Amsterdam Cycle Route 3:
dune villas, castle ruins, and sea locks

Non-tourist cycle routes around Amsterdam. This route goes through Haarlem, to the narrow strip of land just behind the dunes, with the oldest continuous habitation. The dunes are suburbanised since the 19th century, and cut through by the sea lock complex at IJmuiden on the North Sea Canal. 44 km, then return by hydrofoil along the North Sea Canal from Velsen (€ 3.50), 5-6 hours. Revised January 2008.

Dit is geen recreatieve fietsroute, en geen zinvolle tijdsbesteding voor autochtone Nederlanders. Zij worden verwezen naar de fietsroutes van bijvoorbeeld de ANWB.

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Recommended maps: the best map of landscape and structure of the Amsterdam region is the ANWB/VVV Topografische Fietskaart Amsterdam / Noord-Holland Noord, map 13 in this series, at scale 1:50 000. The map costs € 10, but these are probably the best cycling maps in the world. For historic comparisons see the Topografische Dienst reproduction of the 1854 military map, sheet 25. Aspects of the landscape in Routes 1, 2 and 3 are explained by the simplified geological map of the Haarlem area, available from NITG-TNO. There are two specialised map shops in Amsterdam: Pied à Terre / van Wijngaarden (Overtoom 135-137), and A la Carte (Utrechtsestraat 110/112).

start at Haarlemmer plein (square) on the western edge of the historic core of Amsterdam, facing west to the 'triumphal arch' with clock. This is the Willemspoort: it was at the edge of the city when it was built, in 1840.

cross the road toward the Willemspoort, and go straight on across the bridge. Turn right just after the bridge, at the statue of Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis

100 m further, turn left across the road, and through the park gates, at the coloured sculpture. The cycle sign for Haarlem has green letters, indicating a route through parks.

cycle through the Westerpark, a late 19th-century urban park. On the right is a rail line - like the main road, and the canal, it runs in an almost straight line to Haarlem, 18 km away

at the tennis court, keep to the right, onto a cycle path through a new section of park. The path rises and you can see the whole Westergasfabriek complex. This late 19th-century coal-gas plant has been converted into a gentrified arts/cultural centre. The park is landscaping for the new cultural attraction, and the project is part of a wider strategy to gentrify the whole borough (removing immigrants in the process).

continue along a gently curving cycle path - it is the embankment of the older rail line to Haarlem. Pass the Postbank offices.

pass (right) the small statue commemorating the farmers who once lived here: until 1950 grassland began here.

at the older houses, just before the motorway viaduct, turn right (cycle sign for Zaanstad).

after 50 m turn onto the raised section of road, Spaarndammer dijk. Stop in front of nr 663: you can see that this is a dike, as the street name implies. This is a relict of the mediaeval sea dike, on the south side of the IJ estuary. The houses are much older than the surrounding buildings, this is the eastern half of the former fishing village of Sloterdijk - the other half was destroyed when the motorway was built. The original harbour occupied the space between here and the motorway embankment.

continue along the short section of relict dike. At nr 579 the dike simply stops, destroyed during construction of the surrounding industrial area.

go down the concrete steps: in the flat regions of the Netherlands steps always indicate an artificial element in the landscape. (There are no cities here built on hills. In the east some cities, such as Nijmegen, have stepped streets and alleys).

cross the road here, and go through the cycle tunnel, under the rail line. Immediately after the tunnel turn left, along the cycle path beside the rail line.

go under the motorway toward Sloterdijk station, a crossing of the Haarlem, Zaandam, and Schiphol lines. Around it is the Sloterdijk office zone, one of the biggest of the service-employment clusters along the ring motorway.

just before the station building, go up the stairs or use the lift in the glass tower, right of the path. From the footbridge, walk through the station hall (don't cycle). The Haarlem and Zaandam trains are below the hall, the Schiphol line and metro above.

leave the station by the main entrance and turn left, along the red asphalt cycle path in front. Pass under a new rail viaduct, it links the Zaandam line to the Schiphol line. Cycle beside the tram line, down from the raised station area.

at the cycle sign for Spaarnwoude, cross the rails of tram line 12 (don't turn left here). Just after the tram rails is another cycle sign: turn right, follow the green-letter sign for Spaarnwoude,.

after 100 m turn left, then after another 100 m turn right, still following the signs for Spaarnwoude, along Fornebu kade.

