North Sea

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Tony

New Member
Location
Surrey
Sitting thinking of a route for this Summer, and have come up with the idea of part of the North Sea cycle route. To take advantage of the winds (yeah, right...), my thought is to go from Calais round to perhaps Esbjerg. I know the bits through France, Belgium and Holland, but not Germany or that bit of Denmark. I tried the website for the route, and it is shot.
Any info/advice on this one? Just looking at a short ride of two to three weeks bimbling. My main query is that it looks as if the route has to go through Hamburg; no apparent ferry at the Elbe mouth.
 

snorri

Legendary Member
There is a ferry from Wischhafen to Gluckstadt.
http://www.bargaintraveleurope.com/Germany_Gluckstadt_Elbe_Schleswig_Holstein.htm
There are several references if you Google it.
Also there is a ferry from somewhere round Stade which takes you in to central Hamburg, avoiding the suburbs where you could easily get lost. Hamburg is ok for cycling, better than many UK cities.:angry:
 

Bigtallfatbloke

New Member
I am unsure of where the exact route goes but if you get a chance to visit the German islands of Fohr, Sylt and Amrum it would be fun. There is a ferry to Fohr & Amrum from Dagebull and a train to Sylt goes from a little furter up the coast. It is only a short crossing.




I prefer the island of Fohr out of the three.

http://www.foehr.de/

It is flat (they all are) green & picturesque, with some nice little thatched villaged, windmills etc. Wyk is the main town/harbour on the island and it has a very nice promenade, small and friendly/character.
The beaches at Goting (FKK), Suderende are lovely...flat and sandy. The weather there is variable being a north sea island, but I have spent days on those beaches and to be honest it was better than being in the caribean. This is the island for the German 'family' tourist.

Sylt is not as picturesque although still very nice.

http://gogermany.about.com/od/greatdestinations/p/sylt.htm

It is basically one huge sand dune. The beaches on the western side are world class...miles and miles of white sand backed by dunes. The beaches are all FKK beaches...so that is either a plus or not depending on your view. The beach saunas are worth a visit, especially after a days ride i would say. This island tends to be frequented by the wealthier German holiday maker...it isnt cheap.

Amrun is a very quiet & relaxing place.

http://www.amrum.de/cms/website.php

Not much at all going on. It is another large sand dune really and is my least favourite of the three islands. It is perhaps the 'couples' island...you know, lot's of peace, quiet, FKK beaches etc. It isnt as green as Fohr, but again has some stunning beaches.

You could do these islands as a sort of 'mini tour' off of the main tour. I suggest you spend one day on each, maybe two or three on Fohr/sylt...but Amrum...well I spent just one day there and I wanted to go back to Fohr!..however it was raining and cold when I went there, in the sunshine this place would be ideal for getting away from everything. The ferry acts like a bus service between the islands...roll on roll off.

I have been to Fohr 6 times, each time for two weeks. It is a special place for our family...I know it pretty well so if you need any more info let me know.

Basically if you are heading up to Esbjerg you will be passing Dagebull anyway...the islands are just a left turn off the main route.

As with all islands, weather is key. When the sun shines these islands are superb. But if you get a storm, they can be pretty bleak.

One thing though. These islands are popular amoungst German holiday makers (and for good reason). You won't find many other nationalities there and certainly no of the 'yob' culture etc. The accomodation tends to get heavily booked up in advance, especially the larger family houses for rent, and they are not cheap either. There are accomodation agencies in the main towns and one good one in WYK.

I am unsure about campsites, as I never camped there.
 

CycleTourer

Veteran
Location
Bury St. Edmunds
Tony,

My wife and I did the NCSR, Esbjerg to the Hook of Holland back in 2003. You will find a travelogue of the route with pictures here http://www.cycletourer.co.uk/cycletouring/tours/denholtour03.shtml
and some information on the various parts of the route here http://www.cycletourer.co.uk/cycletouring/nscrinfo.shtml

Would agree with BTFB that the Frisian islands, either the German or Dutch are worth having a look at and agree that Fhor is the nicest of the German ones. The Vlieland to Texel ferry is fun and if you have time spend a bit of time on the Danish islands of Romo and Fano they both have lovely beaches which are about half a mile wide and several miles long!

We used the ferry at Gluckstadt that Snoori refers to to avoid Hamburg. Hamburg is actually quite nice and fairly easy to cycle around, it is just that we had been there before. You can also miss bits out along the route by using the various ferries that we describe on our information pages if you don't have much time to spare.
 
OP
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Tony

Tony

New Member
Location
Surrey
That ferry looks ideal! I have been to Hamburg many times, and am after rural cycling. Just google-mapped Gluckstadt.
The Germanic bit shouldn't be a problem--I speak French, Dutch, German and Norwegian (so I can sort of get by in Danish)
 

HJ

Cycling in Scotland
Location
Auld Reekie
Tony said:
The Germanic bit shouldn't be a problem--I speak French, Dutch, German and Norwegian (so I can sort of get by in Danish)

Danish is just Bokmål with a funny accent, should be fine unless you are a radical Nynorsk speaker...
 
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Tony

Tony

New Member
Location
Surrey
God no, it's not a language, it's a disease of the throat even worse than Phlegmish. I'll need a lot of GammelDansk.....

Neither Nynorsk nor Landsmål, just what used to be called Riksmål.


(I still say syve and tyve, not sjue and tjue)
 

Carwash

Señor Member
Location
Visby
Norwegian is merely a regional dialect of Swedish, with Danish orthography. :eek:

<Ducks and runs.>

(Of course there is in fact no such language as 'Norwegian'. There are merely a lot of local dialects, and two standardised orthographies, Bokmål and Nynorsk. As my Icelandic teacher once said, 'In Norway there are three standard forms of communication: Riksmål, Landsmål, and Slagsmål!')
 

EmGee DK

New Member
Location
127.0.0.1
Carwash said:
Norwegian is merely a regional dialect of Swedish, with Danish orthography. :smile:

<Ducks and runs.>

xx(

No matter - both danish and norwegian comes out of Germany. :eek:

I think I once heard that the most true scandinavian language is islandic.

However its all changing quick in theese years as english expressions are to be found everywhere in our daily lives over here.
But 'nuff said. I dont want to high jack the thread. If I can be of assistance in any questions regarding touring Denmark, feel free to ask.
 
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Tony

Tony

New Member
Location
Surrey
Will do. Icelandic (Islandsk?) is interesting, with very many words made up from older ones to avoid loanwords. As in simi, talking wire---telephone. A bit like the German attempts to stick with Fernsprecher.

But do love Icelandic Black Death.....
 

EmGee DK

New Member
Location
127.0.0.1
Yup ... islandsk. How about IT-terms Tony? Here in DK we use A LOT of English words and expressions. Some official (mostly IT related) and some are used because people find them cool. Blame Hollywood and the BBC :biggrin:. The f-word for instance is a common danish curse.
Sorry for the high jack original poster :smile:
 

Carwash

Señor Member
Location
Visby
EmGee DK said:
Yup ... islandsk. How about IT-terms Tony? Here in DK we use A LOT of English words and expressions. Some official (mostly IT related) and some are used because people find them cool. Blame Hollywood and the BBC :biggrin:. The f-word for instance is a common danish curse.
Sorry for the high jack original poster :biggrin:

Same in Sweden. English 'shoot' is becoming almost as common as Swedish 'skit'... but it seems that most people don't realise that 'shoot' is not as mild as it's Swedish counterpart!
 
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