Why this ride
From Veldhuizen it runs 208 km to Veldhuizen; allow about 3 h 45 of riding. The stops in between: Fort Werk IV, Fort along the Pampus, Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams and Fort near Heemstede.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije and Fort near Heemstede
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 208 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 45
- 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
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 25 km this is Dutch Flower Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 25 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 Fort Werk IV.
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 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort along the Pampus.
3. Fort along the Pampus
Out in the open water of the IJmeer, a few kilometres off the old fortified town of Muiden, a low circular fortress sits on an artificial island. This is Pampus, one of more than forty forts that make up the Defence Line of Amsterdam, a ring of fortifications built around the city in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The idea was simple and very Dutch: in case of attack, large areas of land around the city would be flooded to a depth that was too shallow for boats and too deep for soldiers to wade, and the forts would guard the roads, railways and dykes that crossed the flooded zone. Pampus guarded the approach to Amsterdam by water. The line was listed by UNESCO in 1996.
Read the complete Fort along the Pampus write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 63 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort along the Pampus. Next is Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams.
4. 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
Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams, about halfway. Next is Fort near Heemstede.
5. Fort near Heemstede
Between Haarlem and the bulb fields of the Dutch coast, near the town of Heemstede and the hamlet of De Glip, lies a squat, grassy fort surrounded by a moat. This is the Fort near Heemstede, built around the turn of the twentieth century as part of the Defence Line of Amsterdam, a ring of forts, dykes and flooding zones around the city, and now part of the UNESCO-listed Dutch Water Defence Lines.
Read the complete Fort near Heemstede write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort near Heemstede sits at 90 km, about halfway. Next is back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams.
6. 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 comes up about 131 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Fort along the Pampus.
7. back through Fort along the Pampus
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort along the Pampus write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 146 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Fort along the Pampus. Next is back through Fort Werk IV.
8. 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, late in the day. Next is Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije.
9. 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
The route ends here after 208 km.
Leg by leg
Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije to Fort Werk IV
Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije → Fort Werk IV is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort Werk IV to Fort along the Pampus
Fort Werk IV → Fort along the Pampus is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort along the Pampus to Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams
Fort along the Pampus → Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams to Fort near Heemstede
Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams → Fort near Heemstede is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort near Heemstede to back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams
Fort near Heemstede → back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams is 27 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 along the Pampus
back through Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Ams → back through Fort along the Pampus is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort along the Pampus to back through Fort Werk IV
back through Fort along the Pampus → back through Fort Werk IV is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort Werk IV to Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije
back through Fort Werk IV → Utrecht-Limes road | De Balije is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.