Starting to plan - Netherlands

[Drago]

Seeing as you are invading the Netherlands you should call the thread Operation Market Garden.

 

[All uphill]

Top tip for Den Helder: the De Nollen sculpture park. The website is in Dutch and you have to book a two-hour guided tour (which will probably also be in Dutch, although a kind guide might give you the gist in English) but it is the only thing worth seeing in the town. YMMV but I doubt it.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHKV1WCFyGI

Thanks!

I probably won't go that far north this trip. But it looks good!

I speak Dutch so no probs with translation.

 

[JB052]

We managed to visit the Netherlands twice last year with our bikes, once for the Keukenhof in April and later in the year to visit the Floriade exhibition, great country to cycle in.

 

[Slick]

If you're taking the ferry to IJmuiden, plot a route to Millingen aan de Rijn (150 km taking in Amsterdam and Arnhem, and lots of natural parks and woodlands) then pedal back down the Rhine to the Hook (175 km via Nijmegen and Rotterdam). Then a home stretch up the LF1 coast route back to IJmuiden (70 km, with options of visiting Delft, Leiden, Haarlem, etc.).

View attachment 683906

That looks a cracking route, but more for my brother and I if we ever get the chance for a wee camping tour.

Thanks though, as now plans are in full swing for a May tour.

 

[wafter]

I will.

I have strong ties to the Netherlands so its an obvious place for a bit of cycle touring for me.

Maybe it would be a good place for you, too, @wafter . Easy to get to, easy to get around and different enough to be interesting. Go for it!

Thanks - I love the place and if I could I'd move there in a heartbeat. I have an idea at the back of my mind to go touring there, but in reality I can't even organise my own breakfast let alone a self-sufficient solo trip abroad with the bike

 

[Julia9054]

Seeing as you are invading the Netherlands you should call the thread Operation Market Garden.

I usually call my tour Bikes n Beer (things I like doing on me hols)
I was attempting to plot one called "Cheese Tour" by staying only in places with cheese names but I couldn't quite get the distances to work.
Stayed in Gouda last tour and staying in Edam this time though. It's possible to fit quite a few balls of cheese in the top of panniers.

 

[The Crofted Crest]

Cheese Tour

If you go up to Den Helder try and time your trip to coincide with the cheese maket in Alkmaar.

 

[JB052]

If you go up to Den Helder try and time your trip to coincide with the cheese maket in Alkmaar.

Looks good, any other suggestions of things to do in Holland gratefully received

 

[All uphill]

Looks good, any other suggestions of things to do in Holland gratefully received

An odd one is the scaled down replica of St Peter's in the Vatican city, which was built in Oudenbosch in Noord Brabant.
Not a major tourist attraction, but curiously interesting.

 

[All uphill]

Looks good, any other suggestions of things to do in Holland gratefully received

I lived and worked in NL for several years and always found it a very nice place to be, without there being many huge attractions for mass tourism, other than Amsterdam (thankfully imo).

Groningen is a great city, for example, and the Forum there is a wonderful model of what can be done in a forward looking culture. Friesland has many beautiful lakes and forests. The Veluwe is another lovely cycling area. I'm sure there are many more.

 

[The Crofted Crest]

Strange that, I think Friesland is truly depressing. The Planetarium in Franeker is good and I bought a nice jumper in Leeuwarden once. But whenever I'm there my thoughts tend towards assisted dying.

Agree, Groningen is a great city.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

This May I'm planning to get the ferry again, but booking last minute when the forecast looks better

Ah, the advantage of experience!

I don't know the south of NL or Belgium at all well, so this will be an adventure.

That's my old stomping ground with some lovely cycling and lots and lots of interesting things to see and do, depending on what you like and are interested in. If you're open to camping, there are lots of friendly, small campsites, although anecdotally, I've heard that Belgian ones are more likely to be "full" than Dutch ones for people who just show up.
It's entirely possible to make a route up as you go along if you want to keep the "last minute" vibe rolling.

Maybe it would be a good place for you, too, @wafter . Easy to get to, easy to get around and different enough to be interesting. Go for it!

I agree 100%.
I appreciate it's very easy for me to say so having lived there for numerous years but when it comes to language (practically everyone speaks English and wants to speak English), infrastructure, bike friendliness and camping options there really are few places as well equipped for a bike tour, especially for beginners, than NL and Belgium.
It's amazing to me just how organised the place is so that once outside a town or city the countryside takes over and we can go from bazillions of people per square meter to hardly anyone in the space of a km or two.
It's so easy to hop on a train if behind schedule (moreso in NL than Belgium) that it really is entirely possible to make things up as we go along and not worry about hitting targets to make a ferry back.

 

[mjr]

It's so easy to hop on a train if behind schedule (moreso in NL than Belgium)

Not my experience. NL trains have limited space for bikes and some guards enforce the number on the signs (often six per train) but BE trains often have half a carriage and as many as you can fit. But a few have no space, which is a nuisance.

 

[grldtnr]

Thanks!

I probably won't go that far north this trip. But it looks good!

I speak Dutch so no probs with translation.

Clever sod! But there really isn't the need,almost all adults speak English equally as well as Dutch, and many other languages as well.
Then when you do try, to speak Dutch they reply in English, saying we will understand each other better!

 

[adamhearn]

Did a trip this year, was a great week though I definitely would not recommend going with no planned accommodation in high season :/