Cycling Tour Belguim 2015

[TonyMartin]

Hello all Does anyone have any experience of cycling in Belguim/Holland.

Very new to this but considering a 3/4 day & approx 220km tour in 2015.

Cheers!!

 

[Donger]

Belgium -A much under-rated country. I've taken my bike a couple of times and loved it. The Ardennes (in the South and East of the country) are fantastic for cycling, and include some pretty challenging hills (note the altitude in the "High Fens" shot) and an opportunity for border hopping into France, Luxembourg and Germany.



Beautiful countryside everywhere in the Ardennes. These shots were around Bouillon:


There are many lovely river valleys to ride along. These were taken on the River Meuse cycleway at Yvoir near Dinant, and in La Roche en Ardenne:


The North is nice and flat, if that is what you are looking for, but a bit dull to my mind, though my wife and I just love Bruges and, (pictured below), Ypres:


From what I have seen, the cycle paths are much better in Holland, but I'd choose the hilly parts of Belgium anyday. Cheers, Donger.

 

[Berties]

You'll love it we've just done Brugge and Ypres areas,plenty of cycle routes you'll be spoilt for choice,bikes get priority,

 

[furball]

Drivers are way more respectful towards cyclists than they are in this country.
Enjoy!

 

[TonyMartin]

Many thanks all

R/Bull That is exactly the area I am considering Brugges >> Ypres >> Ghent >> Brugges.

Cheers again

 

[andrew_s]

You'll find the most of the A/B-equivalent roads have cycle tracks which it's compulsory to use. They are usually on each side of the road, typically about 1m wide with a 0.5m cobbled strip dividing them from the main carriageway, but sometimes you'll get a 2-way track on one side only, and these can occasionally swap sides, with a diagonal double dashed give-way line protecting you from the traffic on the main road. Being a self preserving Englishman, unlike the locals I don't just shoot straight across, but hesitate until I've seen the cars start to slow down.
The minor roads are mostly very quiet, many canals have good cycle tracks along the side, and there are a number of converted former railway tracks, such as that from Boezinge, on the canal just north of Ieper, to Kortemark, half way to Brugge.
You might like to play with http://cycle.travel/map, which now works in Belgium and generally suggests pretty good cycle routes. Click on start, click on end, drag the route to alter it, gives turn by turn directions, GPS track etc - eg Dunkerque to Ieper campsite (good bar at point 5)