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I have had my R&R in Amsterdam stsying with my sis and hubby
Ive plucked up the courage to head south. Bilbao is the destination. Another 5 weeks riding
I can get a ferry from there back to the uk
Aiming to set off again on Tuesday
Woohoo, part 5.
Woohoo, part 5.
Exactly. It also appears to be somewhat of a long way and weather is set to be rather toasty next week
Fancy joining us in Les Gets at the end of August?
Arrrgghhhh
😀
Wow, that is a long stretch! Love it TJ, looking forward to the updates.
Ace!
Enjoy the ride tj, and thanks for this. I'm really enjoying the updates! (Mainly as I'm jealous, I can live vicariously!)
Bonne voyage!
(Not sure that's spelt right)
I am quite jealous I have always wanted to cycle to Spain.
May be I will pluck up courage.
I haven't tracked miles on this ride but i must have done 1500 or more. Bilbao is another 1100.
Im going to head down the coastline roughly. Eurovelo has a coastal route marked. The coast should be cooler as well.
Mrs Boblo and I did that Eurovelo 1 a couple of years ago on the tandem.
It's not hilly.
It'll be hot.
It's very family friendly; lots of cycle paths.
It's quite near (aka 'in the middle') of a lot of the recent fires.
It goes through a nudist beach so that might suit you 😊
South of Hendaye 'the corniche' is really beautiful.
Enjoy.
Safe trip Teej. I’ve just put Amsterdam > Bilbao (cycling) into googly-maps, and it routes you through Paris 😂 Coastal route sounds a safer bet.
Coastline? Presumably that means heading towards Normandy then cutting across to the Atlantic coast of France?
@molgrips That's it. Eurovelo 1 goes from Roscoff to Hendaye or Brittany to Spanish border if you prefer. 👍
Eurovelo has a coastal route marked. The coast should be cooler as well
It was v hilly through the Basque Country.
It goes through a nudist beach so that might suit you 😊
It appeared that *all* the beaches we visited on North coast were pretty free for all... 😳
a nudist beach
were pretty
Not often you hear those phrases together
You should go n see Chipps
a nudist beach
were pretty
You should go n see Chipps
That took a dark turn
Bonne chance et bonne courage
The Dutch do beach life and bars on the sand quite well (cycle paths taken for granted). About a mile S. of Europoort it becomes sand dunes and holiday places, flat but pretty and chilled with bars and beaches. San Sebastian to Santander was great (if hilly) when I rode it a long time ago as a student. Bit in between has ample wine and croissants. Enjoy the summer beach life 🏝️
Sounds a great plan.
There can't be any complaints about hills for a while, but I predict they will be replaced by complaints about wind!
complaints about wind!
ample wine and croissants
Looking highly likely 🙂
Have I missed a section ?. It was Wales, now its suddenly mainland Europe 😕
Have I missed a section ?
You will get to catch up when then make the budget Brit-film on Netflix of the journey.
Excellent. A handy phrase for you.
Je voudrais donner un coup de pied à votre chien dans la tête s'il vous plaît
👍
donner
Erm, saucisson surely? No one ever heard of a kebab dog
🙄🤣
Je voudrais une tranche de ton cochon d'inde
Good luck! I’m inspired by your travels and it got me to researching routes and ferries etc. One thing I noticed when I had a brief look at the price of Bilbao to Portsmouth ferries this September is that there looks to be no bookings available for cycle passengers. I hope I’m wrong or you’ve already got a ticket because that might be a nasty sting in the tail of a long journey.
If that's the case, I can highly recommend European train travel, although you need to check bike availability before rocking up at the station.
There is a ferry from Santander to uk as well. I did spot that with Bilbao
Bear in mind the forest fires that have devastated areas of Gascony, particularly in the Arcachon area. We had to upsticks, middle of the night in our van from somewhere near Bazas when we smelt the approaching forest fires. This was two weeks ago.
YAY! Have been waiting on your next episode of travels TJ. Just wanted to come on and say how much I have enjoyed the previous threads (and putting faces to STWers). Happy travels, enjoy the continent
One thing I noticed when I had a brief look at the price of Bilbao to Portsmouth ferries this September is that there looks to be no bookings available for cycle passengers.
We have just been on Santander/Plymouth ferry.
You can't currently book as pedestrian only. You can phone up or turn up as cyclist. One couple took bikes on their annual whale watching trip - so as not to pay for car - and did the return journey back to back just buy wheeling bikes on, off, back on and then off...
All packed up for the off. Totally shitting myself. Hopefully it passes once im turning the pedals
Heading for the coast this moning then down the coastal route
Best of luck TJ, i'm sure you'll have an awesome time.
