Why this ride
284 km from Rijnsburg to Rijnsburg, about 3 h 53 of riding. It goes by way of Works along the IJ before Durgerdam, Schokland and Surroundings and back through Works along the IJ before Durgerdam. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Valkenburg-De Woerd | North and Schokland and Surroundings
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 284 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 53
- 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
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 61 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 57 km
- Named road
- Dutch Flower Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Valkenburg-De Woerd | North
On the coast between Leiden and Katwijk, Valkenburg is a village of fewer than four thousand people with a Roman past it rarely mentions. The Oude Rijn, the old Rhine, flows through here on its last stretch toward the North Sea, and for several centuries this river was the northern edge of the Roman Empire. A fort called Praetorium Agrippinae stood on the bank at Valkenburg, one of a string of forts that now form part of the Lower German Limes, which joined the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2021.
Read the complete Valkenburg-De Woerd | North write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Valkenburg-De Woerd | North is where the day begins. Next is Works along the IJ before Durgerdam.
2. Works along the IJ before Durgerdam
East of Amsterdam, where the IJ widens into the IJmeer and the city gives way to water and sky, the old dike village of Durgerdam sits on a strip of land between the sea wall and the polders. Its wooden houses, painted in strong colours and leaning on each other along the dike, look out over a lake that was once the Zuiderzee, open to the North Sea until the Afsluitdijk closed it in 1932. The works along the IJ here belong to the Defence Line of Amsterdam, now part of the Dutch Water Defence Lines World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Works along the IJ before Durgerdam 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 Durgerdam comes up about 57 km into the recorded legs. Next is Schokland and Surroundings.
3. Schokland and Surroundings
Schokland was once an island in the Zuiderzee, a long, narrow strip of peat and clay surrounded by an inland sea that constantly threatened to swallow it. For centuries, its inhabitants lived on raised mounds and fought a losing battle against the water, as storms ate away at the island's edges. By the mid-nineteenth century, life had become so precarious that in 1859 the Dutch government ordered the island to be evacuated. Then, in the twentieth century, the Dutch did something extraordinary: they enclosed the Zuiderzee with a dam, the Afsluitdijk, completed in 1932, and drained large parts of it to create new land. The Noordoostpolder, drained in 1942, swallowed Schokland, and the former island now rises slightly above the surrounding fields, a long green ridge in a flat landscape of farmland. In 1995, Schokland became the first Dutch site to be listed by UNESCO, as a symbol of the Netherlands' heroic struggle against the water.
Read the complete Schokland and Surroundings write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 144 km into the recorded legs you reach Schokland and Surroundings. Next is back through Works along the IJ before Durgerdam.
4. back through Works along the IJ before Durgerdam
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Works along the IJ before Durgerdam write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Works along the IJ before Durgerdam, late in the day. Next is Valkenburg-De Woerd | North.
5. Valkenburg-De Woerd | North
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Valkenburg-De Woerd | North write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Valkenburg-De Woerd | North. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Valkenburg-De Woerd | North to Works along the IJ before Durgerdam
Valkenburg-De Woerd | North → Works along the IJ before Durgerdam is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Works along the IJ before Durgerdam to Schokland and Surroundings
Works along the IJ before Durgerdam → Schokland and Surroundings is 87 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Schokland and Surroundings to back through Works along the IJ before Durgerdam
Schokland and Surroundings → back through Works along the IJ before Durgerdam is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Works along the IJ before Durgerdam to Valkenburg-De Woerd | North
back through Works along the IJ before Durgerdam → Valkenburg-De Woerd | North is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.