The red letters are the default colour. Green letters are used only if there are two possible cycle routes starting at the sign, and one is through countryside or parks.

cycle on, parallel to the main road: between the path and the road are remnants of the Haarlemmer Trekvaart, a tow-path canal built in 1631. The trekvaart was a pre-railway transport system, with high capacity by the standards of the time (17th and 18th centuries).

at the next road crossing, follow the red-letter signs for Haarlem - go to the main road, cross it, and then turn right.

pass a windmill, built 1632. After another 400 m, turn left across the wooden cycle bridge.

cycle 150 m on, past the new apartment block, and turn right along the road (Ruys de Beerenbrouck straat). This area was built in the 1950's. It is now being cleared for gentrification, some replacement blocks are already built.

Here too, gentrification lowers the number of immigrants, especially Moroccans. It is no longer taboo in the Netherlands to deliberately 'whiten' an area, and the Balkenende government seriously considered the forced dispersal of immigrants from cities.

at the end of the Ruys de Beerenbrouck straat, at the Lidl supermarket, turn left, then first right, into the Cornelis Outshoorn straat.

continue straight on, along the J. M. den Uyl straat. This is the last housing before the edge of the city, built in the 1990's. The website of the Amsterdams Historisch Museum has an animated map of the growth of the city from 1000 to 2000.

at the last houses, go straight on, along Tom Schreurs weg, first between the sports fields, and then through open farmland. There is no housing here because of the airport noise contour: Schiphol airport is 5 km away, on the left. However, commercial and office development is planned, which will join Amsterdam to Halfweg.

at the end, at Osdorper weg, turn right into the suburbanised village of Halfweg. Its name comes from its location, half-way between Amsterdam and Haarlem.

100 m on, follow the cycle lane (double broken line on the road), into Miente kade. Be careful! (Drivers don't expect cyclists to do this, there is no warning sign).

turn immediately right, onto Burg. Simons straat, then left into Juliana straat.

pass on the left the 1920's church, and go straight on at the traffic lights.

at the end of Juliana straat, you are on the bank of the ring canal of the Haarlemmermeer polder. The houses on the opposite bank are built on the dike of this polder - originally the Haarlemmermeer lake, reclaimed in 1852. North of them is the old CSM sugar factory, now being redeveloped as 'SugarCity'.

go on past the steam pumping station which pumped water from the ring canal into the IJ estuary. Reclaimed lakes typically have a separate ring canal: the water is first pumped into this canal, and then again into rivers, where it flows to the sea. The building is now a museum, Stoomgemaal Halfweg, and one steam pump is still operated on some weekends in the summer.

at the end of the street, at the main road, turn left across the bridge. From here you see the front of the pumping station. The original channel and its dikes are gone: the water was pumped towards you. To the right of the bridge are the old locks which once opened into the estuary. Passengers on the Amsterdam-Haarlem towpath canal changed boats here: the village grew around several inns, built to serve the travellers.

across the bridge, pass the sugar factory, closed several years ago. The oldest part, on the corner, is a former office of the Dijkgraaf (built 1645). A dijkgraaf was an official in charge of maintaining the dikes. The original sugar factory opened in 1863, and grew in the 1890's, processing beet from the new polders in the former lake and estuary. It was the largest employer, and responsible for the growth of the village. The silos were converted to offices, by cutting 296 diamond-shaped holes for windows in each silo wall.

pass the small town hall of the gemeente Haarlemmerliede. Built in 1904, it includes the house of the constable, two police cells, and space for the village fire engine. The municipality has survived as an independent local government unit, despite attempts by Haarlem and Amsterdam to divide it between them.

further on, the telecom tower of Haarlem is visible ahead: continue toward Haarlem. Pass the blue/grey packaging factory. Next is BAM (road construction firm).

