Holland - Cycle Touring Heaven or Hell?

apt_starfish

"Cycling in Holland must be seen as a very leisurely affair where you are happy to meander through the countryside and suburbs and take your time. If you are interested in doing a lot of miles at a good pace on open roads on fast tarmac you might find the twist and turns of the cycle paths with the numerous traffic lights with their buttons to press, and the rough pamment surfaces a little frustrating. Holland really is not the place for the 'roadie' wishing to do mega miles."

Quote taken from a website. I plan to cycle down to the French Alps this summer to do the Marmotte. Last year I cycled from Newcastle down to Newhaven to get the ferry to France to do PBP. Cycling on A roads in the UK was not a pleasant experience especially around the SE... so to avoid the stress I thought I would get the ferry from North Shields to Ijmuiden and cycle through Holland and Belguim to get to France. The statement above is putting me off somewhat as Holland does not seem to cater for the style of cycling I enjoy. An alernative could be cycle down to Hull to get the ferry to Zeebrugge...

Any thoughts or experiences welcome

Bodhbh

apt_starfish wrote:

"Cycling in Holland must be seen as a very leisurely affair where you are happy to meander through the countryside and suburbs and take your time. If you are interested in doing a lot of miles at a good pace on open roads on fast tarmac you might find the twist and turns of the cycle paths with the numerous traffic lights with their buttons to press, and the rough pamment surfaces a little frustrating. Holland really is not the place for the 'roadie' wishing to do mega miles."

An alernative could be cycle down to Hull to get the ferry to Zeebrugge...

Any thoughts or experiences welcome

So at Zeebrugge, you will end up on the Flemish cycle paths instead of the Dutch ones (yes, they have fairly similar cycle paths to the Dutch).

Regardign that quote. I'm not a roadie, but the only time I found cycling in Holland to be as frustrating as pictured above is in Amsterdamn and similar urban environments. In the open country the cycle path surface quality is absolutely excellent and there is very little (apart from the headwinds!) to stop you going as fast as you please. Pick a route staying out of urban sprawl and you will be fine.

FJS

The point is simply that both Holland (especially the West) and Belgium are densely populated, and you'll be constantly passing through towns and villages. But then that's cycling in most of the UK too. Is that quote from an American source perhaps?
Anywway, Zeebrugge or IJmuiden wouldn't make much difference in that respect; Belhium is very densely populated too. And the whole idea that 'Holland is not the place to do mega miles' is rubbish anyway - there are vast, long empty roads, around huge IJselmeer lake in the North for instance. From IJmuiden the first bits will be busy, but once you've passed busy Haarlem/Amsterdam/Schiphol/Leiden (depending on your route) you'll have as least as much open road as you'll have anywhere in Belgium or Northern France.

apt_starfish

http://www.cycletourer.co.uk/cycletouring/holland.shtml

the above link is where I got the quote from. I have priced the cost of getting the ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge and it is more expensive than North Shields Ijmuiden. I will probably bit the bullet and go dutch...

Ta for the advice

andymiller

apt_starfish wrote:

Quote taken from a website. I plan to cycle down to the French Alps this summer to do the Marmotte. Last year I cycled from Newcastle down to Newhaven to get the ferry to France to do PBP. Cycling on A roads in the UK was not a pleasant experience especially around the SE... so to avoid the stress I thought I would get the ferry from North Shields to Ijmuiden and cycle through Holland and Belguim to get to France. The statement above is putting me off somewhat as Holland does not seem to cater for the style of cycling I enjoy. An alernative could be cycle down to Hull to get the ferry to Zeebrugge...

Any thoughts or experiences welcome

I'm definitely not arguing against cycling in Holland etc, or the ferries from Newcastle/Hull. The Newcastle-Imijen service is extremely competitive on price, but if your target is France, and your only reason for taking the ferry is to avoid A-roads, then another option worth considering would be to get the train to London Euston and then cycle to London Bridge and take the train from there to Ramsgate (for ferries to Boulogne) or Dover. Likely to be a bit more expensive (but not necessarily drastically more expensive if you get a couple of Advance Singles) than the ferry but gets you closer to where you want to ride.

Also it's perfectly possible to avoid riding on A-roads even in the South-East- there's the NCN, or it you could improvise a route for yourself.

apt_starfish

The plan was to cycle as much of the journey as possible and only use alternative modes of transport when no other choice exists - hence only one ferry crossing each way

Bodhbh

apt_starfish wrote:

http://www.cycletourer.co.uk/cycletouring/holland.shtml

the above link is where I got the quote from. I have priced the cost of getting the ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge and it is more expensive than North Shields Ijmuiden. I will probably bit the bullet and go dutch...

Ta for the advice

Ah, I refer to that site now and then. I've not got off the ferry at Ijumuiden, but at Rotterdamn it was a little easy to get lost.

And this is where I'll agree with what it says - that the cycle routes can take you back and forth a bit if you're not careful. Generally tho, you can plot a directish path. Most junctions tend to be sign posted and have a route map. If you get a good mental picture of the map, you probably only have to stop every 3-4 junctions. If you don't want to be distracted by this, I daresay you can find the maps online and do this in advance, but I've always worked out routes on the hoof.

Tempted to backtrack on this a little, as I realise one persons occasional stop is someone elses annoying rhythm break while belting out the miles. But I would certainly not describe it as hell.

BelgianBeerGeek

I cycled to Amsterdam (via Rotterdam to see TdF prologue) from Calais and back in 2010. The routes are well signposted and generally excellent in both Belgium and Holland (Northern France is OK too). The only real issues are around the major conurbations where the density of cycle routes can lead you astray a bit. A good map (GPS?) is essential as you can find yourself heading through what appears to be the back of a housing complex, but stick with it. We found a clip-on handlebar compass was very useful to get over the urban disorentation.
Luckily both Belgium and Holland have very few cities/conurbations and thus easily avoidable...

ddraver

Got to say, I think it' rubbish. Try and find a copy of the ANWB bike path maps which have numbers at certain locations, then you can follow the signs to each number, those ways are designed to be easier to ride long distances on.

I ride with a club, 60km every sunday, i think we may stop at one red light a month maybe? Granted, they are planned well y people who know the paths but even so i don't think you ll struggle. The paths are good quality, well maintained and well signposted. You ll have a great time!

jc4lab

Holland is Cycle Heaven for me..Espec the Bulb fields in April And chasing windmills etc.the Dutch are friendly too...If too Easy Peezy then why not extend your trip to one of the long distance routes like the North sea coast route ( 5000km ) and if you want to head northwards instead of south extend your trip into Denmark Sweden and beyond..Cycling up the coast against headwinds and like along the dyke from DenHelder to Friesland ) aint that easy.if they are against you.I think the Ziedersee dyke is is a non stop 32 km each way .From Frieseland heading south along it the wind was heaven and fortunately in my favour .
http://www.northsea-cycle.com/