Na de kruising gaat het fietspad langs een kleine rotonde en daarna door een scherpe bocht.

Na de kruising means after the intersection/crossing.

Dutch often begins a sentence with a time or place phrase to set the scene. When that happens, the finite verb usually comes next. So instead of starting with the subject het fietspad, Dutch puts:

• Na de kruising = after the intersection
• gaat = goes/runs/leads
• het fietspad = the cycle path

That gives: Na de kruising gaat het fietspad ...

If you started with the subject, you would get:

• Het fietspad gaat na de kruising ...

That is also grammatical, but the original version sounds more natural if you want to emphasize what happens after the intersection.

Because Dutch main clauses normally follow the verb-second rule.

That means the finite verb must come in the second slot of the sentence. If the sentence begins with something other than the subject, like Na de kruising, then the verb comes next, and the subject comes after it.

So:

• Na de kruising = first slot
• gaat = second slot
• het fietspad = subject after the verb

This is a very common Dutch pattern:

• In de zomer gaan we vaak fietsen.
• Morgen komt hij later.
• Na de kruising gaat het fietspad langs ...

Here gaan does not mean literal walking or moving by itself. In Dutch, it can also be used for routes, roads, paths, and lines to mean:

• go
• run
• lead
• continue

So het fietspad gaat langs een kleine rotonde means something like:

• the cycle path runs along a small roundabout
• the cycle path goes past a small roundabout

This is very natural in Dutch. Similar examples:

• De weg gaat door het bos. = The road goes through the forest.
• Het pad gaat omhoog. = The path goes uphill.

Fietspad is a het-word in Dutch, so its article is het:

• het fietspad = the cycle path

Unfortunately, there is not always a simple rule that lets you predict whether a noun is a de-word or het-word, so this often has to be learned with the noun.

In this sentence:

• de kruising
• een kleine rotonde
• een scherpe bocht
• het fietspad

A useful habit is to learn nouns together with their article:

• de kruising
• de rotonde
• de bocht
• het fietspad

These are three different road-related nouns:

• de kruising = the intersection / crossing
• de rotonde = the roundabout
• de bocht = the bend / curve / turn

So the sentence describes a route in stages:

1. after the intersection
2. along a small roundabout
3. then through a sharp bend

They are all common words in directions and route descriptions.

Langs means along, past, or by depending on context.

In this sentence:

• langs een kleine rotonde

means the cycle path goes along/past a small roundabout.

It does not mean entering the roundabout itself. It describes movement next to or past something.

Examples:

• We lopen langs het kanaal. = We walk along the canal.
• Ik fiets langs het station. = I cycle past the station.

So here, langs helps describe the route of the path.

Yes. Door literally often means through, and in route descriptions it can be used for moving through a bend/curve.

So:

• door een scherpe bocht

means through a sharp bend or more naturally in English, around a sharp bend.

Dutch uses door in many movement expressions:

• door het bos = through the forest
• door de tunnel = through the tunnel
• door een bocht = through a bend

In English, around a bend may sound more natural, but the Dutch phrasing with door is standard.

Because in Dutch, adjectives usually take -e when they come before a noun with:

• a de-word
• a plural noun
• or most nouns after een

So:

• een kleine rotonde
• een scherpe bocht

Both are correct because rotonde and bocht are de-words, and the adjective before them takes -e.

Compare:

• de kleine rotonde
• een kleine rotonde
• de scherpe bocht
• een scherpe bocht

A useful basic rule for learners: when an adjective comes before the noun, it often gets -e.

Daarna means after that or afterwards.

It links the two parts of the route:

• first, the cycle path goes langs een kleine rotonde
• daarna, it goes door een scherpe bocht

So it helps show sequence.

Compare:

• Eerst ga je rechtdoor, daarna links. = First you go straight on, then left.
• We eten en daarna vertrekken we. = We eat and after that we leave.

In your sentence, daarna makes the route description feel step-by-step.

Yes. Dutch very often combines nouns into one compound word.

• fiets = bicycle
• pad = path

Together:

• fietspad = cycle path / bike path

This is extremely common in Dutch. Other similar compounds are:

• treinstation = train station
• keukentafel = kitchen table
• verkeerslicht = traffic light

English sometimes writes these as two words, but Dutch often writes them as one.

You could map the Dutch words that way, but it would not be natural English.

Dutch word order and English word order work differently. In Dutch, starting with Na de kruising forces inversion:

• Na de kruising gaat het fietspad ...

In natural English, you would normally say:

• After the intersection, the cycle path goes ...
• After the intersection, the cycle path runs ...

So when reading Dutch, it is better not to translate word-for-word. Instead, recognize the structure:

• opening phrase
• verb in second position
• subject after the verb

Then convert it into natural English word order.

In this context, intersection is usually the best translation.

Kruising can refer to a place where roads cross, so:

• intersection
• sometimes crossroads
• occasionally crossing, depending on context

But in a road-direction sentence like this, intersection is the clearest and most natural choice in English.

So:

• Na de kruising = After the intersection

Yes. Dutch allows some flexibility, though the meaning and emphasis may shift slightly.

The original:

• Na de kruising gaat het fietspad langs een kleine rotonde en daarna door een scherpe bocht.

Possible alternative:

• Het fietspad gaat na de kruising langs een kleine rotonde en daarna door een scherpe bocht.

This version starts with the subject, so there is no inversion:

• Het fietspad = subject
• gaat = verb

Both are correct. The original sounds especially natural if the speaker is giving directions and wants to anchor the description at after the intersection.