stop just after Gate B of BAM. On the left of the cycle path is a stepped ramp, to a cycle underpass. Go down the ramp - mind the steps half-way down - and go through the tunnel.

on the other side, cross the rail line, over the level crossing for pedestrians and cyclists. Warning: this is an unsupervised crossing with half-barriers. That does not mean, that the trains are slow and infrequent! When the red lights flash and the bell rings, you have 25 seconds to clear the crossing. If a train passes, wait until the red lights stop - another train may pass on the second track.

on the road, turn left: from here you follow the rail line into Haarlem. After you pass under the motorway viaduct (Schiphol-Alkmaar motorway) there is a separate cycle path.

pass the dairy farm De Ettingen. Behind the trees, 2 km to the right, is the small church tower of Spaarnwoude village.

Spaarnwoude is the oldest mediaeval settlement in these former peat bogs. Most of the land to the right is part of the recreational zone Spaarnwoude. Originally a wooded urban park was planned, from here to IJmuiden, but park fashions change. Open landscape is now highly valued in Netherlands planning. The area is no longer truly agricultural, cycle paths and picnic tables have been added, and farms converted.

at the Liede weg go straight on, onto the wooden cycle bridge. On the right is a fort, the Fort bij de Liebrug. It was built around 1900, as part of the 'Stelling van Amsterdam a defensive ring around the city. The cycle bridge crosses the Liede, an arm of the Spaarne, which in turn was an arm of the IJ estuary. Look back at the fort from the cycle bridge: from the 'enemy' side only a grassed mound is visible.

continue alongside the rail line toward the new station of Haarlem-Spaarnwoude. The cathedral of Haarlem is visible directly ahead: around the telecom tower is Waarderpolder, the main industrial zone of Haarlem.

at the station, go over the short footbridge to the platform, then cross the main footbridge, over the rail line and the main road. The wooded coastal dunes are visible, only 5 km away.

The new office buildings are the first stage of a controversial stadium development. The station is the present eastern edge of the Haarlem agglomeration, although there is constant development pressure in the Amsterdam direction. The station has a basic service, 2 trains per hour: there are plans for a regional service around Amsterdam, comparable to the German S-Bahn.

go straight on from the footbridge steps, across the road, and immediately turn right along the cycle path. Go past the new 11-storey office block: the cycle path continues as an access road (parallel to the main road).

pass the Jewish cemetery of Haarlem. The house on the left with the name 'Rijksstraatweg' is in fact a former station, part of a low-cost rural rail network, built before and during the First World War.

pass the Haerlemmerpoort office building. Cross the road here, follow the sign for Centrum, into Dr. Schaepman straat.

after 100 m turn right into Kruseman straat, and then left: you are on another access road, also running parallel to the main road into Haarlem. Across the road is the main train repair works of the Netherlands, now privatised.

continue toward the only preserved mediaeval city gate of Haarlem. The city walls are gone, and the 1425 Amsterdam Gate stands in the middle of the road. Cross at the pedestrian crossing, and walk under the gate. A well-known photograph shows German soldiers marching through it in 1940: as you can see, this had no military significance.

go straight on into the Spaarnwouder straat, sign for Centrum. You are now in the historic core of Haarlem, although not the most gentrified or touristed part.

Note that some house numbers are duplicated: black numbers mean ground floor, red numbers mean upper floors. Number 99 would be written as 99 zwart (99 zw) and 99 rood (99 rd).

cross a bridge, continue along the Spaarnwouder straat, and then turn right into the Wijde steeg.

The bridge is under reconstruction, 2007-2008. Use the temporary footbridge.

at the end of Wijde steeg, cross the wooden lifting bridge across the Spaarne, the river of Haarlem. Turn left past Teylers Museum, the oldest purpose-built museum in the Netherlands (1784). This is one of seven places in the world where you can see an Archaeopteryx fossil.

turn next right into Dam straat, leading towards the cathedral. There is a slight rise in street level here, from river to cathedral. Haarlem is built on a low ridge - an eroded coastal dune, formed 5000 years ago. The main mediaeval streets follow the axis of the dune ridge, SSW to NNE.

go (left or right) around the cathedral, into the Grote Markt, a pre-modern European city centre landscape with at one end the late-gothic St. Bavo cathedral (built 1370-1520), at the other the town hall. It is the product of a pre-reformation unity of culture, civic institutions, and religion (a unity which 19th century nationalism tried artificially to reconstitute).

with many cafes and snackbars, in the square and in adjoining shopping streets, this is a good point to stop for coffee.

pass to the right of the Town Hall (1630/1633) at the end of the square, into the Zijl straat.

