Why this ride
From Tiel it runs 211 km to Tiel; allow about 3 h 29 of riding. The stops in between: Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk, Woerden-Centrum, Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan and back through Woerden-Centrum. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Tiel Inundation Canal and Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 211 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 29
- 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
- 34 km
- Named road
- Dutch Flower Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Tiel Inundation Canal
Tiel is a river town on the Waal, the main branch of the Rhine in the Netherlands, in the middle of the Betuwe, a region of orchards, dykes and meadows between the Waal and the Lower Rhine. Just outside the town, a wide, straight channel runs through the fields, crossed by bridges and lined by dykes. This is the Tiel inundation canal, built in the late nineteenth century as part of the New Dutch Waterline, the defensive system of controlled flooding that protected the heart of Holland, and it is now part of the UNESCO-listed Dutch Water Defence Lines.
Read the complete Tiel Inundation Canal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tiel Inundation Canal is where the day begins. Next is Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk.
2. Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk
Two layers of Dutch defence history sit on top of each other just south-east of Utrecht. Around two thousand years ago, the Romans built a fort here called Fectio, at the point where a branch of the Rhine met the Vecht, with a harbour for the fleet that patrolled the river frontier. Its remains lie buried in the fields near Vechten and are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Lower German Limes, a World Heritage site since 2021. Close by stands Fort bij Vechten, a nineteenth-century fortress of the New Dutch Waterline, a defensive system that could flood large areas of land to stop an invading army. That system is itself part of the UNESCO site of the Dutch Water Defence Lines. The fort now houses a museum explaining how the waterline worked, and how a country below sea level turned water into a weapon.
Read the complete Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk comes up about 45 km into the recorded legs. Next is Woerden-Centrum.
3. Woerden-Centrum
Woerden is a small Dutch town on the Oude Rijn, the old Rhine, halfway between Utrecht and Leiden, in the middle of the Green Heart of Holland, a landscape of polders, meadows, ditches and cows. Its centre is a compact old town ringed by canals, with a castle, a big church and a windmill on the old ramparts. The Romans were here too: Woerden lies on the line of the Lower German Limes, and the remains of a Roman fort lie beneath the town centre.
Read the complete Woerden-Centrum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Woerden-Centrum. Next is Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is back through Woerden-Centrum.
5. back through Woerden-Centrum
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Woerden-Centrum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Woerden-Centrum sits at 129 km, about halfway. Next is back through Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk.
6. back through Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk comes up about 165 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tiel Inundation Canal.
7. Tiel Inundation Canal
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tiel Inundation Canal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tiel Inundation Canal closes the day.
Leg by leg
Tiel Inundation Canal to Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk
Tiel Inundation Canal → Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk to Woerden-Centrum
Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk → Woerden-Centrum is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Woerden-Centrum to Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan
Woerden-Centrum → Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan to back through Woerden-Centrum
Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan → back through Woerden-Centrum is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Woerden-Centrum to back through Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk
back through Woerden-Centrum → back through Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk to Tiel Inundation Canal
back through Bunnik-Vechten | Marsdijk → Tiel Inundation Canal is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.