Why this ride
A 244 km round trip from Veldhuizen - roughly 3 h 27 in the saddle. The stops in between: Voorburg-Arentsburg, Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden and back through Voorburg-Arentsburg. It keeps close to the shore for long stretches.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije and Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 244 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 27
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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
Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije → Voorburg-Arentsburg
62 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it — speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 62 km
Dutch Flower Route
This part of the ride is 64 km of Dutch Flower Route.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 64 km
- Named road
- Dutch Flower Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije
The Romans built their northern frontier along the Rhine, and in what is now the Netherlands they built a road beside it, running on the natural levee of the river, which was the highest and driest ground. Today the Kromme Rijn, the Crooked Rhine, flows past Utrecht as a small, quiet river, but in the first century it was the main channel, and the road ran alongside it, linking forts and watchtowers from the sea to the Roman towns upstream. At Utrecht there was a fort, Traiectum, from which the city takes its name, and nearby at Vechten stood the larger fort of Fectio, one of the most important along the Dutch stretch of the frontier.
Read the complete Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije is where the day begins. Next is Voorburg-Arentsburg.
2. Voorburg-Arentsburg
Under the suburbs between The Hague and Delft lie the remains of Forum Hadriani, the northernmost Roman town on the continent, founded in the early second century AD and named after the emperor Hadrian. At Arentsburg, a country estate in Voorburg, excavations revealed streets, houses, a harbour and a canal, the Fossa Corbulonis, dug by Roman soldiers to link the Rhine and the Meuse. The site is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Lower German Limes World Heritage Site, listed in 2021, which follows the Rhine frontier through the Netherlands and Germany.
Read the complete Voorburg-Arentsburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Voorburg-Arentsburg comes up 63 km in. Next is Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden.
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
127 km in you reach Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden. Next is back through Voorburg-Arentsburg.
4. back through Voorburg-Arentsburg
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Voorburg-Arentsburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Voorburg-Arentsburg, late in the day. Next is Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije.
5. Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije to Voorburg-Arentsburg
Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije → Voorburg-Arentsburg is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Voorburg-Arentsburg to Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden
Voorburg-Arentsburg → Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden to back through Voorburg-Arentsburg
Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden → back through Voorburg-Arentsburg is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Voorburg-Arentsburg to Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije
back through Voorburg-Arentsburg → Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.