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We have a week in May, in which are thinking bikepacking/cycle touring. Problem is we aren’t very fit due to a round of post viral fatigue and a recent month plus off the bike due to covid. So thinking Pictish trail is too ambitious in 3 months time. Wondering about getting the Hull-Rotterdam ferry and making the most of the flatter land and good cycle routes. Anyone done something like that? Suggested routes? I’ve done quite a few work trips to Utrecht so know the Dutch infrastructure. Otherwise I’m wondering about flying into Copenhagen or northern Germany.
We did this last summer (me, Mrs DJPower, and our 15 year old son - first time cycle touring for the latter two). We'll be going again this year, it was a big success. We just ambled around Holland, coast, Leiden, Amsterdam. This year we might try to head for the big islands south of Rotterdam.
Camping was easy, we just turned up. Cycling was very easy, but slow compared to here - lots of wonderful meandering routes and lots of scope to enjoy getting lost, so I'd not be planning big distances.
Lots of good advice here: https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/family-cycle-touring-netherlands-august/
Last year I did a this route with my family:
Ferry - Rotterdam- Delft - the hauge - monster - hook of Holland - loodswezen on a bike ferry - ferry
Stayed in Rotterdam for 2 days and the hauge for 2 days at stayokay.
Love it.
Cycling to in and out of Delft was amazing. Along to coast to hook of Holland and taking a bike ferry past the innocent factory were the highlights.
I have cycled a few times in the low countries - Its great for slow meandering cycling. Up north to the islands and then east to the De Hoge Veluwe National Park was good. Also south of rotterdam on the coast - some wee ferries for bikes which is fun
I've also got an itch to do this, we've done one from Zeebrugge when the ferry went there, and last summer did our own version of the Tour de Manche with a portsmouth ferry
Will watch to see what routes are suggested (happy to share previous week long tours we've done, they're not long with max 50 miles per day and more commonly 20-30)
Thanks all - this is making me think this is a viable, interesting option that might not destroy us. Can’t currently work out how you book bicycles on the ferry as there is no option, but I’ll give them a call.
Something to look at over the weekend.
campsites - they vary a lot. there are "nature" campsites for cyclist and walkers only but I cannot remember what they are called
Here's a link to a site that might give you some inspiration.
https://www.hollandcyclingroutes.com/long-distance-cycle-routes
We did a tour last September starting at Hook then Delft to Utrecht-Gouda and then roughly west to the German border past Arnhem ending up in Enschede, then train back to the coast near Harleem for a days ride through the dunes back to the Hook.
I think it used a fair bit of LF4 but was a bit of a hybrid using cycletravel to plan.
We got lucky with the weather, but it was lovely in a low key way. Nice little campsites, its worth joining:
https://www.natuurkampeerterreinen.nl/en/
for a list of smaller on the farm style campsites if that's your thing.
Also really interesting because everyone speaks immaculate English and was keen to talk/ explain, so it made for a slightly richer experience.
Stayokay.com/en
Done this a few years back, easy and great fun. Hull to Europort.
Bike from Europort down to Rozenburg, local ferry to Maassluis, on into Rotterdam. Explore the city. Bike out to Dordrecht hostel in national park via Kinderdijk windmills.
Bike Dordrecht Stayokay to Utrecht, all countryside and quiet. Explore Utrecht, super place. Stay at Bunnik hostel, big old manor house outside town, wonderful.
Utrecht to Amsterdam, couple of days explore city stuff. Stay outside town in Heemskirk hostel, 20 min train ride but worth it for huge medieval castle to stay in. Nice beaches and dunes out that way too.
Heemskirk through to Delft via Haarlem and Leiden, wonderful towns. Stayed in regular hotel. Kings day eve, dutchies lose even more of their minds.
Tram rides from Delft to The Hague and the Schev beach. Back to Delft for more Kings day shenanigans. Drink lots, ride back towards Europort for ferry, too drunk get lost, and slow, miss boat, hotel in Rozenburg and rest of night in an Irish bar next door. Nurse hangover next day and limp onto rebooked ferry.
