Why this ride
241 km from Spangen to Spangen, about 3 h 26 of riding. It goes by way of Utrecht-Hoge Woerd, Droogmakerij de Beemster and back through Utrecht-Hoge Woerd. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Van Nellefabriek and Droogmakerij de Beemster · 241 km from Spangen
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 241 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 26
- 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. Van Nellefabriek
The Van Nelle factory, on the edge of Rotterdam, is one of the most beautiful industrial buildings ever made. Built between 1925 and 1931 for a company that processed coffee, tea and tobacco, it is a long, light building of glass and steel, with curtain walls that let daylight flood into the workspaces. The designers, Johannes Brinkman and Leendert van der Vlugt, created what became an icon of modernist architecture, a factory of light and air for its workers. It was added to the UNESCO list in 2014.
Read the complete Van Nellefabriek write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Van Nellefabriek is where the day begins. Next is Utrecht-Hoge Woerd.
2. 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 comes up about 53 km into the recorded legs. Next is Droogmakerij de Beemster.
3. 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
about 121 km into the recorded legs you reach Droogmakerij de Beemster. Next is back through Utrecht-Hoge Woerd.
4. back through 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
back through Utrecht-Hoge Woerd, late in the day. Next is Van Nellefabriek.
5. Van Nellefabriek
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Van Nellefabriek write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Van Nellefabriek. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Van Nellefabriek to Utrecht-Hoge Woerd
Van Nellefabriek → Utrecht-Hoge Woerd is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Utrecht-Hoge Woerd to Droogmakerij de Beemster
Utrecht-Hoge Woerd → Droogmakerij de Beemster is 68 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Droogmakerij de Beemster to back through Utrecht-Hoge Woerd
Droogmakerij de Beemster → back through Utrecht-Hoge Woerd is 67 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Utrecht-Hoge Woerd to Van Nellefabriek
back through Utrecht-Hoge Woerd → Van Nellefabriek is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.