recommend me a two day trip.

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jonny jeez

jonny jeez

Legendary Member
I've seen similar in Belgium and Holland as well. In summer you quite often see refrigerated machines selling soft fruits.
So jealous!!

The last couple of times I stayed in Ypres I stayed at the Old Tom which is right on the main square, 5 mins walk from the Menin Gate and staggering distance from the bars.

Hotel Ariane ... Nice. Have stayed there before. We will be staying there again on our way back from the Ardennes in the Summer.

Was riding in flanders at the weekend, south of Gent. Rode past a farm in the middle of nowhere and there was a potato vending machine at the entrance to the farm.

Sorry to bump but would any of you have any suggestions of venues or places of interest worth diverting to. Our main days ride is from Dunkirk to Ypres which is around 30 miles. We'd like to stretch that out to 60miles but for the life of me i cant see a good place to divert to to build out the day. Roubaix is an option but not attractive as it means riding past Ypres first.

Any thoughts, happy to zig zag about and taken in some points of interest along the way.
 

martint235

Dog on a bike
Location
Welling
Why not go to Ypres first, drop your bags off and then ride out to Tyne Cot and Passchendaele. If the Great War is of interest, you can't move around there for little known, little visited cemeteries each with their own story. Time it right and you can ride down the Menin Road to the gate just in time for the bugler.
 

mmmmartin

Random geezer
If you had two to three days to ride around 80 miles a day, where would you go.
I'd get an evening (ie after the 7pm bike ban ends) train to Dover on a Friday and cross to Dunkirk and stay in the Ibis Centre, probably arriving about 1am French time. You could have an early start with no problem. Then I'd ride 150 miles to the Hook of Holland along this route:
https://goo.gl/maps/DtANwMo3gVS2
You could ride Saturday, Sunday and Monday and go back on the Monday night crossing to Harwich and get the train into London (watch the pre-10am arrival in Liverpool Street bike ban though).
This would be three days of say 50 or 60 miles per day. Saturday night you could stay in Bruges, which is very prety, eat in Tom's Diner. Sunday night in Renesse and ride on Monday to the Hook.
Really interesting massive infrastructure all along the coast, no language problems, good food, it'll feel like a week off.

You can nip over to Ypres any time, and once you've seen one WW1 cemetery, you've seen them all: that is how they are designed, they all have to be the same cos we're all equal in death, that was the whole point of the way they're laid out. Menin Gate is worth seeing once, but you pop over there in a short two-day trip easily.
 

martint235

Dog on a bike
Location
Welling
I'd get an evening (ie after the 7pm bike ban ends) train to Dover on a Friday and cross to Dunkirk and stay in the Ibis Centre, probably arriving about 1am French time. You could have an early start with no problem. Then I'd ride 150 miles to the Hook of Holland along this route:
https://goo.gl/maps/DtANwMo3gVS2
You could ride Saturday, Sunday and Monday and go back on the Monday night crossing to Harwich and get the train into London (watch the pre-10am arrival in Liverpool Street bike ban though).
This would be three days of say 50 or 60 miles per day. Saturday night you could stay in Bruges, which is very prety, eat in Tom's Diner. Sunday night in Renesse and ride on Monday to the Hook.
Really interesting massive infrastructure all along the coast, no language problems, good food, it'll feel like a week off.

You can nip over to Ypres any time, and once you've seen one WW1 cemetery, you've seen them all: that is how they are designed, they all have to be the same cos we're all equal in death, that was the whole point of the way they're laid out. Menin Gate is worth seeing once, but you pop over there in a short two-day trip easily.
I have to disagree about them all being the same. Yes the design is the same but the atmosphere can vary immensely. The difference between a huge cemetery like Tyne Cot and some of the small ones I found, often with maybe 10 or 20 graves, hidden in the bottom of a valley is moving. It's also worth going to see a German cemetery as well.
 

