Netherlands ideas

[Julia9054]

In the darkest days of winter, my thoughts turn to planning next year's cycle tour. We usually go to the Netherlands in May half term but this year (due to my son's stag do) it will be the end of July instead.
Previous tours include Hull-Rotterdam and down the coast, Newcastle-IJmuiden and up the coast. So I feel we have explored the west coast and islands.
We like to ride about 100km in a day and then spend 2 days in each of 3 places so it's not fast paced - we like to relax and explore between cycling days.
Our thoughts this time are to take the train inland from either of the above ferry ports and cycle somewhere inland.
Has anyone done this? Please hit me with your ideas of where to go.
Thanks

 

[Gwylan]

Head inland, do the rivers and canals. Make up your own circuit.
Do the Rhine down to Köln, train back or do the other bank.

Go down the coast into Belgium do the WW1 sites and drift into Brussels, Leuven is prettier.

Do the Ardennes, if you like hills. Around Chimay

The funny border bit along the rivers between France, Luxembourg and Germany.

 

[IaninSheffield]

Haven't gone inland very far, yet, although I'd thoroughly recommend Delft, Leiden & Gouda. Cycling from one to the other won't give you your 60 mile cycling days though. And maybe you're keen to be much further inland anyway.
I'm not sure whether Limburg in northern Belgium (still Flemish speaking) might be too far, but visiting the following are on my 'To Visit' list:
Fietsen door de Bomen
Fietsen door het Water
Fietsen door de Heide
They won't really provide your three places to visit/stay, but might be worth including if Maastricht and or Valkenburg were on your itinerary?

 

[Julia9054]

Haven't gone inland very far, yet, although I'd thoroughly recommend Delft, Leiden & Gouda. Cycling from one to the other won't give you your 60 mile cycling days though. And maybe you're keen to be much further inland anyway.
I'm not sure whether Limburg in northern Belgium (still Flemish speaking) might be too far, but visiting the following are on my 'To Visit' list:
Fietsen door de Bomen
Fietsen door het Water
Fietsen door de Heide
They won't really provide your three places to visit/stay, but might be worth including if Maastricht and or Valkenburg were on your itinerary?

Thanks Ian. I enjoyed reading your account of your tour. We have stayed in Leiden and Gouda (one of my favourite places) and spent a long day in Delft a couple of years ago on our way back to the ferry. We also explored Belgium a few years ago having got the Dover Dunkirk ferry and ridden up to Ypres, Bruges and Ghent - all really worth a visit. I particularly enjoyed riding from Ypres to Bruges.
I am thinking of further inland this time - with the use of the train - perhaps even into Germany.

 

[Gwylan]

Another bit of fun. But deep inland.

https://www.bikemap.net/en/r/4821234/

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Hi Julia,
You don't say if you're camping or not and I'd like to highlight that the situation in late July (high vacation season) will be different to your usual time in May, especially in terms of accommodation and temperature.

If you're interested, Europe's biggest "street funfair" (Kermis) will take place on the last two full weekends in July in Tilburg. It's not for everyone but can be a lot of fun. https://www.kermistilburg.nl/

I've always found that the Dutch/German/Belgian border triangle is best for exploring as opposed to riding through, if you get my meaning. There are a couple of big parks that are great for wandering around, perhaps as part of a hub and spoke type arrangement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eifel_National_Park
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maas-Schwalm-Nette_Nature_Park

In that general area, there is also the VennBahn starting in Aachen and running to Luxembourg.
Multiborder, multilingual you're up high (big drops and steep returns to get back on track) but easy cycling (on the route) and interesting places to explore if taking a day or two break. Monschau has always charmed me.

A bit further away, I've cycled the "Romantisch Strasse" in Germany. Well, I set off to do it, but wandered hither and tither. Lots of interesting places along the way worth exploring and wonderful views as the mountains loom up closer and closer. A real sense of "getting somewhere".

Really, depending on what fires you up there is no shortage of inspiration in NL/BE/DE and with the excellent biking networks there is little need to "follow" an official route unless that is what you want to do. A brewery tour would be great fun. A war memorial/cemetery tour might seem heavy (and it can be) but rewarding. A Castle/Museum tour, too. One interesting route is to do a loop of the Ijsselmeer and get a taste for two of the many sides of NL. The western side has wonderful, charming old port towns like Volendam and Hoorn (from when it was open to the sea), the eastern side far more agricultural. Lots of wind, potentially and a chance to cross the afsluitdijk -check if open. Having said that, I wouldn't do it in late July - too busy.

