Holland down to France

welshinbred

Was thinking I could get some touring recommendations from here..

The plann is getting the ferry to Hook of holland, touring down through Holland, Belgum then to Callais to get the ferry back. Does anyone have any recommendations of places that are worth visiting allong the way?

Not too bothered about Rotterdam and places to the west of the Netherlands as I went through that way on a tour last year. Thinking of keeping to the east and down towards Antwerp, maybye Gent, defenately Brugge, but am very much open to suggestions!

Places i'm also considering are Rubaix, Lile & Oostende, but only for the simple reason that I know the names! Anyone know if they're worth it?

Thanks for your help

ddraver

never been, but roubaix is apparently a bit of a dump now, Lille is very industrial

they re the frnch equivalent of sheffield and manchester as in had it and lost it, although neither of the french ones have had much regeneration

jibi

How long have you got?

I would head down to Belgium to Liege, Bastogne, Houffalize, and then into the Ardennes.

Some great countryside , hills ( Houffalize :?) forests etc

then good cycling country up to Arras and Calais

But then I don't like big cities too much.

george

xilios

I agree with jibi except for the Liege part, it's big, dirty and confusing to get around in, with a lot of industry all around. I would not recomend it.
Maastricht in Holland (25kms north along the Maas river) is a much beter place to visit.
From Maastricht I have riden the whole area extensivly and about the worst place to go is Liege.
Aachen Germany is also about 30kms east of Maastricht and would make a nice day ride. Or just head south from Aachen for a day into the Eifel before making a loop back up to Callais.
cheers

welshinbred

Thanks for your replies.

I hadn't planned on heading so far inland as I only have 7 days of riding, so am planning to keep within about 75k from the coast between hook of holland and callais.

Xilos - I went touring in holland last year and viseted maasricht - agree that it's very nice around there, but would like to visit somewhere new.

I do like the idea of ending the tour heading up from around Aras up to Calais.

Does anyone know what the islands are like between Hook of Holland and Brugge/ antwerp?

I'm half considering changing the plan to starting and finishing in calais and doing a clockwise loop up to bruuge, down through belgum then back up through france

decisions...

ajohn9

[quote} they re the frnch equivalent of sheffield and manchester as in had it and lost it,

when did manchester lose it?!...its brilliant now, better than ever!

jibi

xilios wrote:

I agree with jibi except for the Liege part, it's big, dirty and confusing to get around in, ....
cheers

I got totally lost in Liege and I think everyone should too, at least once in their lives.

what I meant was just down in the direction of....


I followed the river into the town centre but it took hours to get directions out towards Eindhoven and then find the correct road. great fun.

But then, I usually get lost in any city so try to keep away from them.

george

Cathryn

I think the previous comment about Lille is a bit mean. I went a few summers ago and was really pleasantly surprised by it. The centre's really nice!!!

ian_oli

Zeeland (the islands in the far SW of Holland) has some interesting towns to visit and the Delta works are worth it too.

It's easy to forget that there are some nice places to visit close to the Channel Ports. Ypres, Cassel, St Omer, the hills that run east of Cap Gris Nez come to mind.

Central Lille is surprisingly nice - it confounded my prejudices considering what a dump some of the surrounding area is.

ju5t1n

Hi, I did this route back in April, excellent cycling country. Here's a link to my journal and photos...

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/blueskies

blorg

Antwerp, Ghent (much underrated) and Bruges are well worth a visit. I would have problems getting through Belgium on a bike, what with the beer and chocolates.

Another place no-one has mentioned and which could be very much on your route if you were heading towards Lille is Tournai, which has a spectacular cathedral.

fietslogies

Ghent and Tournai are definitely 2 great shrines that are not enough known outside Belgium. While everyone is talking about Brussels and Bruges and beer and chocolate, Belgium is more than that.
Ghent (Gent, Gand) and Tournai (Doornik) are situated along the river Scheldt (Schelde, l'Escaut) and share a 1000 year history.

A good preparation of your tour is everything :

http://www.groteroutepaden.be/grlf/v1.n ... endocument (All LF-routes in Flanders, in Dutch, with an interactive map)

http://www.randovelo.org/fr/veitin.php and
http://met.wallonie.be/opencms/opencms/fr/ravel/
(RAVeL in Wallonia, in French, with interactive maps)

http://www.veloarco.be/html/home.asp?t=f > Chercher une randonnée
(34 cycling tours in Belgium, with maps and text in french/dutch)

http://web4our.awardspace.com/index.php ... te=F&gif=F
(50 cycling tours in Belgium, with clear maps and text in dutch)

Good luck,

Fietslogies,
Ghent - Belgium

fietslogies

8 ways to get to Ghent (Belgium, Flanders) crossing the western part of Belgium :

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Ge ... Lessines-A
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Ge ... me-Schelde
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Gh ... e-Kortrijk
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Gh ... -Terneuzen
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Gh ... Oudenaarde
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Gh ... ens-Wester
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Gh ... ndermonde-
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Ghent-Bruges

1 way to get from Brussels to Ghent, but it's a quite complicated one :

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Gh ... st-Brussel

Cheers,

Fietslogies
Ghent - Belgium

Tourist Tony

I did the run straight back down the coast in April, and found that the Belgian IGN do a useful 1:50,000 strip map of the whole coast.