Although many buildings are 19th century, here too the urban landscape looks older. The Haarlem agglomeration has about 150 000 inhabitants, but in fact central Haarlem serves a region of about 400 000: it has no other comparable centre. This explains why the small city centre has so much retail activity.

at the end of the Zijl straat, cross the bridge. To the left, the canal extends to Leiden: this is another trekvaart, the Leidse Vaart (1656).

from the bridge go straight on into Zijl weg, the extension of the Zijl straat. A typical 19th century radial road leading out of a Dutch city, although it does not go anywhere important. It carried the tram line to Overveen (opened 1914).

pass under a rail bridge carrying the "Old Main Line" from Amsterdam via Haarlem to Den Haag. The line opened in 1842: the new line (1981) runs in tunnel through Schiphol airport.

cross the west ring road of Haarlem (N208) and continue along Zijl weg - follow the cycle sign to Overveen. On the right here is a cluster of colleges.

after 400 m, the road rises slightly, indicating the edge of the dunes.

From Amsterdam you cycled through flat polder land, where elevation differences are measured in centimetres. You are now approaching the zone of coastal dunes, several kilometres wide, with a natural 'uphill and downhill'. Dunes and glacial ridges (ice-pushed ridges) are the only significant elevation in most of the Netherlands. The strip of higher ground, immediately behind the dunes, was inhabited early on. Haarlem developed as its mediaeval centre. Further inland were estuary, tidal mud flats, peat bogs, fresh-water lakes and creeks. That zone was settled late by European standards, from about the year 1000. Amsterdam became its urban centre, later overtaking Haarlem.

at the end of Zijl weg, in front of restaurant Roozendaal, turn to the right, onto the Bloemendaalse weg.

This is the old village of Overveen, transformed by the building of the railway from Amsterdam to the sea in 1881. The inland edge of the dunes near Haarlem was suburbanised, when high-income groups began commuting to work by rail (at the end of the 19th century). Until then the old villages depended largely on horticulture (flower bulbs): now they are synonymous with 'upper middle-class' in the Netherlands. Three of the highest-income municipalities in the Netherlands are located on the dune edge: Bennebroek, Heemstede and Bloemendaal. Others are Gooi villages north of Hilversum (Naarden, Blaricum, Laren), and the diplomats suburb Wassenaar outside Den Haag. All of those are built on sand ridges. The poorest municipalities, incidentally, are all in north Friesland and Groningen. (CBS statistics for disposable income, corrected for household size, November 2002). See the structure maps of the dune edge/Haarlem region in 1850 and 2000 on page 5 of Projectenboek Kennemerzoom: Landschap en Cultuurhistorie

cross the rail line (Overveen station is behind the Albert Heijn supermarket).

cycle straight on at the roundabout: you now follow the the Bloemendaalse weg, to the next village, Bloemendaal. The road is wider, the houses get bigger and more expensive. The most expensive are further back from the road, on the left, in 'villa parks' built from the 1890's to the 1940's.

pass left the white villa-style Town Hall of Bloemendaal. Here you can see that this road is built at the edge of the dunes, the ground on the left (west) is higher. Like all the dune-related features around Haarlem, the road is aligned SSW - NNE.

at the junction with the Busken Huet laan, continue along the Bloemendaalse weg, follow the sign for Santpoort

Roadworks until May 2008. There is a signposted diversion route, but you can probably use the footpath.

stay on the Bloemendaalse weg: at the white-painted villa Hofstede Sparrenheuvel (offices, nr 139), most traffic turns off left.

go straight on into the old village high street, now a gentrified local shopping street.

at the end of the village, the Bloemendaalse weg joins the Kerkplein (church square), the church was built in 1636. The area is completely gentrified: even small houses cost € 500 000.