As always, CrazyGuyOnABike is a place for information and inspiration.

Also, if you look at the bottom of this page there are previous discussions that may be of interest.

@Slick may be interested in some of this discussion, too.

 

[adamhearn]

Been in s'Hertogenbosch, Tilburg, Utrech and Eindhoven - all offer something for a day or so at least.

 

[Slick]

Hi Julia,
You don't say if you're camping or not and I'd like to highlight that the situation in late July (high vacation season) will be different to your usual time in May, especially in terms of accommodation and temperature.

If you're interested, Europe's biggest "street funfair" (Kermis) will take place on the last two full weekends in July in Tilburg. It's not for everyone but can be a lot of fun. https://www.kermistilburg.nl/

I've always found that the Dutch/German/Belgian border triangle is best for exploring as opposed to riding through, if you get my meaning. There are a couple of big parks that are great for wandering around, perhaps as part of a hub and spoke type arrangement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eifel_National_Park
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maas-Schwalm-Nette_Nature_Park

In that general area, there is also the VennBahn starting in Aachen and running to Luxembourg.
Multiborder, multilingual you're up high (big drops and steep returns to get back on track) but easy cycling (on the route) and interesting places to explore if taking a day or two break. Monschau has always charmed me.

A bit further away, I've cycled the "Romantisch Strasse" in Germany. Well, I set off to do it, but wandered hither and tither. Lots of interesting places along the way worth exploring and wonderful views as the mountains loom up closer and closer. A real sense of "getting somewhere".

Really, depending on what fires you up there is no shortage of inspiration in NL/BE/DE and with the excellent biking networks there is little need to "follow" an official route unless that is what you want to do. A brewery tour would be great fun. A war memorial/cemetery tour might seem heavy (and it can be) but rewarding. A Castle/Museum tour, too. One interesting route is to do a loop of the Ijsselmeer and get a taste for two of the many sides of NL. The western side has wonderful, charming old port towns like Volendam and Hoorn (from when it was open to the sea), the eastern side far more agricultural. Lots of wind, potentially and a chance to cross the afsluitdijk -check if open. Having said that, I wouldn't do it in late July - too busy.

As always, CrazyGuyOnABike is a place for information and inspiration.

Also, if you look at the bottom of this page there are previous discussions that may be of interest.

@Slick may be interested in some of this discussion, too.

I am interested which is why I was already following the thread but didn't want to interrupt.

After a suggestion on my thread, a guide book for the Rhine Route arrived yesterday, so that might be one for another day.

 

[Sixmile]

We flew into Amsterdam with our 2 tandems (dad, mum, 2 girls) in August, cycled 'Dam to Hilversum then through Utrecht to Kaatsheuvel, done a day at Efteling, rode on to Rotterdam then up through Leiden to Haarlem and then flew home.

Out it it all, the day at Efteling theme park was the biggest hit with us all. A really great place although Haarlem was probably our favourite town.

 

[Gillstay]

Thanks Ian. I enjoyed reading your account of your tour. We have stayed in Leiden and Gouda (one of my favourite places) and spent a long day in Delft a couple of years ago on our way back to the ferry. We also explored Belgium a few years ago having got the Dover Dunkirk ferry and ridden up to Ypres, Bruges and Ghent - all really worth a visit. I particularly enjoyed riding from Ypres to Bruges.
I am thinking of further inland this time - with the use of the train - perhaps even into Germany.

We did the bit from Ypres to Brugge and it was excellent, mind you dropping down to Ypres from the north was good as well. Lots of wildlife and good cycle ways alongside the canals.

Still getting fit again I did wonder just how far across to Germany and beyond you could go on virtually flat land. Most of the way from Dunkirk to Dortmund looks quite level and then it cannot be far before your on the Danube flood plain.

 

[Julia9054]

A bit further away, I've cycled the "Romantisch Strasse" in Germany. Well, I set off to do it, but wandered hither and tither. Lots of interesting places along the way worth exploring and wonderful views as the mountains loom up closer and closer. A real sense of "getting somewhere".

Ooh - now your experiences of this I am very interested in!
My current thoughts are heading this way - potentially jumping on a train somewhere in The Netherlands to Würzburg and taking it from there.
We don’t camp and prefer to book ahead as we are teachers and therefore stuck to school holidays. The advantage of this is that we can take our time in the summer as we have 6 weeks, the disadvantage is that everyone else is also on holiday!

 

[HobbesOnTour]

the day at Efteling theme park

A wonderful place for children...... of all ages!

Ooh - now your experiences of this I am very interested in!

