Why this ride
344 km from Spangen to Spangen, about 4 h 59 of riding. It goes by way of Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan, Woerden-Centrum, Fort Werk IV and Droogmakerij de Beemster. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Van Nellefabriek and Droogmakerij de Beemster
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 344 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 59
- 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. 35 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 34 km
- Named road
- Dutch Flower Route
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 Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan.
2. Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan
The Rhine ends in a whimper rather than a bang. After its long journey from the Alps, its old main branch, the Oude Rijn, winds quietly through the flat polders of South Holland past Leiden toward the North Sea, and for the Romans this sluggish waterway was the northern frontier of the empire. At Roomburg, on the edge of Leiden and Leiderdorp, stood the fort of Matilo, guarding the river and the canal that linked it with the Meuse, and today its site is part of the Roomburgerpark, a green space with information points and outlines marking where the fort stood. It belongs to the Lower Germanic Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2021.
Read the complete Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Woerden-Centrum.
3. Woerden-Centrum
Woerden is a small Dutch town on the Oude Rijn, the old Rhine, halfway between Utrecht and Leiden, in the middle of the Green Heart of Holland, a landscape of polders, meadows, ditches and cows. Its centre is a compact old town ringed by canals, with a castle, a big church and a windmill on the old ramparts. The Romans were here too: Woerden lies on the line of the Lower German Limes, and the remains of a Roman fort lie beneath the town centre.
Read the complete Woerden-Centrum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 68 km into the recorded legs you reach Woerden-Centrum. Next is Fort Werk IV.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Droogmakerij de Beemster.
5. 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
Droogmakerij de Beemster sits at 157 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 224 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Woerden-Centrum.
7. back through Woerden-Centrum
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Woerden-Centrum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 274 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Woerden-Centrum. Next is back through Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan.
8. back through Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan, late in the day. Next is Van Nellefabriek.
9. 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
The route ends here after 344 km.
Leg by leg
Van Nellefabriek to Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan
Van Nellefabriek → Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan to Woerden-Centrum
Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan → Woerden-Centrum is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Woerden-Centrum to Fort Werk IV
Woerden-Centrum → Fort Werk IV is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort Werk IV to Droogmakerij de Beemster
Fort Werk IV → Droogmakerij de Beemster is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Droogmakerij de Beemster to back through Fort Werk IV
Droogmakerij de Beemster → back through Fort Werk IV is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort Werk IV to back through Woerden-Centrum
back through Fort Werk IV → back through Woerden-Centrum is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Woerden-Centrum to back through Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan
back through Woerden-Centrum → back through Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan to Van Nellefabriek
back through Leiden-Roomburg | Besjeslaan → Van Nellefabriek is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.