The Afsluitdijk

The Afsluitdijk is a straight line of stone and clay running for thirty-two kilometres across open water, and it changed the map of the country. Before it was closed in 1932 the Zuiderzee was an arm of the North Sea that flooded the towns around it; behind the dyke the water turned fresh within a few years and became the IJsselmeer, and the polders of Flevoland were later pumped dry out of its bed. Driving it takes about twenty minutes with grey water on both sides and no landmark except the sluice complexes at either end. At the point where the last gap was closed there is a monument with a viewing platform, reached by a stair over the road.

What you actually see

• The Vlietermonument - the tower and viewing platform at the spot where the final gap was sealed in 1932.
• The sluice complexes - the locks and discharge sluices at Den Oever and Kornwerderzand, where ships pass and water is let out to the sea.
• The two waters - the Wadden Sea on one side and the flat freshwater IJsselmeer on the other, different in colour and swell.
• The scale of it - thirty-two kilometres of embankment with no land in sight for most of the way.

When to go

Any month works, since this is a drive rather than a season. Clear weather makes the difference: in mist there is nothing to see but the road. Upgrade works of recent years have moved traffic lanes and closed parts of the cycle path for long stretches, so check the current arrangements before planning to ride or walk it.

Honest expectations

It is an engineering fact rather than a view, and plenty of people find the drive monotonous. There is no shelter on the dyke and the wind comes straight off the sea, which makes cycling hard work in the wrong direction. Long-running renovation works mean fencing, diversions and closed facilities in places. Stopping is only possible at the designated pull-offs.

Nearby

Harlingen and the ferries to the Wadden islands lie at the Frisian end, Den Oever and the North Holland polders at the other.