Utrecht-Hoge Woerd and Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Utrecht-Hoge Woerd

   The Romans left their ships behind. In the 1990s, when the new suburb of Leidsche Rijn was being built on farmland west of Utrecht, excavators found the remains of several Roman river barges buried in the clay at De Meern, flat-bottomed craft that carried supplies along the Rhine to the soldiers on the frontier. Close to them, archaeologists uncovered a fort, called Hoge Woerd, which is now one of the best-known pieces of the Lower Germanic Limes. Part of its walls and gate towers has been reconstructed on the original foundations, and it stands incongruously among the houses of a modern housing estate, with a museum and a field where people can see the layout.

   Read the complete Utrecht-Hoge Woerd write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Utrecht-Hoge Woerd is where the day begins. Next is Van Nellefabriek.

2. 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 53 km into the recorded legs. Next is Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden.

3. 3. Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden

   At the mouth of the North Sea Canal, where giant locks let ocean-going ships into the waterway that leads to Amsterdam, a round island fort sits in the middle of the harbour. This is Fort IJmuiden, also called Forteiland, built in the 1880s as the westernmost stronghold of the Defence Line of Amsterdam, a ring of forts, dikes and flood fields designed to protect the capital by inundating the land around it. The Defence Line, now part of the UNESCO-listed Dutch Water Defence Lines, is one of the more ingenious military systems ever devised: rather than walls, it relied on water a few decimetres deep, too shallow for boats and too deep for marching.

   Read the complete Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 136 km into the recorded legs you reach Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden. Next is back through Van Nellefabriek.

4. 4. 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 Utrecht-Hoge Woerd.

5. 5. Utrecht-Hoge Woerd

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Utrecht-Hoge Woerd write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Utrecht-Hoge Woerd. That is the ride.