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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Utrecht-Hoge Woerd and Droogmakerij de Beemster

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
199 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 14
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.

Open this ride in CurveScout

Why this ride

From Veldhuizen it runs 199 km to Veldhuizen; allow about 3 h 14 of riding. On the way it passes Fort Werk IV, Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams, Droogmakerij de Beemster and back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams. The line favours views over speed.

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 Fort Werk IV.

  2. 2. Fort Werk IV

    The Gooi, the area east of Amsterdam around Bussum, Naarden and Hilversum, is one of the few places in the western Netherlands with hills, if you can call low sandy ridges hills. It is a region of heathland, woods and wealthy villages. On the edge of Bussum, close to the fortified town of Naarden, stands Fort Werk IV, a small fortification that was part of the New Dutch Waterline and the Defence Line of Amsterdam, and is now part of the UNESCO-listed Dutch Water Defence Lines.

    Read the complete Fort Werk IV write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Fort Werk IV comes up about 40 km into the recorded legs. Next is Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams.

  3. 3. Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams

    Nobody rides a motorbike into the Amsterdam canal ring for the curves. You come because in the early seventeenth century, the city at the height of its Golden Age planned an extension of startling ambition: three main canals, the Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht, laid out in concentric arcs around the medieval core, lined with tall, narrow merchants' houses with gabled roofs and hoisting beams. Work began in 1613, and the result, a UNESCO site since 2010, is still one of the most admired examples of urban planning in the world.

    Read the complete Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    about 68 km into the recorded legs you reach Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams. Next is Droogmakerij de Beemster.

  4. 4. Droogmakerij de Beemster

    In 1612 a lake north of Amsterdam disappeared. Wealthy merchants, flush with money from the Dutch trading boom, financed the draining of the Beemster, and the engineer Jan Adriaenszoon Leeghwater used dozens of windmills to pump the water out into a ring canal. What remained was a polder several metres below sea level, laid out in a perfectly regular grid of roads, canals and fields based on Renaissance ideas of order and proportion. The Beemster was inscribed by UNESCO in 1999 as a masterpiece of creative planning, and from above it looks like a ruled sheet of paper.

    Read the complete Droogmakerij de Beemster write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Droogmakerij de Beemster, about halfway. Next is back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams.

  5. 5. back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams sits at 117 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fort Werk IV.

  6. 6. back through Fort Werk IV

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Fort Werk IV write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    back through Fort Werk IV comes up about 159 km into the recorded legs. Next is Utrecht-Hoge Woerd.

  7. 7. 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

    Utrecht-Hoge Woerd closes the day.

Leg by leg

Utrecht-Hoge Woerd to Fort Werk IV

Utrecht-Hoge Woerd → Fort Werk IV is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Fort Werk IV to Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams

Fort Werk IV → Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams to Droogmakerij de Beemster

Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams → Droogmakerij de Beemster is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Droogmakerij de Beemster to back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams

Droogmakerij de Beemster → back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams to back through Fort Werk IV

back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams → back through Fort Werk IV is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Fort Werk IV to Utrecht-Hoge Woerd

back through Fort Werk IV → Utrecht-Hoge Woerd is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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