Zeeland Delta Works Route (185 km)
Rotterdam to Middelburg · one way, about 185 km back to the start
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Why this ride
A one-way ride of 185 km, Rotterdam to Middelburg - roughly 2 h 31 in the saddle. It goes by way of Maeslantkering, Oosterscheldekering and Neeltje Jans. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Roadbook
- Rotterdam
start
Rotterdam is a young city by Dutch standards, and that is because the old one was destroyed. German bombers flattened the centre in May 1940, and rather than rebuild a historic town the Dutch built a modern one, bold and experimental, with towers, bridges and cubic houses that tilt on their corners. Nothing here is quiet or pretty in the postcard sense, and that is its appeal. The Erasmus Bridge, a white swan-necked span over the Maas, is the city's symbol, and the Markthal, a vast arched market hall with a ceiling painted in giant fruit and flowers, is the best place to eat. Cheap, quick, varied food is sold from stalls there, and Dutch herring, eaten raw with onion, is available at every street corner.
The port is the heart of the matter. For decades Rotterdam was the largest port in the world, and it remains the biggest in Europe, with container cranes and refineries lining the river for kilometres. A harbour tour by boat gives a sense of the scale. Out beyond the city, at the mouth of the Nieuwe Waterweg near Hoek van Holland, stands the Maeslantkering, a huge storm barrier whose two arms swing across the channel when a surge approaches.
That barrier is the first of the Delta Works, the great programme of dams, dykes and sea gates built in the south-west after the flood of 1953, which killed more than eighteen hundred people in Zeeland and South Holland. The ride south follows the islands of Zeeland over a chain of bridges and causeways, and the Oosterschelde barrier, finished in 1986, is the showpiece, a long line of concrete piers with steel gates that stay open except in storms. The roads are flat and smooth, the wind is stiff and the skies are huge. Wind can push a bike hard on the exposed sections, so ride with a firm grip.
In the city itself, traffic is calm and cycle lanes are everywhere, so give way to bikes. Speed cameras and police checks are common in the Netherlands, and the fines are steep. Fuel is easy to find in Rotterdam and along the motorway. For the Delta Works, fill up before heading onto the islands, where stations are less common. Spring brings the tulips and clear light, and autumn is moody and golden.
- Maeslantkering
scenic
The Maeslantkering is one of the largest moving structures on earth, and it sits quietly on the Nieuwe Waterweg, the channel that brings the sea to Rotterdam, in the town of Hoek van Holland. It consists of two enormous white steel arms, each about two hundred metres long, which rest in dry docks on either bank. When a severe storm surge threatens, the arms swing out, float across the channel, and sink to seal it, all by computer, without a human hand. Opened in 1997, it is the last big piece of the Delta Works, the vast series of dams, barriers and sluices that the Dutch built after the North Sea flood of 1953 drowned much of the south-west and killed more than eighteen hundred people.
You can see the whole thing from the outside, and there is a small visitor centre, the Keringhuis, where displays explain how it works and why. The arms look from the road a bit like the wings of a giant, unlikely bird. The barrier is tested once a year, usually before the storm season, though it has rarely been closed for real. It is a reminder that a country where a good third of the land lies below sea level lives with water as a daily fact.
For a rider, the roads around here are flat and wide, with industrial views and long open bends along the dyke. Wind is the main character, and gusts of side wind on the exposed stretches by the water deserve respect. Heavy lorries serve the port, the roads are busy on weekdays, and many junctions have bike lanes you need to watch. Weekends are quieter and more pleasant.
Hoek van Holland is a seaside town, a ferry port with service to Harwich in England, a beach and a few simple places to eat fish. It has fuel, and Maassluis and Rotterdam are close for more. The town is a good place for a coffee on the front, watching ships go in and out of one of the busiest ports in Europe. In clear weather the horizon is full of tankers and container ships in a line, which is a remarkable sight for those who like moving machinery.
- Oosterscheldekering
scenic
The Oosterscheldekering is nine kilometres of concrete piers and steel gates running across the mouth of the Eastern Scheldt, and it is the longest of the Delta Works. Sixty-two piers stand in the water, and between them hang sixty-five enormous steel gates, which stay open most of the time to let the tide in and out, and close only when a storm surge threatens. It was finished in 1986, and Queen Beatrix opened it that October. Riding across it on the road that runs along the top, with the sea on both sides and the horizon flat in every direction, is one of the strangest and most impressive crossings in northern Europe.
