Why this ride
A 210 km round trip from Veldhuizen - roughly 3 h 04 in the saddle. It goes by way of Fort Werk IV, Culvert near Offerhausweg, Works along the IJ before Diemerdam and back through Culvert near Offerhausweg.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg and Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 210 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 04
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg
Two thousand years ago the Rhine marked the northern edge of the Roman Empire here, and along its southern bank the army built a chain of forts, watchtowers and a road to link them. In the western suburbs of Utrecht, in the new district of Leidsche Rijn and the old village of De Meern, that road has been found again under the fields, a gravel and clay embankment with ditches either side, and part of it can be traced along the street called Zandweg. Nearby, at Castellum Hoge Woerd, the outline of a Roman fort has been rebuilt in a modern form, with a museum, a theatre and an observatory, and a flat-bottomed Roman river barge, found here in 1997 almost intact and complete with the cargo and personal belongings of its skipper, is on display. The Lower German Limes became a World Heritage site in 2021.
Read the complete Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg 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 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Culvert near Offerhausweg.
3. Culvert near Offerhausweg
The name tells you what is here, a culvert, a small tunnel for water under a path or a bank, and the humble nature of the place is its charm. The Netherlands is a country made of managed water, and this part of Utrecht, on the eastern edge of the city near the university campus of De Uithof, is cut by streams, ditches and old defensive works that were all designed to move water about, or to hold it back. A culvert is the kind of detail that engineers make a country work with, and that most travellers never see.
Read the complete Culvert near Offerhausweg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 65 km into the recorded legs you reach Culvert near Offerhausweg. Next is Works along the IJ before Diemerdam.
4. Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
Just east of Amsterdam, where the city's suburbs give way to water and polders, a narrow strip of land runs out along the old shore of the IJ and the IJmeer toward Muiden. The Diemerdam is an old dike, and the works along the IJ before it are part of the Dutch Water Defence Lines, the system of forts, dikes, sluices and inundation fields that the Dutch built over centuries to defend their cities by flooding the land around them. The Defence Line of Amsterdam, a ring of forts around the capital, was listed by UNESCO in 1996 and later joined with the New Dutch Waterline into a single site.
Read the complete Works along the IJ before Diemerdam write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Works along the IJ before Diemerdam, about halfway. Next is back through Culvert near Offerhausweg.
5. back through Culvert near Offerhausweg
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Culvert near Offerhausweg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Culvert near Offerhausweg sits at 131 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fort Werk IV.
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 174 km into the recorded legs. Next is Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg.
7. Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg closes the day.
Leg by leg
Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg to Fort Werk IV
Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg → Fort Werk IV is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort Werk IV to Culvert near Offerhausweg
Fort Werk IV → Culvert near Offerhausweg is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Culvert near Offerhausweg to Works along the IJ before Diemerdam
Culvert near Offerhausweg → Works along the IJ before Diemerdam is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Works along the IJ before Diemerdam to back through Culvert near Offerhausweg
Works along the IJ before Diemerdam → back through Culvert near Offerhausweg is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Culvert near Offerhausweg to back through Fort Werk IV
back through Culvert near Offerhausweg → back through Fort Werk IV is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort Werk IV to Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg
back through Fort Werk IV → Utrecht-Limes road | Zandweg is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.