Why this ride
236 km from Voorburg to Voorburg, about 3 h 57 of riding. The stops in between: Valkenburg-De Woerd | South, Fort near Heemstede, Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden and Dutch Water Defence Lines.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Voorburg-Arentsburg and Dutch Water Defence Lines
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 236 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 57
- 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
18 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it — speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 22 km
- Named road
- Dutch Flower Route
Dutch Flower Route
The ride follows Dutch Flower Route for 29 km.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 29 km
- Named road
- Dutch Flower Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Voorburg-Arentsburg
Under the suburbs between The Hague and Delft lie the remains of Forum Hadriani, the northernmost Roman town on the continent, founded in the early second century AD and named after the emperor Hadrian. At Arentsburg, a country estate in Voorburg, excavations revealed streets, houses, a harbour and a canal, the Fossa Corbulonis, dug by Roman soldiers to link the Rhine and the Meuse. The site is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Lower German Limes World Heritage Site, listed in 2021, which follows the Rhine frontier through the Netherlands and Germany.
Read the complete Voorburg-Arentsburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Voorburg-Arentsburg is where the day begins. Next is Valkenburg-De Woerd | South.
2. Valkenburg-De Woerd | South
For a few hundred years, the mouth of the Rhine was the edge of the world. West of Leiden, the river that once spilled into the North Sea along the Old Rhine channel marked the frontier of the Roman Empire, and the legions kept a line of forts along its banks. Valkenburg, a small village near the coast north of The Hague, was one of them, and the site of a fort known by the name Praetorium Agrippinae, which is the Roman name that archaeologists give to the Valkenburg fort. It sat on the south bank of the river, with a harbour, a bridge or two, and a settlement of traders and soldiers around it, and the finds from the area include timbers, shoes, and tools preserved in the damp clay.
Read the complete Valkenburg-De Woerd | South write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Valkenburg-De Woerd | South comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort near Heemstede.
3. 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
about 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort near Heemstede. Next is Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden.
4. Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden
At the mouth of the North Sea Canal, where giant locks let ocean-going ships into the waterway that leads to Amsterdam, a round island fort sits in the middle of the harbour. This is Fort IJmuiden, also called Forteiland, built in the 1880s as the westernmost stronghold of the Defence Line of Amsterdam, a ring of forts, dikes and flood fields designed to protect the capital by inundating the land around it. The Defence Line, now part of the UNESCO-listed Dutch Water Defence Lines, is one of the more ingenious military systems ever devised: rather than walls, it relied on water a few decimetres deep, too shallow for boats and too deep for marching.
Read the complete Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden, about halfway. Next is Dutch Water Defence Lines.
5. Dutch Water Defence Lines
Forget mountains and passes: the Dutch defended Amsterdam with water. Between the 1880s and the 1920s, the army built a ring of forts around the capital at a distance of roughly fifteen to twenty kilometres, the Stelling van Amsterdam, designed to flood the surrounding polders to a depth too shallow for boats but too deep to wade through. Forty-odd forts, along with dykes, sluices and batteries, formed the ring, and the area north of the city near De Rijp and the Beemster was part of it. The Defence Line of Amsterdam gained World Heritage status in 1996, and in 2021 it was extended to include the older New Dutch Waterline further south, the whole now known as the Dutch Water Defence Lines.
Read the complete Dutch Water Defence Lines write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dutch Water Defence Lines sits at 93 km, about halfway. Next is back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden.
6. back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden comes up about 150 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Fort near Heemstede.
7. back through Fort near Heemstede
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
about 178 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Fort near Heemstede. Next is back through Valkenburg-De Woerd | South.
8. back through Valkenburg-De Woerd | South
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Valkenburg-De Woerd | South write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Valkenburg-De Woerd | South, late in the day. Next is Voorburg-Arentsburg.
9. Voorburg-Arentsburg
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Voorburg-Arentsburg 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 236 km.
Leg by leg
Voorburg-Arentsburg to Valkenburg-De Woerd | South
Voorburg-Arentsburg → Valkenburg-De Woerd | South is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Valkenburg-De Woerd | South to Fort near Heemstede
Valkenburg-De Woerd | South → Fort near Heemstede is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort near Heemstede to Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden
Fort near Heemstede → Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden to Dutch Water Defence Lines
Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden → Dutch Water Defence Lines is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dutch Water Defence Lines to back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden
Dutch Water Defence Lines → back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden to back through Fort near Heemstede
back through Coastal Fort near Ijmuiden → back through Fort near Heemstede is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort near Heemstede to back through Valkenburg-De Woerd | South
back through Fort near Heemstede → back through Valkenburg-De Woerd | South is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Valkenburg-De Woerd | South to Voorburg-Arentsburg
back through Valkenburg-De Woerd | South → Voorburg-Arentsburg is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Dutch Flower Route · 57 km
- Dutch Flower Route (77 km) · 52 km
- Droogmakerij de Beemster and Béguinage de Hoogstraten · 379 km