The history is dramatic. In the night of 31 January to 1 February 1953, a storm surge broke through the dykes of Zeeland and South Holland, flooding huge areas and killing 1,836 people. The government decided to close off the estuaries with dams, but when the plan for the Eastern Scheldt came up, fishermen, shellfish farmers and environmentalists protested that a closed dam would kill the tidal habitat and the oyster and mussel beds. The result was a compromise, a barrier that is open in normal weather and closes only in danger. It cost far more than a simple dam, and many consider it a triumph of Dutch pragmatism.
The ride is flat and exposed, and the wind is the main thing to prepare for. On a blustery day, the crosswind on the barrier can be fierce, and a loaded motorbike will be pushed around, so keep both hands on the bars and a steady speed. Traffic is moderate, and the road is smooth. Seals lie on the sandbanks nearby, and the water at low tide shows a huge shining mudflat, full of wading birds.
There are parking places along the way and a visitor centre on the island of Neeltje Jans, in the middle of the barrier. For fuel, the nearest sizeable town is Zierikzee, about fifteen kilometres away, which also has restaurants and supermarkets, and Haamstede and Kamperland have smaller shops. Eat mussels in season, from September to March roughly, or a simple plate of fried fish. Bring a windproof layer, even in summer, because the sea breeze is cold.
- Neeltje Jans
scenic
Neeltje Jans is an island that was made by hand. It did not exist before the barrier works, when engineers built it as a working platform in the middle of the Eastern Scheldt, a place to build the concrete piers and gates of the storm surge barrier. When the barrier was finished, the island became a museum, and it still hosts Delta Expo, an exhibition about the Delta Works that includes the original equipment used to build them. The huge machines and the giant concrete pillars stored there give you a sense of scale that the road crossing never quite can.
Visiting the island is a natural pause on the Zeeland ride. There is a car and motorbike park, a restaurant and a café, and a water park that fills with families in summer. From the exhibition you can walk out on part of the barrier itself and see the gates from below, and when the weather permits, boat trips take you out to see seals on the sandbanks. The engineering society of the United States once named the Delta Works among the seven wonders of the modern world, a claim the Dutch mention with modest pride.
The wind is constant. On a calm day, it is mild, but a stiff breeze brings a chill and sometimes a harsh, drenching rain that arrives sideways. Ride with a windproof jacket and take care on the exposed causeway, where gusts can catch you. Traffic is light in winter and heavier in summer, when day trippers and holidaymakers head for the beaches of Zeeland. The roads are well kept and flat, and the surface is generally excellent.
Landscape is the other attraction: wide skies, mudflats, wheeling birds, and the long line of the barrier disappearing into the haze. Bird watchers come in autumn and winter for geese and waders, and in clear light the whole estuary has a silvery look. Mussels and oysters are the local specialities, and the cafés here serve them in season with fries and a cold beer.
- Middelburg
finish
Middelburg is the sort of Dutch town that makes you slow down on purpose. It is the capital of Zeeland, set on the old island of Walcheren, and the canals, brick houses and a huge Gothic town hall give it a settled, prosperous look. Around forty-six thousand people live here, enough to guarantee fuel, coffee and a proper lunch, but small enough that you can see the centre on foot in an afternoon.
The history is heavier than the pretty brickwork suggests. In May 1940, during the German invasion, bombing and fire destroyed a large part of the historic centre, and the town was rebuilt in the years that followed, with the abbey complex and the town hall restored. The abbey, with its tall Lange Jan tower, is the heart of the place and was a major religious centre in the Middle Ages. Zeeland was also deeply tied to the Dutch East India Company, which had one of its chambers here, so a lot of old wealth and trade runs under the streets.
Then there is the water, which is the reason a rider comes to Zeeland at all. In 1953 a storm surge broke through the dikes, flooded much of the province and killed well over a thousand people across the Netherlands. The answer was the Delta Works, a vast system of dams, dikes and storm surge barriers, and a few kilometres from town you can ride across the Oosterschelde barrier, a long gate-lined structure which is among the great pieces of engineering in Europe. Seals haul out on the sandbanks nearby, and the sky is enormous.
The riding is flat and gentle, with long causeways, dike-top roads and quiet lanes among polder fields, and the main enemy is the wind, which comes in from the North Sea and can push a bike sideways on exposed bridges. Traffic is calm outside the summer weekends, when cyclists and holiday makers fill the roads. Keep to speed limits, which are strictly enforced with cameras.
Finish here with something Dutch and straightforward. Mussels from Yerseke are famous in the region, and a plate of fish by the harbour makes a fair end to a day on the dikes.