Start ride back from Hull to Donny and instantly hate everything about biking in UK, call for a car to meet us at the Humber Bridge cafe and home. Must do it again this year!
Edit: biggest hill of the trip was either the ramp onto the ferry or the Erasmusburg bridge in Rotterdam.
I would go towards Gouda (through the lakes to the NE) then off to Utrecht, Bunschoten-Sparkenburg, over the ferry to the polder, along to Zeewold on the dyke then round the Veluwermeer to Elburg, then Zwolle via Kampen then back down to the Hoge Veluwe national park as TJ suggests. If you like art you just have to go to the Kroller muller museum there - its amazing and then back via Arnhem for the history
Any time left and the islands under Rotterdam are very nice with some nice small towns.
Great country - great cycling - you'll love it!
Say hi to my MIL in Wapenveld!
BTW when calculating distance you can do in a day, it will be double what you can achieve in the UK due to infrastructure and topography. A 150k day there is really not difficult - my kids were knocking off 30k when they were 10-11
Is the Afsluitdijk cycle path open again?
I don't think so - there was an extension to the original closure till next year unless something has changed recently. I know the Dutch version of Cycling UK was trying to do something but don't think it came to anything
The small campsites in Holland with a limited number of pitches are known as "mini-camping" logically enough. We found them very friendly places with many other cycle tourists. We just came across them or asked locals on the cycle paths. There's a Dutch site that's quite good for campsites all over Europe:
On one occasion we rode in from France/Belgium and found the initial part of the coast great with dykes and bridges. Then there were sand dunes so we headed inland and through Amsterdam. Then north along the inland coast to the long crossing at De Gest from which we again went inland and on to Germany. All good if you don't mind pushing into a headwind along an exposed dyke in rain showers.
On other occasions we've headed inland over the bridge too far or through the hillier terrain around Maastrict, less typical but equally interesting.
Copenhagen and Denmark we found very expensive and dull. The cycle route network wasn't great either. We liked Roskilde Camping with the drakkar sailing past, sensibly priced too.
I've enjoyed cycling pretty much wherever I've been in northern Germany. A word of caution about the Baltic during German holiday periods - it's busy; busy, busy.
To add to what others have said, cycling in the Netherlands is amazing. It’s flat, scenic, friendly and not everybody in a car is trying to murder you!
We’ve used the Hull/Rotterdam ferry a few times which is super easy with bikes and there was no additional cost compared to a foot passenger. We’ve only booked a campsite once for over there - the rest of the time we winged it by staying at farms/football pitches and a rave we found! People really have been that friendly to us.
Something I’d note is that we’ve had some very windy days, particularly along the coast. We found that because everywhere is so flat the wind carried and it was hard to find shelter.
In 2022 me and a couple of mates flew to Berlin and rode home through Germany and The Netherlands. Here’s a glimpse as to how good the cycle network is if you’re interested.
Was looking at some routes last week and Afsluitdijk is closed to bikes until 2025, There is a bus service that carries bikes across, but you can't book it, so seems like a bit of a gamble.
Like the others have said - go for it. We had three amazing days from Rotterdam down to Antwerp, out to the coast and then back up to the ferry last year All incredibly easy.
And like midlifecrashes mentioned, we rolled out of Hull port to find a van blocking the cylepath and then litter strewn, overgrown and puddled paths back to where we'd dumped the van...
@ahsat - this should help
https://www.poferries.com/en/routes/hull-to-rotterdam/travel-information/travelling-with-a-bicycle?
We often take the Hull-Rotterdam ferry with our campervan. There are always cyclists on it so it must be fairly straight forward..
Re: ferry food
The buffet style cafeteria is a bit grim. It's designed to feed very hungry travellers who want to load up on copious amounts of beige food.
The restaurant style "Brasserie" used to be really good but the last couple of times we've been it was really disappointing. Never again
In September we're going to get fish and chips in Hull then board, have a beer or two, then off to bed for a decent night's sleep.
Totally do-able, pretty much the dream you'd imagine, car-free everywhere and pancake flat.
