"Shall we do a Round of Lek?" This is a fairly normal question for cyclists in the vicinity of Utrecht (city and province). However, it has nothing to do with the desire to replace an inner tube, but everything with the wind through your helmet and beautiful views over the water.This Tour takes you along the Lek and also includes a portion of the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal, or the ARK. This canal connects the port of Amsterdam with the Ruhr area in Germany and is the busiest canal in the world with some 100,000 ships a year.You start the Tour in Culemborg, on the south side of the Lek. Here you could immediately take a ferry to the other side - or back to Culemborg from Schalkwijk - but you don't do that now. You cycle on the Beusichemsedijk via Redichem along Beusichem. Again, you still do not take the ferry to the other side of the Lek.You cycle on the Lekbandijk for a while. A bandijk, also called winter dyke, is the dyke along a river that prevents flooding of surrounding areas. Unlike the summer dyke, the winter dyke is high enough to hold back the highest water levels.At the Prinses Marijkesluizen you cross the ARK and soon afterwards you take the ferry from Rijswijk to Wijk bij Duurstede. You cycle in a westerly direction past some farms and then take a challenging clinker strip along the canal. Once you have exited, cross the ARK again via the bridge.You are now driving about eight kilometers over the Lekdijk. Try to avoid busy days here because you can count on the Lekdijk being used by many road users: old-timers, cyclists, motorcycles, walkers, you name it.At Fort Honswijk, take the Gedekte Community Road to Work on the Korte Uitweg, aren't they beautiful names? It is also teeming with such fortresses in this area. A few kilometers further you turn right onto the Elpad, a beautiful cycle path under the trees and along the Verdronken Bos. At the end you turn left towards the Plofsluis at Nieuwegein, the most northern point of this Tour.From the picturesque Vreeswijk you cycle over the Lekboulevard to the Jan Blankenbrug near Vianen. There you cross the Lek again, safe from the speeding cars on the A2. The Lekdijk near Vianen will be closed until the beginning of 2021 due to works, you will be diverted on the spot. Rest assured, you will soon cycle along the Lek again.Via Everdingen and Goilberdingen you cycle back to Culemborg. A nice place to stop is the terrace of Werk aan het Spoel, built between 1816-1824 as part of the New Dutch Waterline. Less than five kilometers later you are back in Culemborg over the dike.