France, Belgium, Holland advice needed

[db7db7]

Greetings all,
Thinking of doing a short (approx 5-7 days) tour this summer, thinking of pedalling from my house to the coast, Ferry to Calais then ride up through Belgium and into Holland before coming back on the ferry from there then cycle home. Not planned anything yet, but if i could fit it in, might nip across to border of Germany or via Paris etc.
Just wondered if anyone had done a similar kind of route through these countries and has any advice at all. Anything really; roads, camping (is rough ok? Are there lots of campsites if not?), any "views/sights" that i should ensure i don't miss? Anything would help ahead of me starting the actual planning.
Thanks in advance you kind people!
D

 

[Encephrich]

have you considered doing part of the 'North Sea Route', it's all laid out , just need to adapt to ferry points. Not done myself but maps and articles are available http://www.sustrans.org.uk/article/north-sea-cycle-route

 

[snorri]

Encephrich gives good advice
Some other thoughts....It's fairly dull from Calais to Dunkirk, gets better once out of France.
You could decide at Breskens to go inland towards Antwerp and north from there, and up towards Dordrecht and include Rotterdam in your tour, or to cross to Vlissingen and follow the coast north towards the New Waterway ferry at Rosenburg. Coastal route takes you along North Sea defences, interesting exhibition at Neeltje Jans describing how they keep the sea at bay. .
I think you will find an ample number of campsites, wild camping is illegal in Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands.
You could return via Hook of Holland or Ijmuiden depending on available time.

 

[frank8265]

I agree with Snorri, north of France is boring. I've been there twice on the bike and you'll never catch me there again!

If you want a summary on information about cycling in the Netherlands, have a look here:

http://www.velohut.com/forums/topic/211-cycling-in-the-netherlands-some-info/

I hope it's useful info.

 

[db7db7]

Thanks for the replies and links so far guys. I'm thinking of going straight up from calais into belgium having cycled london2paris 2 yrs ago not desperate to see too much of france. Never been belgium. Just need to decide whether to head north, pos through antwerp, or east skating into Germany (not been there either) then up and back across to ferry back from holland.
Need to sit down and plan as my house to the coast will be about 200 miles already.
Any other help/advice would be great.

 

[e-rider]

I've cycled over from Harwich to Hook-Holland and then looped in Netherlands and back again - excellent experience. The Netherlands is brilliant for cycling once you get the hang of reading their maps/signs

 

[derrick]

We did Belgium last year, was brilliant, the best food and drink, did France and Holland aswell but i liked Belgium best.

 

[jay clock]

I lived in Belgium for years, and must say that Flanders and into NL is unredeemably flat and personally I find quite uninspiring. If I had a choice I would go tot somewhere like Caen or Cherbourg and come back from say St Malo or Roscoff. Britanny is stunning. see here for my trip last year https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1&doc_id=12956&v=2w

 

[StuartG]

I love France but the stretch from Calais through Gravelines to Dunkirk is completely without merit. That's on a fine day. And they tend to have a monopoly on France's worst weather. Once you hit Belgium things just get better and better. I actually prefer Belgium to the Netherlands. Flander's has a streak of anarchism the sometimes over organised Dutch miss. Both great, both different.

 

[Malcolm4000]

Thanks guy - this is really useful stuff - as I'm in the process of planning a trip for 1o of us this Summer, and had originally been thinking of going from London - Dover, which we still will....then Calais to Bruges and Bruges to Antwerp (then a brief skip to Brussels to come home), but it does look a little flat and dull.....Certainly, flatter than the London - Paris we did last year....I had considered trying to weave either some of the Roubaix cobbles or Flemish cobbled climbs into a Calais - Roubaix - Brussels route, but the geography doesn't quite work out. Either too far south of Roubaix or out of our way on the way to Antwerp

Does anyone have any suggestions on either getting into Belgium a bit quicker, or aiming for a more interesting route, around that region?

We will leave on the Thursday and need to get to Brussels at some point on Sunday (one option had us overnight in Antwerp and cycle to Brussels for the Eurostar back to Ebbsfleet)

Any advice gratefully received, we followed the Donald Hirsch route last year, which I think may have slightly spoilt us in terms of routing and directions, however, I'm hoping that we can find something interesting to see in 2014

 

[b1ke]

If you're not bothered about riding in France, why not get a return from Harwich to the Hook of Holland and plan a loop, taking in Holland, bits of Belgium and Germany? I've cycled from Dieppe to the Hook and agree that the northern French coast is pretty pedestrian. That said, I didn't rate the Belgian coastline either. Other than Brugge, there wasn't that much worth seeing. If you're looking for hills, you'll find some in the east of Belgium and the Eiffel in Germany.

 

[Will1962]

We will leave on the Thursday and need to get to Brussels at some point on Sunday (one option had us overnight in Antwerp and cycle to Brussels for the Eurostar back to Ebbsfleet)

My understanding is that you cannot load/unload bikes at Ebbsfleet - the train only stops for a minute, so there is insufficient time to load/unload bikes. It might be a good idea to check with Eurostar.

Will