Netherlands 24: Loop ride from Duinrell to Katwijk

On the sixth day of our week at Duinrell, having a little time to kill in the morning, I headed out onto the dunes for a quick loop ride to Katwijk. This is somewhere we’d been previously, back in 2016 and 2022 and is a pleasant ride with multiple route options.

Watch full-length video at normal speed Loop ride from Duinrell to Katwijk

Katwijk is a seaside town about 6km north of Duinrell, located at the point where the Oude Rijn flows into the North Sea. With a history going back to Roman times, it is actually a municipality, made up of a number of towns, including Katwijk aan den Rijn and Katwijk aan Zee.

While Katwijk is of a similar size to the nearby seaside town of Scheveningen, it has a very different feel, being much more low-key. The seafront hasn’t been overdeveloped like Scheveningen has been and there’s no large hotels or apartment blocks.

Riding to Katwijk

Setting off from Duinrell, I made my way onto the route Wassenaarse Slag, as I’d done a few times already during the week. Before reaching the beach, at Hotel Duinoord, I turned off the path and headed north across the dune path to Katwijk.

Crossing Wassenaarseslag, near Hotel Duinoord

Like with the route to Scheveningen, the path to Katwijk meanders through the dunes, as they undulate. The path itself is largely asphalt, with some concrete sections and is pretty smooth along the whole route, which makes for a pleasant ride.

There’s a few hills across the dunes, but nothing too difficult, and you are rewarded with some fantastic views. While largely consisting of sand (unsurprisingly), the dunes are dotted with greenery and trees.

The dune route to Katwijk is a popular one, especially on a sunny day like this one, with lots of people cycling along and quite a few walking. In addition to people going to Katwijk, there’s access to beaches, which can only be accessed on foot and bike.

At the end of the dune path, I turned onto Sportlaan, which then led onto Boulevard. As you’d probably guess from the name, Boulevard is the main street that runs along the seafront in Katwijk aan Zee.

The seafront was significantly remodelled as part of a recent sea defence scheme. The scheme saw the installation of a dike, with an underground car park and space for 663 cars. This is all built into the dunes that sit between the beach and Boulevard.

While cars have been well catered for in Katwijk aan Zee, the same can’t be said for cycles. In contrast to Scheveningen, where there’s an extensive set of cycle paths, cycling facilities along Boulevard are pretty mixed.

While the southbound side of Boulevard has a decent cycle path, the northbound side is limited to a door-zone painted cycle lane. Combined with reasonable amounts of traffic, it makes Katwijk aan Zee feel more like the typical British seaside town, rather than a Dutch one.

While there, I stopped and went down the ramp to the underground car park, to see what it was like under the dunes. It’s impressive what’s been built under the dunes and very typically Dutch, making use of the sea defences like this. Shame it’s for cars.

Riding back to Duinrell

After a nosy round the car park, I set off back to Duinrell, though along a different route away from the dunes. I started off by heading inland along Tramstraat, where trams used to run, unsurprisingly. At this point, I was riding along painted lanes.

As Tramstraat turned into Zeeweg, the painted lanes were replaced with protected cycle paths. These carried on initially, as I turned right onto Meeuwenlaan, though they came to abrupt end after the roundabout at Boslaan.

On the cycle path at the roundabout on Meeuwenlaan and Boslaan

At the end of Meeuwenlaan, I continued onto a traffic-free path that skirts the edge of the dunes. This was on a relatively new concrete path, that was smooth and really pleasant to ride on.

I continued towards and then onto Cantineweg, where the concrete path changed to red asphalt, but continued to be nice and smooth. I passed the walking and cycling bridge on Walstropad, that crosses over Westerbaan.

Looking towards the bridge on Walstropad

Cantineweg led to the roundabout at the N441 Wassenaarweg. This area has been reconfigured significantly, since the building of the N206, connecting Katwijk to Leiden.

Crossing the road at the roundabout, I made my way along the N441 Wassenaarweg towards Wassenaar. At this point, I was riding along the cycle path, enjoying views across the fields and agricultural land.

At the end of N441 Wassenaarweg, I crossed the roundabout onto Katwijkseweg, then onto Storm van ‘s-Gravesandeweg to arrive back at Duinrell, to enjoy an afternoon by the outdoor pool.