Why this ride
A 120 km round trip from Utrecht - roughly 2 h 03 in the saddle. The stops in between: Woerden-Centrum, Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan and back through Woerden-Centrum. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Utrecht-Domplein and Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 120 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 03
- 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. Utrecht-Domplein
Dig under the Domplein in Utrecht and you hit a Roman fort. That is not a figure of speech: when the city was rebuilt after the great storm that brought down the nave of the cathedral in 1674, the foundations were already sitting on the foundations of something much older. The Romans built a fort here around the middle of the first century, on a low sandy rise beside the Rhine, and called it Traiectum, the crossing. When the legions left, the name stuck, and a thousand years of sound changes turned it into Utrecht.
Read the complete Utrecht-Domplein write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Utrecht-Domplein is where the day begins. Next is Woerden-Centrum.
2. 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
Woerden-Centrum comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan.
3. 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
about 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan. Next is back through Woerden-Centrum.
4. 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, late in the day. Next is Utrecht-Domplein.
5. Utrecht-Domplein
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Utrecht-Domplein write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Utrecht-Domplein. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Utrecht-Domplein to Woerden-Centrum
Utrecht-Domplein → Woerden-Centrum is 25 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 Utrecht-Domplein
back through Woerden-Centrum → Utrecht-Domplein is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.