North Sea Cycle Route

[Onyer]

As it is coming up to the long winter months I am thinking about next year. Has anyone completed or cycled any part of the North Sea cycle route? What are the roads, cycle paths like? Would a road bike - in my case a Specialized Roubaix - be suitable?

 

[grolyat]

I did the whole thing in 2008, IIRC, on a fixed hybrid with 32 mm tyres. At that time, the ferry from Bergen to Scrabster (on the northern Scottish coast) was running so it was easy to complete the loop. A Roubaix bike would be fine, although most of the continental tourers you'll meet will be on trekkiing bikes - flat or butterfly bars, hydraulic brakes, hub gears, maybe front suss, 40mm Marathon tyres.

My memories of the trip? Boring, boring, boring. Fussy, fussy, fussy. Far too many cycle paths (with gates) on the landward side of big dykes through the Netherlands and Germany and tortuous detours to avoid tunnels on proper roads in Norway. With one or two short exceptions, surfaces were smooth and good. Denmark was fabulous though - I've been back there since.

Lots of people love the route though, but I get impatient with meandering "infrastructure."

Caveat: I didn't have the proper route maps as I thought they were too expensive and you need a lot of them.

Enjoy!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

If you are careful with your research you should be able to avoid the sections that are not suitable for a road bike (mind you some sections were not suitable for anything with panniers even if it was a mountain bike). But as mentioned above it is tortuous, maps/route plans expensive to by (bikeline) and we quit with it long before Norway (useful website for Norwegain tunnels verses cyclists access).

The main problem with it is that it loves taking you along 3 sides of a rectangle to avoid a B road (in the UK) when you can cycle up a steep hill, along the ridge and then back down again on minor country lanes rather than go along the bottom on the B road. This is repeated ad nauseam in other countries as well particularly in Germany.

The Danish section has lots of gates on it early on, these are double gates that bite back - I kid not. They are at an angle designed to automatically shut using gravity... and you can't hold it open and move your bike at the same time... result is that you end up resting the gate on the back of the bike, going through the gate and then onto the opposite one (this is usually going around cattle grids in the lower area of Denmark by the dyke where the sheep were) and this opposite one you have to push open with your bike.... it got very tedious to say the least. Oh and there is a 15km section along a nudist beach in DK as well, but you will be too busy try to keep your bike moving in sand to notice the 'sights'.

The Dutch section takes you through their national nature reserves which you are expected to pay to enter.

There is a useful website here http://www.northsea-cycle.com/ which covers all of the route plus some of the older sections of it as well - it has also included france & belgium in the past and as already pointed out, the only way now to get from Norway to Scotland is by air.

If I don't sound enamerded with it, I'm not. Sorry. I have tried following large sections of it through England, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. Whilst cycling it, I do not recall a single cyclist who actually enjoyed cycling it and most soon just gave up with it and 'freelanced' instead.

 

[Onyer]

Many thanks for the feedback above. Now off my list of rides. Thinking now about Kiev to London to support a local charity that supports an orphanage in the Ukraine.

 

[psmiffy]

The scenery is great.

Ive cycled most of the coast of western Europe between Gibraltar and Bodo - certainly at certain times of the day and in certain lights the endless flat terrain of the North Sea route between Hoek and Esberg can at times be beautiful - but somehow I cannot bring myself to agree that it is great scenery

 

[Brains]

I've done the bit from Calais, Belgium, Holland, skipped Germany, and then did Denmark.
France - must be done south to north, it is impossible to cycle against the wind, not that interesting (and it's no longer part of the route)
Belgium - we went inland to Brugge and Ghent/Antwerp great cycling, but not actually on the North Sea route
Holland - We followed the route from Hook to Den Helder and then spent a few days on Texel all of which was great
N. Holland and Germany - we skipped this bit
Denmark - Did Esbjerg to Skaw, frankly a bit boring, sea on the left, dunes on the right, village every five miles exactly the same as the last one, nice people though.

In short, Belgium and Holland were good, but go inland
Denmark was boring, but again, that is on the coast, next time I'd avoid most of Jutland.
North French coast - next time I'd either head well inland, or take the train.
On the English side Norfolk/Suffolk is great, but it's not a cycle route, and don't expect to go anywhere fast what with the rowing boat ferries, the paths through the RSPB lands and the miles of dunes where you are riding on grass.
North Kent is good, as long as it not during the summer season, as mile after mile of the cycling promenade is closed to bikes.

 

[steveindenmark]

Please stop telling everyone how nice Denmark is to cycle in. We get enough Germans here as it is.

Failing that, drop me a Line when you are coming and I will ride with you for a few hours. But not near my favourite places of course.

Steve

 

[CopperBrompton]

If you don't follow the route religiously, but only in spirit, it's hard to beat it, in my view - certainly the section I've done, which is Hook of Holland to Esbjerg, Denmark.

