Why this ride
From Woerden it runs 208 km to Woerden; allow about 3 h 09 of riding. It goes by way of Rietveld Schröderhuis, Fort Werk IV, Droogmakerij de Beemster and back through Fort Werk IV. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Woerden-Centrum and Droogmakerij de Beemster
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 208 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 09
- 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. 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
Woerden-Centrum is where the day begins. Next is Rietveld Schröderhuis.
2. Rietveld Schröderhuis
On a quiet residential street in Utrecht, a few minutes from the centre by bicycle, stands a small box-shaped house made of white and grey planes, with black frames and touches of red, yellow and blue, which looks as though it had been made from a Mondrian painting. This is the Rietveld Schroder House, built in 1924 and inscribed by UNESCO in 2000 as a masterpiece of the De Stijl movement and of modern architecture. The old centre of Utrecht, with its cathedral tower and its canals, is under two kilometres away.
Read the complete Rietveld Schröderhuis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Rietveld Schröderhuis comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort Werk IV.
3. 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
about 51 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort Werk IV. Next is Droogmakerij de Beemster.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is back through Fort Werk IV.
5. 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 sits at 134 km, about halfway. Next is back through Rietveld Schröderhuis.
6. back through Rietveld Schröderhuis
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rietveld Schröderhuis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Rietveld Schröderhuis comes up about 184 km into the recorded legs. Next is Woerden-Centrum.
7. 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
Woerden-Centrum closes the day.
Leg by leg
Woerden-Centrum to Rietveld Schröderhuis
Woerden-Centrum → Rietveld Schröderhuis is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rietveld Schröderhuis to Fort Werk IV
Rietveld Schröderhuis → Fort Werk IV is 27 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 Rietveld Schröderhuis
back through Fort Werk IV → back through Rietveld Schröderhuis is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Rietveld Schröderhuis to Woerden-Centrum
back through Rietveld Schröderhuis → Woerden-Centrum is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.