Donger

Convoi Exceptionnel
Location
Quedgeley, Glos.
Bergues is a pleasant enough little place ... mostly one big main square, but all set within a moat (one of those classic French military towns designed by Vauban). Nothing grand, but OK for a cafe stop. Then there is Cassel. Notable mainly for being the only hill for miles around ... and hence a major HQ and observation post during WW1 with views for miles in all directions . At the very top of the town (which is otherwise a little scruffy), there is a windmill, and a statue of Marechal Foche on horseback. I remember quite liking the place...... and you can have such a thing as too much flat terrain. Dunkerque to Bergues to Cassel to Ypres looks quite a workable route. Could always stop off at the seaside at La Panne for waffles on the way back to Dunkerque too, making an oblong route of it, though I don't vouch for the coastal route back to the port.
 
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jonny jeez

jonny jeez

Legendary Member
That's absolute nonsense. The 'equal in death' was about there being no differentiation between ranks but the cemeteries themselves are very different. Vimy Ridge is not the same as Tyne Cot or Artillery Wood.



Grab yourself a copy of Major & Mrs Holt's map of the Ypres Salient (I can't lay my hands on my copy or I'd post it to you). It lays out the main battlefields, monuments and cemeteries, and makes planning a route of things to see easy.



As Martin says, it's worth finding some of the smaller cemeteries and monuments- and visiting some of the German sites. You can tell the nationality of a cemetery by the shape of the crosses used.
Thanks Very kind.

we look like we shall be taking in a few cemeteries along the way and "looping" wildly towards Calais for the extra miles.
 
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jonny jeez

jonny jeez

Legendary Member
Bergues is a pleasant enough little place ... mostly one big main square, but all set within a moat (one of those classic French military towns designed by Vauban). Nothing grand, but OK for a cafe stop. Then there is Cassel. Notable mainly for being the only hill for miles around ... and hence a major HQ and observation post during WW1 with views for miles in all directions . At the very top of the town (which is otherwise a little scruffy), there is a windmill, and a statue of Marechal Foche on horseback. I remember quite liking the place...... and you can have such a thing as too much flat terrain. Dunkerque to Bergues to Cassel to Ypres looks quite a workable route. Could always stop off at the seaside at La Panne for waffles on the way back to Dunkerque too, making an oblong route of it, though I don't vouch for the coastal route back to the port.
Perfect, looks like our route is sorted.
Dunkerque to Bergues to Cassel to Ypres
 

jay clock

Massive member
Location
Hampshire UK
If you're thinking of Normandy, you could do Home - Newhaven - Dieppe - Ouistreham - Portsmouth - Home, or reverse.

Alternatively, if you could stretch to three full days, an idea I've been looking is Home - Portsmouth - St Malo - Ouistreham - Portsmouth - Home. This can be done for a mere £31 on Brittany Ferries' Day in France offer, alhough I guess it might be advisable to get a cabin for the St Malo crossing at least.
I am doing that in April.. More like 100 quid on ferry Inc cabin but gives a real weekend away in France. We are doing three days out Friday night back Monday 4pm
 

Aravis

Putrid Donut
Location
Gloucester
I am doing that in April.. More like 100 quid on ferry Inc cabin but gives a real weekend away in France. We are doing three days out Friday night back Monday 4pm
Good for you - hope it goes well. It's a proper tour in miniature, isn't it? Doing it without a cabin would be pretty tough, but maybe just possible with a group to help look after each other's things.
 

jay clock

Massive member
Location
Hampshire UK
I wouldn't worry about security on board. They also require you to pay for a (very uncomfy) reclining seat if you do not take a cabin. A tenner I think. On two occasions I did this trip I took my airbed and sleeping bag up on deck and slept outdoors..
DSCF9030__Large_.JPG
 
Location
London
I wouldn't worry about security on board. They also require you to pay for a (very uncomfy) reclining seat if you do not take a cabin. A tenner I think. On two occasions I did this trip I took my airbed and sleeping bag up on deck and slept outdoors.. View attachment 343010
:smile: I did that many moons ago on a ferry in the med - apart from being more comfortable than a chair (who sleeps at all well in a chair?) I also found it banished the sea sickness - presumably because my mind was no longer confused by an apparently still room/collection of furniture moving somewhat. Be careful where you do it though? I glanced from my slumbers to see a door a bit away from me open and a crew member hurl some sort of slops out of the door and across the deck.
 