Oooh! I'm afraid my recollections are more than a little vague. It was my first ever self supported tour and I was mega-prepared with home-made laminated maps, shedloads of enthusiasm, two panniers half full of books, a brand spanking new Tiger and lacking the ability to fix a puncture!

I started with a hangover - a Neil Young gig the night before - had left the car in a friendly hotel outside of Wurzburg and headed off.
I can give little detail on where I went - a forest drew me off course on the first or second day and my lovingly created maps barely got used after that. I know I hit all the main towns on the route but I don't think I got there by conventional bike routes.

Of relevance for you, it was late July when I set off and I stayed in hotels. Back then I hadn't a clue and had neither reservations nor apps. I had no problems finding a hotel each night - only one of which I recall being disappointed with. (Isn't memory a weird thing?) However, I'm not sure I'd be quite so comfortable with that approach now (that was back in 2014). And, I was solo. Travelling with another can make these decisions more complicated.

There was a tremendous feeling of "travel" as huge mountains appeared on the horizon and slowly (very slowly in my case) came closer. Living in NL this was a real change and something that really settled in my bones - a bike could be for travel, genuine travel, not just recreation.

The towns along the way, that I recall, were all well serviced, interesting and definitely worth exploring. Being Germany, a lot are recreated as opposed to being "original" but none the worse for that.

A highlight for me was reading Grimm's Fairy Tales in a forest! Atmospheric is not the word!

The Disney Castle (I cannot for the life of me pronounce or write it) was packed with queues from early morning and required advanced reservations. I went, I saw the crowds and I scurried away.
I continued on to Munich for a Romantic rondezvous (putting the Romance into Romantisch Strasse), catching a local train to get me into the city centre. Munich was beautiful in early August, surprisingly quiet and a very pleasant couple of days.

I wouldn't have had a reservation, but I caught a train back up to Wurzburg, cycled out to the hotel and headed off in the car the next morning. There was no charge for the car parking.

It was fabulous!

When I wanted to book the bike on the trains from NL to Switzerland, (different trip) I did it via the very helpful Dutch International Train service. It's a long time ago now, but I could check out my options online and call to make the reservation. All done in English by a very helpful lady. Worth noting that time restrictions for bikes on trains are relaxed in NL in summertime.

Edit: The best bike route planner has this: https://cycle.travel/route/summary/151820


Heading off course........
The "wrong" bike, more books than sense, no puncture kit and a tiger!

Germany's great! There's always something interesting!

Heading for the mountains..... A fabulous sensation for this newbie

Na.. Nac....Nach..... the Disney Castle! Best appreciated from a distance!

And this is why!

Enhanced to high heaven but a bit of magic, methinks

My last morning on the "official" route (I think). The cheapest hotel (the things I remember!) with an amazing view! Bliss!

 

[grldtnr]

Haven't gone inland very far, yet, although I'd thoroughly recommend Delft, Leiden & Gouda. Cycling from one to the other won't give you your 60 mile cycling days though. And maybe you're keen to be much further inland anyway.
I'm not sure whether Limburg in northern Belgium (still Flemish speaking) might be too far, but visiting the following are on my 'To Visit' list:
Fietsen door de Bomen
Fietsen door het Water
Fietsen door de Heide
They won't really provide your three places to visit/stay, but might be worth including if Maastricht and or Valkenburg were on your itinerary?

I like the idea of cycling through the tree canopy, that would be surreal, but to do a ride just for that , probably not
I'd have to passing through, but cycling in the NL's isn't no bad thing!

 

[The Crofted Crest]

A petit word of caution, the Romantische Strasse is poorly signposted (but it is romantic).

If you've got 6 weeks, why not got to Prague? Down the Rhine in Holland, then along signposted rivers and canals in Germany to the Czech border. Signage in Czechia is a bit hit and miss. A GPS track and a guide book (in Dutch) are available.
https://webshop.fietsvakantiewinkel.nl/fietsgids-fietsen-naar-praag

We've done the trip twice and if I could I'd do it every year.

 

[Julia9054]

We have finalised our summer plans.
Ferry to Rotterdam and a couple of days in Gouda.
Ride to Utrecht and jump on a train to Aschaffenburg (near Frankfurt) to stay with a friend for a few days then take the train to Würzburg. 5 days to cycle the Romantische Strasse mainly staying in youth hostels. Then train from Füssen to Munich for a few days. Train to Ghent and wander by bike and train back to Rotterdam.
Thanks for all the advice - I'll sort the train journeys nearer the time when prices are released to work out whether it's cheaper to get an interrail ticket or not.