Wrong turn, expensive mistake for 4 Brits.

ademort

Here in the Netherland ,s 4 British cyclists who were on there way from Brugge in Belgium to Hoek of Holland Netherlands, got a shock when they rode through the westerschelde tunnel. They were met by a tunnel safety wagon and all traffic was halted while the adventurous 4 rode slowly through the tunnel seemingly unaware of the commotion that they had caused. At the tol side of the tunnel the men were met by Police who gave each Man a fine of €110 . It,s illegall to cycle through the tunnel. The Men claimed that they had programmed there GPS and it gave the route directions of course they were just following that route. To be honest you would need to be mad to want to cycle through there, you really do take your life in your own hands. Here,s a link to the story http://www.pzc.nl/regio/zeeland/9013314 ... tunnel.ece

chiark

Blimey oh riley, that is quite special - 6km of tunnel!

From the tunnel info site:

The Westerschelde Tunnel, 6.6 km in length, connects the towns of Terneuzen, in Dutch Flanders (Zeeuws Vlaanderen), and Goes in South Beveland.All vehicles that can and are allowed to drive at 80 kph (50 mph) may use the Westerschelde Tunnel. In practice, this means that any vehicle may use the tunnel, except for slow-moving traffic (e.g. tractors, mopeds, cyclists and pedestrians).

They might have been able to crack 80kph, perhaps?

ademort

In the ten years that it,s been open they have had a few cyclists ride through it, but believe me you take your life in your hands. The last think that the Local,s think they are gonna meet in the tunnel is some Crackpot on a bicycle. These Guys are very lucky. Hope that at least one of them visit,s the forum. We can have there opinion on the subject.
Ademort

takethehighroad

This is like one of those stories that crops up every now and again in France - "Look at these silly Brits driving on the wrong side of the road"

markyboy2005

chiark wrote:

Blimey oh riley, that is quite special - 6km of tunnel!

From the tunnel info site:

The Westerschelde Tunnel, 6.6 km in length, connects the towns of Terneuzen, in Dutch Flanders (Zeeuws Vlaanderen), and Goes in South Beveland.All vehicles that can and are allowed to drive at 80 kph (50 mph) may use the Westerschelde Tunnel. In practice, this means that any vehicle may use the tunnel, except for slow-moving traffic (e.g. tractors, mopeds, cyclists and pedestrians).

They might have been able to crack 80kph, perhaps?

If your impressed with that, have a look at this one currently being built in Austria:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koralm_Tunnel

I lived in Austria in the late 90's and did lots of driving around the country, some of the tunnels were just amazing.....you would enter in one end and it was sunny and exit and it was snowing..... :shock:

I just realised I described tunnels as amazing......I'm off......

MountainMonster

Tunnels are cool things. On the westbahn here in austria, between my town and vienna they are building a high speed line which cuts travel time in half. On the fast trains that are going to be assigned to the track, their line goes through large underground tunnels directly under villages to cut time. Should be open next year hopefully.

As far as that other koralm tunnel, my wifes father is an erlagfuhrer for oebb, and has had to take training on the trains that will be used, as apparently the drives are different. Will definitely have to go on a ride through that when it opens.

Monty Dog

I remember biking through some remote road tunnels in Norway with no lights - very long and f'ing scary if a bus or truck came the other way - off the bike and pinned against the tunnel wall! Also did some work with the Swiss Railways - they have special trains to deal with major incidents including fires and chemical incidents in tunnels - complete with compressed air supply and breathing apparatus. Also did some work with the Swiss civil defence authorities - there's some seriously big tunnels, bunkers and piles of kit under all the major cities!

ddraver

Is there a sign explaining that or is it like all things in the Netherlands where they just expect the knowledge tio have somehow "osmosed" into your head the second you land at Schipol...

Having been fined a few times now for things I have nt done because I had absolutely no knowledge of them I do have some sympathy!!

rant over...