Netherlands 25: Loop ride around Vlietland

With a bit of time to spare, while everyone was doing their own thing, I had chance for a quick afternoon ride. Being somewhere we’d briefly ridden to in 2022, I fancied exploring the area around Vlietland, a recreational area with lakes formed from the extraction of sand.

Watch full-length video at normal speed Loop ride around Vlietland

Vlietland is located in the municipality of Leiden and a fairly short distance away from Duinrell, 5km to the south east. Getting there involves crossing the N44 Rijksstraatweg, the railway between Den Haag and Leiden and the Vliet Canal, but as this is the Netherlands, it’s all very easy to do.

Leaving Wassenaar, I made my way across the N44, in the underpass leading to Papeweg, then followed the familiar route to Voorschoten station. From there, I made my way through the centre of Voorschoten.

The town of Voorschoten has a history dating back to Roman times. Nowadays, it’s known more as a well-to-do commuter town, situated on the train line between Den Haag and Leiden. It’s also the location of the British School in the Netherlands, so as you’d imagine, it’s popular with British nationals.

Passing through Voorschoten, I arrived at the Vliet Canal, which forms the southeastern border of the town. The Vliet Canal also dates back to Roman times and runs through South Holland from Delft to Leiden.

After crossing the canal, I made my way to Watersportcentrum Vlietland, which as you may have guessed is a watersports centre in Vlietland, located at a beach on the lake. Vlietland describes itself as the Riviera of the Randstad, which may be stretching things a little, but it is a pleasant place.

From there, I set off back along the canal, heading south west. It was very pleasant watching the boats pass by as I cycled along. The whole setting reminded me a little of being in Zaandam in 2022.

Boat and apartment block on the Vliet Canal

Reaching the end of the lake, I left the canal onto Kniplaan and made my way around the lake. As you’d expect for the Netherlands, there’s a nice smooth path running all the way round, plus a separate sand path for horses.

Riding around the lake, I stopped briefly at Storm Aquapark Leiden, then continued until I arrived back at the Vliet Canal. From there, I made my way north east along the canal, continuing until I reached Lammebrug bridge, which crosses the canal, as part of the N206.

At the time I was there, the area around Lammebrug was a construction site, with a new temporary bridge being built. The purpose of the new bridge is to provide a temporary route for the N206 Europaweg, while the existing bridge is raised higher and widened.

This forms part of the RijnlandRoute, which is a new road connection between Katwijk, via the A44, and the A4 near Leiden. I previously covered part of the RijnlandRoute construction in 2022, and returned in 2024 after sections of it were complete.

After crossing Lammebrug, I passed through a very unusual cycling roundabout. This is the first time I’ve ever seen one of these in the Netherlands, and I’ve only seen one other and that’s in Salford.

While a novelty, I generally think of these as being completely pointless for cycles, just like traffic lights. People cycling will naturally negotiate their way around each other. There’s no need for over-engineered cycling infrastructure like this, designed for cars.

It looks like the cycling roundabout will be disappearing soon, as part of the new works, as the all of the cycling infrastructure needs to be redesigned, to fit with the new bridge height.

Visualisation of the new Lammebrug and the Lammenschansplein

Carrying on, I continued along the cycle path next to the N447 Voorschoterweg towards Voorschoten. This was a nice wide and straight bidirectional path, on what is probably a popular commuter route.

Arriving in Voorschoten, I turned right and made my way to Voorschoten station, then back along Papelaan-West and Papeweg, under the N44 and back through Wassenaar to Duinrell.