100 m after the church turn left (sign Doorgaand verkeer), into Donkere laan - 'dark avenue' or 'dark lane'. At the end, at the white house with tower and coachhouse, it joins the Brederode laan.

across the road are sports fields: slightly to the left is the start of a footpath, Aelbertsberg weg. Go along this path, through the grounds of the very upper-class Hockey Club Bloemendaal - sport for the children of the Netherlands elite.

The higher dunes are visible ahead. In fact the sports grounds are built in a dune valley: beside the hockey club there is still grazing land. Since the water table in the surrounding dunes is above sea level, some dune valleys contained fresh-water marshes, which became islands of grazing land. This valley is about 5 km long, although this is the only place where you can see its structure clearly.

at the end of the path, continue along the Aelbertsberg weg and Zomerzorger laan, which climb uphill. Not all of the Netherlands is flat. Pass the entrance to the Caprera park: the road turns to the left, and is steeper.

300 m on, pass a car park on the right. 40 m further, go up the path on the left, at the sign Peper's Pannekoekenhuis.

at the top, 100 m on, go up the concrete steps, past the Pannekoekenhuis, and climb the small tower. The view from the observation tower is worth the climb.

Renovation of the park is underway, renovation of the tower itself is planned, and it may be closed for a time.
This dune, Het Kopje van Bloemendaal, is one of the highest on the coast at 43 m., and inland the country is flat. On clear days you can see 20 km, as far as Zaandam, Amsterdam, and the Schiphol control tower. In summer, haze may block the view of the sea. The summit of the dune was raised in 1907 to make a viewing point. The present tower is a World War II German observation bunker: the municipal plan for renovation of the park shows how it looked at the time.

go back to the road, turn right, go back downhill, and go back through the Hockey Club fields. Back at the white house with tower, turn left along the Brederode laan.

1 km on, pass left the old entrance gates of a 19th century mental institution. The present entrance is 300 m further on, parts are still in use as a regional psychiatric unit.

Brederode laan continues as Brederoodse weg: here, at the street map, you enter the gemeente Velsen.

200 m after the map, turn left, following the hexagonal cycle sign 'Beeckestijn route', into Velserender laan. After 200 m, suddenly, there is a castle on your right, among the trees. Cross the small wooden bridge, and you can walk along the moat. This is the partly restored Ruin of Brederode Castle, a place that used to be in school history books, though probably no-one ever remembered exactly why. It played an important role in the mediaeval history of this region, and was besieged in 1351 in an obscure war. (Open 10 -17, March to November, closed Monday, admission € 2).

after the castle, continue along the Velserender laan. The road curves to the right and you can look across the field to the restored tower of the castle: you get an impression of how it looked, to a small army with no firearms.

at the end of Velserender laan, turn left into Duin en Kruidbergerweg. This road is a sharp boundary, between forested dunes and the grazing land.

pass (left) the entrance to the "Nationaal Park Zuid Kennemerland", it is not very conspicuous. 200 m further on, at the next corner, turn left, follow the sign for 'Duin en Kruidberg' (hotel). This is still the Duin en Kruidbergerweg.

cycle on along this road, following the landscape boundary dune / marsh, to Driehuis, the next village. Pass left a channel beside an open grassed area: not a natural channel, but an anti-tank ditch. Its zig-zag line is visible on a map, it is the outer defensive line of Festung IJmuiden. In 1944 there were 14 'Festungen' in Hitler's Atlantikwall, this is the most northern, see the Mur de l'Atlantique map.

pass on the left the cemetery Westerveld, with the first crematorium in the Netherlands (1913). The burial of Pim Fortuyn here made this an unexpected centre of pilgrimage, in May 2002: he was later reburied in Italy.

the road bends right, across the old rail line to IJmuiden.

The line is closed, and the platform of the small station serving the crematorium is overgrown. Originally this was the main Haarlem-Alkmaar line, opened in 1867: it crossed the North Sea Canal on a swing bridge. In 1957 the line was re-routed into a new tunnel, a pattern since followed on several other river bridges. The line to IJmuiden survived as a branch line, until 1983.

just after the former station, turn left into Driehuizerkerkweg: follow the cycle signs for the Beeckestijn and LF 1b routes.

