Above Amsterdam is the West Frisian Omringdijk. A handmade wonder of the world. In the past, this dike protected people and animals against the salt water. Now it winds about 130 kilometers through the West Frisian landscape, past polders, mills, VOC towns and farmhouses. Where does a circle begin or end? You dive into the ring route south of Hoorn, where the IJsselmeer laps against the Omringdijk. The Zuiderdijk between Hoorn and Enkhuizen is closed to motorcycles on summer weekends. Then the route over Wijdenes, Hem and Venhuizen offers a nice alternative. But that does not come close to the Pearl of the Omringdijk itself, which is certainly at the top of the Top-3 of Most Beautiful Motor Roads in the Netherlands.


After lighthouse De Ven, you go towards the pumping station De Vier Koggen. Behind the brick facade now houses the Netherlands Steam Engine Museum, the largest of its kind in the world. The museum has no shortage of volunteers, because who is not fascinated by those beautiful machines, driven by timeless technology? It is therefore a living museum, where the hosts are not only happy to demonstrate how it works, but can also tell all kinds of beautiful stories and anecdotes about it. Proudly on top of the dike, you continue to Medemblik, with a lap of honor past Radboud Castle. That castle was one of the fortresses with which the Dutch count wanted to subjugate the West Frisians. That eventually worked, a bit, around 1300, after which all the loose pieces of dike in West Friesland were forged together into the world wonder of the Omringdijk. So musing on, the polder landscape glides past as far as Hoogwoud. The place name betrays that the landscape here used to look different than it does now. Because centuries ago, West Friesland was covered with forests and swamps and heaths on the high land.
Museum farm Westfrisia is dominated by Adriaan Donker (1916-1984). Adriaan collected all kinds of things on his parental farm, which still form the museum aspect of the farm. Adriaan was a people person and opened his farm to school classes, loiterers and 'fans', such as urban artists. The core of this West Frisian farm was also the 'square', the haystack whose four wooden corner posts can still be seen in the now boarded up and overatticed house.

If you want to see everything along the way, you have to leave early. It is also difficult for the enthusiast to break free from the following museum. According to owner Henk Harberts, Grandmother's Time and Motorcycle Museum in Nieuwe-Niedorp offers both men and women a great experience. The ground floor houses a huge collection of stationary engines from the last century, when the Netherlands had no fewer than 47 different engine factories, including Hollandia, Stork, Kromhout and Bolnes. The top floor shows the world of our parents and grandparents with home furnishings and utensils from then, up to and including completely furnished shops.

More old stuff. The winding course of the Omringdijk (a blessing for motorcyclists!) was caused by dike breaches that took place over the centuries. Every motorcycle is in its element on these roads. Driving calmly also offers the opportunity to look around you. Below Schagen you will be completely captivated by the Omringdijk. From Sint Maarten, it proudly towers meters high above arable and meadow land and a few pools. Wheels, give way, vomit; those inner-dike waters are all witnesses of former dike breaches, around which the new dike was built. Hence the curves. What did Sint Maarten look like when it was located at the end of the world and was called Hemelsrijkhorn, with sea and mudflats on three sides? You can't easily picture that, although the maximum speed of 30 km per hour does offer an opportunity. The story goes that this dike is so steep that in the past mowing with a scythe could only be done if the farmers tied planks or skates to their clogs. The concept of overpopulation is unknown here. Here convertible drivers, cyclists and motorcyclists greet each other. Cows at the bottom, sheep in the shelter on top, seagulls skim along a bit, then attention is again focused on the bends towards Eenigendijk.

After Krabbendam, the dike loses its imposing character. The dike that closed off the ebb and flow channel, the Rekere, in 1172 is low and insignificant. But here you drive over the very oldest part of the entire Omringdijk, a body of dike that was never moved or modified because it never had to withstand high water after the thirteenth century.
At Rustenburg, blades of various mills protrude above the dike. In 1831, about three hundred mills were counted within the Omringdijk. More and more and stronger windmills had to be built in the fight against the water wolf, because the peatland was sinking deeper and deeper. Meanwhile the shipworm gnawed at the dikes and the Spaniards gnawed all over the country, two formidable enemies who were finally defeated. And then there were the common scourges of God, such as plagues and pestilence to man and cattle. There was no government to regulate the ongoing work on the dykes, the people had to do that themselves in the sweat of their brow, rolling up their sleeves and working on the dyke. The so-called dike costs could not be afforded by the West Frisians alone. The rest of Holland had to step in. Logical, because West Friesland protected all of Holland against the water wolf. And thanks to that centuries-old joint effort, you can ride this tank bag tour over the world wonder of the West Frisian Omringdijk.