Totally shitting myself
That's partly why we love this thread. If you had been 'stoked' it would be zero fun. Hope the wind is behind you all day
Bon voyage, the gravity of Belgian beer and frites may prove hard to escape
This sounds brilliant, apart from the camping bits - I like a nice comfortable B&B, me. Riding through Belgium is lovely, worth considering a trip to one of the WWII cemeteries on your way through - an awesome and sobering sight. We had a lovely trip round there staying int Ghent, Bruges and Ypres - all lovely, each in a different way. If you can overnight in Ypres and catch the Menin Gate ceremony at 8pm then I'd strongly suggest trying to do that, it's quite overwhelming (they close the main road through while they play The Last Post. I fill up whenever I hear that so how I didn't just collapse in a bucket of tears during the ceremony, I have no idea)
How far do you intend to go ?. I mean are we going to have a part 32, Eastern Africa
I think Bilbao will be it. Dunno what route home tho.
Camped up in hook of holland. Rode thru the dunes today. Pic to follow. Sunshine and a tailwind today
https://www.weserradweg-info.de/de/tourplanner/
If you zoom in on map I've linked the cycle routes appear in purple (or sometimes red). It will help you follow the vélo routes through France.
Ta
Todays bampot
Big hairy man riding a mountain bike pulled along side and started asking me what it was and clocking all the bling.
Very funny. Most dutchies just see a red bike😎🤣
I've linked the walking option by mistake, you just have to click on the walking man symbol and select radfahren then radtour. All the long distance routes are on it and most local cycle paths.
The singletrack montain bike coverage is poor though. None my local waymarked routes are on it except in the ski resorts.
Heading for the coast this moning then down the coastal route
You are Arthur Bostrom AICMFP!
Im camped up near middleburg south west Netherlands. Cracking day riding the coast and the dykes. Lots of dunes and woodland. Pics to follow
Wee ferry took me on a guided tour of the docks
Then polders
And dykes
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Dunno what route home tho.
Caledonian Sleeper?
I was going to suggest a circuit around the Baltic and a ferry home from Denmark or something, but the seasons never stop and you would need to overwinter down south before trying that again in spring/summer.
More realistically, could you come back up the Atlantic coast and get the ferry from Cherborg?
Up and off sharp this morning. Eating a cheese and ham croissant right now. Gonna be another scorcher today and yet again tailwinds!.
Speaking EuroVelo routes, I just got this in my inbox this morning from Ride With GPS. Apparently all the EuroVelo routes are now downloadable as GPXs if that's of any use.
https://ridewithgps.com/journal/6734-customize-your-eurovelo-cycling-holiday?otu=
I should be able to get a ferry from northern spain to uk
Good miles this morning. Heading for the dyke of the day
Arrived just in time for the next ferry. I wasnt even sure it existed 😎 so to arrive with perfect timing was particularly good
I appear to be in Belgium. Off to find chips n beer
Thats better. Chips n beer found.
Internet is too crap to post pics. I'll try later
You can't leave the Netherlands yet - you need to wait until there is a force 7 gale so you can compete in the headwind cycle race.
Too late.im halfway across Belgium
in the most unexpected conversation I had last week this blokes wife casually dropped out in conversion how after retirement he went on a local loop and ended up deciding to go round the world.
He did it too with the attitude that if it went tits up he would dump his bike in a bush and get out his credit card.
Once he got 500 miles in France under his belt he could not stop. 18 months later he came home.
I was a little jealous tbh.
TJ part 6 Asia?
3pts af stella and a somewhat wobbly ride to the campsite. Someone had set up feet away from me. Time to unleash the snoring
tjagain
3pts af stella and a somewhat wobbly ride to the campsite. Someone had set up feet away from me. Time to unleash the snoring
Probably some farting as well after three pints of Stella.
Time to unleash the snoring
Please do.
I once shared a youth hostel room with a Belgian who made a chainsaw seem quiet...and then the Germans got up at 5.30, couldn't find something so put the lights on...
3pts af stella
You're in Belgium and drinking ****ing Stella!!!???
Calls the police
Calls the police
Immigration surely for immediate deportation.
@tjagain - I hope you had mayonnaise on your chips so you could blend in
No he asked for salt and sauce
Couple of pics from yesterday
Strange fully faired recumbent
https://i.postimg.cc/QCHW21Dp/20220811-133736.jp g" alt="" />
I need to obtain some more sugar sachets today and some bog roll. None provided on this site. Ever tried to wipe your backside with a rizla? 🤣
You’re in Belgium and drinking **** Stella!!!???
My immediate reaction too.😁 A barman in Gent refused to serve a mate of mine Stella once. Claimed it was only for girls.
I’m not gonna ask what sugar has to do with your bathroom rituals, best not to know 🤢
Loving the updates and pics, looks a great adventure.
some bog roll
Last time I cycle toured in France I bought a bulk pack, maybe 9 bog rolls, as it was cheaper than just a few, then spent some time re rolling the toilet paper into a more compressed form so I could stuff it inside the cardboard tube. Made the paper much more transportable. I gave a few remaining rolls away.
Scorchio! Im already sweating. Carrying water is a pain. Public taps seem rare. 5 l yesterday and i have 5l on board for today. Thank goodness no hills