I'm in between in the scenery stakes - it is of course flat (a large part of the appeal), but still pretty. Video and many, many photos here:
http://www.benlovejoy.com/cycle/tripreports/northsea/

 

[steveindenmark]

Trikeman, the Rømo causeway is one of my regularly riding routes. The fun thing about it is if you are heading into a headwind and turn round to go back, you will be riding into a head wind again

Ribe has to have cobble Stones as it is Denmarks oldest town. A lovely place.

A site you may find useful is Airbnb.com. I have used it all over Europe and it is ideal if you are riding around.

Steve

 

[totallyfixed]

If you don't follow the route religiously, but only in spirit, it's hard to beat it, in my view - certainly the section I've done, which is Hook of Holland to Esbjerg, Denmark.

I'm in between in the scenery stakes - it is of course flat (a large part of the appeal), but still pretty. Video and many, many photos here:
http://www.benlovejoy.com/cycle/tripreports/northsea/

I have just spent 20 mins enjoying and reliving Hook to Harlingen where we had lunch then on to Leeuwarden and thence around the rest of the Netherlands. Brought back lots of good memories, we even took some of the same photos as you. We did Leeuwarden in 2 days including sightseeing around Delf, but then I have a nutter for a partner. Thank you for that, really appreciated.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Trikeman, the Rømo causeway is one of my regularly riding routes. The fun thing about it is if you are heading into a headwind and turn round to go back, you will be riding into a head wind again

For certain values of 'fun'. :-) Since we were riding the route in that direction due to the prevailing wind direction, I was all set to sue the bastards.

 

[steveindenmark]

Well we do have a politician who's campaign plan was to have cycle paths that only went downhill or with a tail wind. His other plan was not to have borders with guards but to have a box at the border with a telephone in it with a recorded message which played "We surrender, we surrender, we surrender".

He was voted in

I liked your photos of the White men in Esjberg, they are impressive when you get up to them. They arealso a lasting memory as you sail away seeing as you go past them.

Steve

 

[CopperBrompton]

Well we do have a politician who's campaign plan was to have cycle paths that only went downhill or with a tail wind.

I'm going to apply for Danish nationality so that I can vote for him.

I liked your photos of the White men in Esjberg, they are impressive when you get up to them.

Thanks, and yes, they are a spectacular sight both up close and sailing out.

 

[Debade]

If you are careful with your research you should be able to avoid the sections that are not suitable for a road bike (mind you some sections were not suitable for anything with panniers even if it was a mountain bike). But as mentioned above it is tortuous, maps/route plans expensive to by (bikeline) and we quit with it long before Norway (useful website for Norwegain tunnels verses cyclists access).

The main problem with it is that it loves taking you along 3 sides of a rectangle to avoid a B road (in the UK) when you can cycle up a steep hill, along the ridge and then back down again on minor country lanes rather than go along the bottom on the B road. This is repeated ad nauseam in other countries as well particularly in Germany.

The Danish section has lots of gates on it early on, these are double gates that bite back - I kid not. They are at an angle designed to automatically shut using gravity... and you can't hold it open and move your bike at the same time... result is that you end up resting the gate on the back of the bike, going through the gate and then onto the opposite one (this is usually going around cattle grids in the lower area of Denmark by the dyke where the sheep were) and this opposite one you have to push open with your bike.... it got very tedious to say the least. Oh and there is a 15km section along a nudist beach in DK as well, but you will be too busy try to keep your bike moving in sand to notice the 'sights'.

The Dutch section takes you through their national nature reserves which you are expected to pay to enter.

There is a useful website here http://www.northsea-cycle.com/ which covers all of the route plus some of the older sections of it as well - it has also included france & belgium in the past and as already pointed out, the only way now to get from Norway to Scotland is by air.

If I don't sound enamerded with it, I'm not. Sorry. I have tried following large sections of it through England, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. Whilst cycling it, I do not recall a single cyclist who actually enjoyed cycling it and most soon just gave up with it and 'freelanced' instead.

Hi, we will be starting our N. Sea ride in Edinburgh in late June, 2015. Your advice about 'B' roads sounds like a good choice. Unfortunately, being from the States, we do not know what a B road is specifically. We will have a GPS but not sure about the map investment yet. Can you provide some more guidance concerning your suggestion about taking the B roads? Thanks

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Hi, we will be starting our N. Sea ride in Edinburgh in late June, 2015. Your advice about 'B' roads sounds like a good choice. Unfortunately, being from the States, we do not know what a B road is specifically. We will have a GPS but not sure about the map investment yet. Can you provide some more guidance concerning your suggestion about taking the B roads? Thanks

In the UK there is a really easy system

A roads are roads starting with the letter A. The longer the number the less major the road as a rule.
B roads are roads starting with the letter B. Again the thing about the longer the number the more minor the road as a rule (it does not always work...)
M roads are Motorways - best avoided in the UK, the Police get a touch upset about cyclists on motorways for some reason
We also have unclassified roads which are country lanes and usually very minor link roads or deadends and great for cycling but are ungraded so can be very steep and often in a bad state of repair, but don't let that stop you using them, some of them are fantastic if you are not in a rush to get from A to B...