This is an old village street, also aligned with the dunes, SSW - NNE. There is an old farmhouse at 119, but the rest is mainly interwar suburban housing, often on the English "semi-detached" model. (The topographic maps of the 1860's, reproduced in the series Historische Provincie Atlas, are the best way to identify relict settlement patterns).

300 m after the church, cross the roundabout, the Driehuizerkerkweg continues on the other side. The village grew up around this point, where roads (or paths) to Santpoort-Noord, Bloemendaal and Wijk aan Zee met.

50 m after the roundabout, the signposted cycle routes split: go straight on (cycle sign for the LF 1b route). This too is an old road, linking the villages of Driehuis and Velsen. Here former country house gardens have become suburban parks and sport fields.

however, this park conceals a secret: stop at nr 17. Hidden among the trees on the left are the bunkers of Festungskommando Schoonenberg, the command centre of Festung IJmuiden. The nearest bunker is a command bunker, Regiments Gefechtsstand 117b.

cycle on past a sports field, then turn left into the Ver Loren van Themaat laan, follow cycle network number 02.

At the corner is the entrance gate of 'Lievendaal', a former estate. The 1984 report 'Landgoederen van Zuid-Kennemerland' (Stichting NCM, Amsterdam) inventarises 58 former estates in the region, although the associated manor or country house has often disappeared. However, you are approaching the end of the leafy higher-income residential areas, and a sharp social and landscape transition is ahead.

continue along the Ver Loren van Themaat laan, across the Minister van Houten laan. Cross the old railway again: this is the site of the halt IJmuiden-Oost. Velsen power station is visible right, you are now in IJmuiden, an industrial town.

turn right after the railway, past the entrance of the Stadsschouwburg (municipal theatre) into Groene weg. The sign with this street name is beside the theatre entrance.

IJmuiden is part of the industrial agglomeration around the locks of the North Sea Canal. It is one of the few 19th-century industrial towns of the Netherlands: in 1850 there was not even a village here. With no previous urban social elite, it is a 'working-class town'. IJmuiden was built first for the workers who built the canal in the 1870's, and then for the growing fishing port. Its definitive expansion came with the construction of the Velsen steelworks, after the First World War. IJmuiden and Velsen are now a single gemeente with 67 000 inhabitants.

at the end of the Groene weg, turn right along Zee weg. This part of IJmuiden is flat, it was built on grassland at the edge of the dunes. Part of the street pattern can be traced to the old farm roads, including Zee weg itself. The oldest part of IJmuiden, however, was built on the dunes at the canal locks.

before the Town Hall of IJmuiden (with clock tower), turn left, follow the sign 'Centrum'. Cycle on along the main east-west road of IJmuiden, the town's retail centre, built in the 1950's. At that time of rapid industrial growth in the Netherlands, a tidal port with steelworks was 'a town with a future'. It didn't work out that way. The lack of new buildings indicates the relative decline of the town.

just after the HEMA store, turn right into the Velserduin weg. At the end turn left into the Wijk aan Zeeër weg.

This name indicates the street is older than IJmuiden itself: the former fishing village of Wijk aan Zee is now on the other side of the North Sea Canal. Since the canal was built, the 'Wijk aan Zee road' no longer leads to Wijk aan Zee. On the 1854 map its predecessor can be traced, a footpath north-west from Driehuis.

further on, the 1915 water tower is visible, a landmark in IJmuiden. As you reach the open space near the tower, the road rises: you are now on the built-over dunes.

after the water tower, the road makes a 45-degree turn, toward the broad North Sea Canal. On the other side, the industry of Velsen-Noord is visible, especially the Hoogovens steel works, now part of the Corus group, itself acquired in 2007 by Tata Steel. Construction began in 1918, it started production in 1924, and has expanded and modernised almost continuously since 1945.

at the end of the road, turn left, past the grassed open space. At the end of the open space, turn off right onto the cycle path, following the cycle sign 'Sluizen' (locks).

cross here (again) the old railway, which extended to the old centre of IJmuiden, and the fishery port. Just over the track again follow the cycle sign for Sluizen, across the road toward the Witte Theater. This is a dangerous crossing, with barriers to slow cyclists: be careful. On the other side of the road, turn immediately right in front of the Witte Theater. The cycle path now runs alongside the North Sea Canal.

pass the first control tower of the IJmuiden sea lock complex. On the island between the locks is a cluster of houses, built for the lock workers.