I was meeting mates who'd flown to A'dam and flew back from Hamburg, so what I did was...
Day 1 ->HookHolland ferry day time. Ride to Rotterdam station 20 miles or so, train to Zwolle, meet mates.
Day 2. Zwolle-Groningen ride 65miles.
Day 3. Gron->Bremen ride 110 miles. (Some mates rode 60-ish party pace then got the train).
Day 4. Bremen->Bad Bentheim (German border in essence) train. BB->Apeldoorn ride 60 miles.
Day 5. Apeldoorn->HH ride 110 miles. HH>Harwich overnight ferry.
Stayed in hotels & hostels.
Not suggesting you do that, just really showing that you can be pretty flexible. I reckon just pick where you like the look of, as the bike paths are amazing of course. Trains are pretty easy with a bike, I think the main issue is they don't allow bikes on at peak times. Understandable I guess with the number of people on bikes there.
We used Vrienden op de Fiets (Friends on bicycles):
https://www.vriendenopdefiets.nl/en/
on a family tour last year. It's a network of cycle friendly B&Bs all over the NL, mostly people letting spare rooms. Very random (slept in a tree house one night!) but really friendly hosts and great breakfasts.
Afsluitdijk is closed to bikes until 2025, There is a bus service that carries bikes across, but you can’t book it, so seems like a bit of a gamble.
There's no booking because the bus runs hourly, and it takes 30 people and 15 bikes each time, so worst case you might have to wait for the next bus if it is really busy. We turned up in the middle of the summer season and got straight on.
Hogue Veluwe park and the area NE of Arnhem is nice (even has a few hills!) and Schiermonnikoog or the other Frisian islands are worth a visit if you have time to head north. It's easy to hop on a train if you want to cover more ground. As others have said, you can't go wrong anywhere in NL, really. It's just very pleasant, stress free cycling.
Thanks KCR - I'm a worrier... 🙂
The buffet style cafeteria is a bit grim. It’s designed to feed very hungry travellers who want to load up on copious amounts of beige food.
Generally this is correct, however the Thai/Indian/Philipino curries cooked by the Thai/Indian/Philipino crew are stunning. The only place in the UK I’ve been served genuine dosa (though not for breakfast). We usually picnic on the way out and prebook the buffet on the way home. If you’re travelling with kids, the 4 & 5 berth family club suites work out cheaper than two inside regular cabins and you get a free minibar, which is useful for storing milk should you wish to take a picnic breakfast as well, tea & coffee and a proper bathroom.
Cycle racks are on the upper car deck so you don’t have to run the gauntlet with the trucks and unaccompanied trailers.
I’ll second what others have said about the wind as it rattles in off the North Sea unabated, though the small forests we were riding through around zandvoort did provide some respite. Have you considered getting the train on the other side to somewhere then riding back?
It’s just very pleasant, stress free cycling.
Until you get on a busy cycleway at peak times where the culture shock / mad grannies on ebikes / bike traffic jams can be quite intimidating until you get used to it
I take it yo have the junction network cycle routes sussed out?
Mopeds on cycle ways. That’s a thing. They were considering banning them but it hasn’t happened yet.
Riding an environment where you seem to have absolute unquestionable right of way over powered vehicles is truly joyous.
Thanks all. Lots to think about and look at
I’ve probably been to Utretch 8 times, and normally hire a bike for the duration of my work trips to get between hotel - University - town so used to the peak commuter time mayhem, mopeds etc. But as said, the feeling that you are not going to die at any point is a delight and I don’t mind not wearing a helmet.
Have you considered getting the train on the other side to somewhere then riding back?
Yes, I like routes like this. Just not yet worked out where.
Some brilliant tips here, I m planning cycling to Amsterdam to visit friends. I m the most disorganised cycle tourist, never had a problem anywhere just turning up. Thanks for tips though
Holland is great. But we preferred Denmark. Have done 2 trips to both. My favorite was island hopping along the S coast of Denmark along to Copenhagen. Better campsites as well. Less urban. Variance in coastlines and nature and landscapes.