FNRttC The Tour 2017

[mmmmartin]

Just a reminder to email
fridaystour2017@gmail.com
if you are interested.
This forum is visited by only a minority of Fridays members and the email address will be the method of communication.

 

[BalkanExpress]

Don't change anything about the route now. Blame Thatcher for making Maastricht a pilgrimage point for Brits with too much money and pushing up prices.
.

It is the end of the academic year, so you can also blame Thatcher for all the UK parents coming over to pick up their kids who are getting a high quality and low cost education.

 

[srw]

We have spent a slightly surreal evening on a sub-tropical extinct volcano, drinking Rioja while listening to Mozart on Radio 3 and booking hotels in the low countries. We've also roughed out our previous week. Assuming (@mmmmartin) that the lunch stop on the last day is in Willemstad we plan to abandon our car there or thereabouts earlyish in the week before the tour, then ride via Antwerp to arrive in Ostend as the main tour party arrives in Dunkirk before executing a neat interception manoeuvre somewhere on the North Sea coast. We are booked on the overnight ferry on the Sunday so that @rvw can go home and I can either go into London or else home depending on what, if anything, I need to do that day to satiate my employer.

 

[mmmmartin]

Assuming (@mmmmartin) that the lunch stop on the last day is in Willemstad

Correct.
The recce was cold and windy but http://www.pumpke.com/ supplied a very decent lunch. There are lots of other places in the village.

 

[User169]

Maastricht might be expensive since you are visiting at the same time as Andre Rieu's annual take-over of the city.

 

[Fab Foodie]

It is all a bit of a fiddle.

All sounds a bit too Straussful for me....

 

[srw]

Maastricht might be expensive since you are visiting at the same time as Andre Rieu's annual take-over of the city.

At least in the presence of his adoring fans the older members of the party will feel young again.

 

[jiberjaber]

Well I moved a step closer to this by booking a hotel (in Ramsgate) for a ride down to Dover....

I haven't looked at the rest of the hotel options yet, but if Maastricht is a bit crazy, I might give that a miss and pick you all up back on route somewhere. It's a lovely place but when I was last there I ended up in a hotel quite far out due to availability at the time. I can recommend a trip round the caves.

I quite fancy riding round the coast of Kent on the way down (anyone any experience of the route Whitstable / Herne Bay/ Margate / Broadstairs / Ramsgate / Sandwich / Deal ?

 

[mmmmartin]

There is a route alongside the coast, on the sea wall, that is a cycle route and quite rideable. From Whitstable to Reculver (ancient castle), thence Margate, Broadstairs, past Dumpton Gap, then to Ramsgate and from there southwards through the golf course at Sandwich, then through Deal. It's all very nice, not much on roads. Almost all is part of the 300k Oasts and Coasts - go to Tom's website and download the GPS track of the route - you might want to tweak it so you go round the North Foreland point (top right bit of Kent): http://www.kentaudax.co.uk/

For Maastricht, see this earlier post:

ETA: Booking.com has a couple rooms still available in this hotel (Hotel Le Bonheur, Eijsden, Netherlands if you need to search on the name). If a few more of us nabbed the last remaining ones, that would be ace! I've just booked a standard double for us there (EUR125 for the 2 nights) and will take a decision shortly whether to cancel the central hotel I'd already booked.

 

[jiberjaber]

There is a route alongside the coast, on the sea wall, that is a cycle route and quite rideable. From Whitstable to Reculver (ancient castle), thence Margate, Broadstairs, past Dumpton Gap, then to Ramsgate and from there southwards through the golf course at Sandwich, then through Deal. It's all very nice, not much on roads. Almost all is part of the 300k Oasts and Coasts - go to Tom's website and download the GPS track of the route - you might want to tweak it so you go round the North Foreland point (top right bit of Kent): http://www.kentaudax.co.uk/

For Maastricht, see this earlier post:

Ace - got a room there! Suppose I need to book the rest of the route up now LOL

 

[mmmmartin]

So - interested? email fridaystour2017@gmail.com

Just a reminder.

 

[StuAff]

On the off-chance that anyone else fancies riding from Eindhoven to the Hook for the Saturday night ferry, this is the initial route idea I have (courtesy of the fietsersbond route planner, balanced route option). Also working on a route for the rest day. Trying to see how many border crossings I can fit in a 100 mile loop....

 

[mmmmartin]

@StuAff - check that ferry from Moerdijk-Strijensas - the last one is at 5pm and they appear to be every two hours so if you miss the 3pm you have a long wait: there's a reason we're not going that way - Hence we'll be heading westwards a bit more and passing through Willemstad (where we may, or may not, take the little ferry across, depending on how time is passing).

 

[mmmmartin]

Those who have expressed an interest by emailing fridaystour2017@gmail.com will have received an email today.
If you're interested it's not too late to join.

 

[StuAff]

@StuAff - check that ferry from Moerdijk-Strijensas - the last one is at 5pm and they appear to be every two hours so if you miss the 3pm you have a long wait: there's a reason we're not going that way - Hence we'll be heading westwards a bit more and passing through Willemstad (where we may, or may not, take the little ferry across, depending on how time is passing).

Version two. There is a 'no ferries' option on the fietsersbond planner so I used that...another option is simply to reverse our route from day one in September. The 3pm ferry shouldn't have been a problem (I'm not going to be pootling) but best to avoid the risk.