The North Sea Canal was a late 19th century technical achievement, cutting the shortest route from Amsterdam to the sea, through the dunes. This re-oriented the docks of Amsterdam from the east (their historic direction of expansion), to the west. Before this Canal, ships were drawn by teams of horses through the Noordhollands Kanaal (see Route 8) to Den Helder. The North Sea Canal opened in 1876, and was widened 5 times between 1896 and 1969, to allow passage of bigger ships.

cycle on along the (badly-separated) cycle lane: at the new office building, turn left, into De Wet straat.

turn next right, into Kanaal straat. Cycle on into the oldest part of IJmuiden, built before the First World War. The area was very seedy and derelict, but it is being 'regenerated'.

at the Vissering straat, turn right, then cross to the bridge over the first locks.

go on across the bridge. On your left is the IJmuiden fort island - a Dutch defensive work first built in the 1880's, later incorporated into the Festung IJmuiden. It was originally on the northern shore, but became an island when new ship channels were cut in the 1920's.

pass the workers housing on the first of the islands, and cross the middle lock, Middensluis, opened in 1896. There are two bridges, one at each end, so that one is always open.

turn right toward the main control tower, and the Northern lock, Noordersluis. When it opened in 1930 it was the largest in the world, and plans for a new lock are probably motivated by the desire to regain that status. Despite a desperate lobby by local government and business, the national planning office is skeptical. Large ships, after all, can go to Rotterdam.

cycle on to the next channel, with a special type of lock complex, the Spuisluizen. Here the water from the North Sea canal is discharged into the sea - it is also the drainage canal for Amsterdam and most of the province. There is also a pumping station, the largest in Europe, built 1975, enlarged in 2004. Under some weather conditions, the water can not be drained naturally (at low tide), and must be pumped.

after these buildings, the road and cycle path curve right: you are now cycling back toward Amsterdam. Behind the embankment here is the tidal dock basin of the steelworks: it was the first steel plant in Europe located on the coast (import-dependent).

pass the silos and enclosed conveyors of the ENCI cement factory. Cross the entrance channel to the inland shipping basin inside the steelworks.

continue along the cycle path, passing the Velsen power station. At the end of this road (Noordersluis weg), it joins the access road to the ferry across the canal. Turn right here, following the sign (with the ferry icon) for IJmuiden.

after 500 m you reach the free ferry to Velsen-Zuid, 44 km from the start of this route. Cross by the ferry.

beside the ferry landing stage on the opposite bank, is the Connexxion jetty: from here you can return by hydrofoil to Amsterdam. It costs € 3,50 , and takes less than 30 minutes. Bikes are carried free on the rear deck: fix them to the railings. The last ferry is at 19.00 on weekdays, at 17.30 weekends, 18.00 weekends May-September.

The hydrofoil ride is worth the money. After the Velsen industry and the tunnel ventilation towers, there is open farmland on the north bank (left). After the ferry landings at Buitenhuizen, you can see the full extent of the Amsterdam dock basins on the south, the new Afrikahaven basin and the eight-crane Ceres container terminal, and the power station Hemcentrale. The north side around Zaandam is also industry and docks. On the south side you pass the new apartment block Silodam, and approach Centraal Station at a 45-degree angle.

you can also cycle back in under 2 hours, but the whole route is alongside busy main roads. From the ferry landing, follow the signs to Amsterdam. Cycle first along the canal on the cycle path, then alongside the main road to Amsterdam, N202. Go on through the port zone, along the Basis weg, Transformator weg, Spaarndammer dijk, Tasman straat, van Diemen straat, and Westerdoks dijk, to the rear of Centraal Station, the end point of this route.