995, Schokland became the first Dutch site to be listed by UNESCO, as a symbol of the Netherlands' heroic struggle against the water.
Read the complete Schokland and Surroundings write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 181 km into the recorded legs you reach Schokland and Surroundings. Next is back through Fort near Heemstede.
4. back through Fort near Heemstede
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort near Heemstede write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fort near Heemstede, late in the day. Next is Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout.
5. Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout to Fort near Heemstede
Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout → Fort near Heemstede is 73 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Fort near Heemstede to Schokland and Surroundings
Fort near Heemstede → Schokland and Surroundings is 108 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Schokland and Surroundings to back through Fort near Heemstede
Schokland and Surroundings → back through Fort near Heemstede is 105 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Fort near Heemstede to Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout
back through Fort near Heemstede → Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.