Aravis

Putrid Donut
Location
Gloucester
I wouldn't worry about security on board. They also require you to pay for a (very uncomfy) reclining seat if you do not take a cabin. A tenner I think. On two occasions I did this trip I took my airbed and sleeping bag up on deck and slept outdoors.
On Brittany Ferries I think the reclining seats are free (and useless), on overnight crossings at least. As for security, I was more concerned about recharging electronic devices, an issue that wasn't even thought of when I last used a ferry with a bike.
 
U

User169

Guest
Not so far from Ypres is Vleteren, home to two essential beer pilgrimages. There's "In de Vrede", the cafe next to the Westvleteren abbey where you can sample Westvleteren 12 (routinely cited as one of the worlds best beers) and then there's the De Struise place "The Old School" for the more rock and roll end of Belgian beer.
 
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jonny jeez

jonny jeez

Legendary Member
Day 1: Ferry from Dover to Dunkirk. Cycle from Dunkirk to Ypres or Kortrijk (depending on what sort of mileage you want to do - 36 miles or 53 miles). Both are nice places for a visit.
Day 2: Cycle from Ypres / Kortrijk to Lille (25 miles / 20 miles) visiting some of the tourist places on the way. Get the Eurostar home from Lille.

I have a great fondness for Ypres and would recommend it, particularly if you're staying over and can make it to the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate (8.00 p.m. every day). If you're riding from there to Lille then there's lots of WW1 related places to visit on the way, and the last part of the ride into Lille can be done on river and canal paths that have been upgraded in recent years.

Ypres is also one of my favourite place. If you've got time, the Tyne Cot cemetery is only about 5 miles away and is worth a visit. When you've finished riding and watching the bugler, there's a few decent bars around the main square and plenty of cheap hotels in the town too.

If you want to stay in the UK, how about riding down to Stonehenge for the Solstice? I coupled it with Wootton Bassett and did there and back in a day but it breaks nicely into 2 days with a stopover.

So jealous!!

The last couple of times I stayed in Ypres I stayed at the Old Tom which is right on the main square, 5 mins walk from the Menin Gate and staggering distance from the bars.

Why not go to Ypres first, drop your bags off and then ride out to Tyne Cot and Passchendaele. If the Great War is of interest, you can't move around there for little known, little visited cemeteries each with their own story. Time it right and you can ride down the Menin Road to the gate just in time for the bugler.

Bergues is a pleasant enough little place ... mostly one big main square, but all set within a moat (one of those classic French military towns designed by Vauban). Nothing grand, but OK for a cafe stop. Then there is Cassel. Notable mainly for being the only hill for miles around ... and hence a major HQ and observation post during WW1 with views for miles in all directions . At the very top of the town (which is otherwise a little scruffy), there is a windmill, and a statue of Marechal Foche on horseback. I remember quite liking the place...... and you can have such a thing as too much flat terrain. Dunkerque to Bergues to Cassel to Ypres looks quite a workable route. Could always stop off at the seaside at La Panne for waffles on the way back to Dunkerque too, making an oblong route of it, though I don't vouch for the coastal route back to the port.

Thanks to all for your advice.

We enjoyed a fabulous weekend. After taking the train to dover we boarded the ferry (at extortionate cost) and rode from the Dunkirk port to town centre (11 miles) on Friday .

Stopped in Dunkirk overnight and rode the next day along the canals to St Omer, then over Cassel, down to poperinge and then Ypres.

On the return we took a more direct route stopped for lunch in Borgoyes (spelling) and in hindsight wished we had spent the first night there rather than riding to Dunkirk

100k and 60k (plus the Friday bit)

Highlights were lunch in Cassell, after a picturesque climb in the sun. I thought this was a pretty town with a grand square and sun drenched eating areas.

Poperinge was fun for pancakes (plus breakfast on Sunday on the way back.)

Menin gate last post was surprisingly moving

Ypres was far grander than I recall from inside a car earlier this year.

A great weekend away. Thanks all.

Already planning our next trip.
 
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