Calais to Brussels

[Dwn]

I'm looking for some advice. In May I will be undertaking my first ever multi-day tour; from Calais to Brussels, over 3 days.

I've got some fixed points already booked - overnight stay in Calais near the Eurotunnel to allow me an early start. I've also booked into a hotel in Ghent for the end of the second day cycling, and Brussels for the end of the third. Return will be via Eurostar.

My dilemma is where to stay after the first day of cycling. Do I head to Poperinge/Ypres, or along the coast to Nieuwpoort?

I'm fairly used to windy/rainy weather and some hills (I live in Glasgow and most of my cycling has been done there), but some of the comments I have read about high winds on the coast are putting me off that route.

Any experience of either route that you could share? I've been to all of those towns and cities by car in the past, so fairly familiar with the area

Thanks

 

[Dec66]

Ypres: nice town.

Poperinge: quiet.

I'd head that way and make a stop at In De Vrede, near Westvleteren. Trust me, if beer is your thing, you won't regret it.

http://www.indevrede.be/home.php?lang=en

ETA oh, you wanted a route? Dunkerque would have been much easier than Calais, but from Calais I'd follow the canal out, turn down towards St. Omer, have a scoff and a rest there, then head over to Poperinge via Clairmarais, Noordpeene, Wemaers-Cappel, Cassel and Steenvoorde.

ETTEA; the cafe is about 5km to the north of Poperinge. The beer is worth the detour.

 

[mmmmartin]

If you can cancel that Calais reservation, do so and go via Dunkerque, from where the town is an easy, flat ride from the ferry. Then it's only an hour or so to the Belgian border along nice flat roads. From three you have a great network of cycling paths alongside canals or along the coast. If the weather is horrible you can take the coast tram (kusttram) with your bike. Ypres gives you the chance to see the ceremony every evening at the memorial. But accommodation there is expensive unless you camp.

 

[Dwn]

Thanks for the responses. I'm not quite locked-in to leaving from Calais but.....

I'll be travelling from Glasgow (train is booked) and realistically the earliest crossing I could make would be 17:00, or perhaps 18:00. That means getting in at 20:00 or 21:00 local time and then trying to get to a hotel for the night (the immediate vicinity of the port doesn't look v promising for that). So, not ideal.

By using the Eurotunnel bike service I get dropped almost at the door of my hotel for the first night and can make an early start the next day.

It's true that there isn't much love for Calais as a starting point, but the logistics are much easier given my travel arrangements from Glasgow.

 

[Julia9054]

But accommodation there is expensive unless you camp.

Stayed in Ypres on our little bikes and beer tour last May. Accidentally managed to land the most luxurious Airbnb I have ever stayed in for the price of a travel lodge. After cycling from Dunkirque, a hot tub and fridge full of Belgian beers was most welcome.
If you do Airbnb, I can certainly pass on the details

 

[HobbesOnTour]

There's a decent campground about 16km out of Ieper/Ypres (Stal 't Bardehof). Very friendly, interesting route out from Ieper and best of all a great cafe serving fantastic food with friendly locals just down the road.

 

[Dwn]

Hadn't actually thought about Airbnb for a one night stay, but have checked and it does seem viable. Good call!

 

[mjr]

If you can cancel that Calais reservation, do so and go via Dunkerque, from where the town is an easy, flat ride from the ferry. Then it's only an hour or so to the Belgian border along nice flat roads. From three you have a great network of cycling paths alongside canals or along the coast. If the weather is horrible you can take the coast tram (kusttram) with your bike.

I mentioned it in https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/dunkirk-vs-calais.257401/ but I will add more detail here: it's now even better than that. Dunkerque have almost connected Loon-Plage by the port to Belgium by cycleways now. The cycleways start by the D601 on the east edge of Loon-Plage, which takes you to Grande-Synthe, then you simply blunder straight on through that on low-speed-limit streets to the Decathlon where the cycleways restart, turning left at one roundabout and then right at the next to rejoin D601 which used to be a big dual carriageway relief road but has been rebuilt into smaller all-purpose road, busway and cycleway. That follows a canal into and through the town centre, then turns left at a crossroads and forks right to follow the part-disused crossborder railway to Bray-Dunes where it rejoins the road briefly. At the old border plaza, a cycleway turns 90° right to join the Belgian numbered junctions system towards Adinkerke, Veurne/Furnes and beyond. Sadly, neither council nor port seem to have any plans to complete the cycle lane from the port to anything useful so it will continue to trick unsuspecting cyclists onto the awful motorway feeder road instead of the back roads.

Coast tram takes 2 bikes only if not busy. I think trams every 20 minutes in De Panne area. As with Belgian trains, your bike needs its own ticket.

For accommodation near Ypres, Hotel Palace in Poperinge were very welcoming to us and I don't think very expensive - maybe the 10 miles from Ypres is enough to deter non-cycling tourists? Plush if dated but welcoming people, bikes stored inside a big locked gated area, walking distance to bars (we'd eaten before the Menin Gate ceremony) and an excellent breakfast.

 

[mjr]

My dilemma is where to stay after the first day of cycling. Do I head to Poperinge/Ypres, or along the coast to Nieuwpoort?

Would you rather ride through North Sea coast resorts - prosperous but more dunes than concrete that bit IIRC - or historic battlefields, gently rolling east of Ypres? I've done both and would happily do either again but I've used the train to skip both twice too!

 

[Julia9054]

If you use Airbnb, I can recommend a good 2 bedroom in Ypres. Complete with hot tub!

 

[Dwn]

If I had arranged to start from Dunkirk I would definitely have gone along the coast; in part because that would have let me spend the night in Bruges. From Calais that's just a little too far on the first day.

So my choice at the moment is to either go along the coast and stop overnight in Nieuwpoort, or head inland and stay in either Poperinge or Ypres. I've been to the latter two places a fair number of times (interested in the Great War) and like them both. Never been to Nieuwpoort, fwiw so any impressions would be helpful.

Thanks

 

[mjr]

I've only ridden along its seafront and it was not very memorable apart from a ferry across the harbour. I looked through my video and captured these pictures from it, suggesting it's a OK sort of resort but not quite as well-kept as Ostend.