London to Amsterdam for a beginner

prhymeate

Hi all,

I'm looking to plan a ride from London to Amsterdam this summer. There are lots of routes on ridewithgps, most follow the coast but I think I'd rather go inland a bit and via Ghent instead of Bruges, or maybe straight down to Lille, Roubaix, Ghent, Antwerp etc. I haven't done bikepacking before but ride quite a lot. My housemate is really keen to come along, the only problem being he doesn't even own a bike at the moment. What he lacks in equipment he makes up for with enthusiasm. I should be fine with regards to route planning etc but just wondered if anyone that has done the route before has any warnings, places to avoid or advice on things they wish they'd known beforehand? Thanks.

prhymeate

I've been looking into this a bit more recently. I think the route will be something like

London - Dover - Calais - Lille - Ghent - Antwerp - Rotterdam - Amsterdam.

Having a bit of trouble finding suitable accommodation though. I've emailed ibis hotels along the route as I read somewhere that they often have secure bike storage but the only one that has replied has said that they don't.

Also looking into options for the return leg that we won't be cycling, Ideally we'd just get the train but as far as I can tell you need bike bags for the Amsterdam - Brussels leg of the return trip which sounds like a bit of a pain.

sam_anon

You could return via ferry to Harwich in Essex, then another ride to London.

prhymeate

sam anon wrote:

You could return via ferry to Harwich in Essex, then another ride to London.

Good idea. I think the last leg might be a bit long for some people in the group but we could always hop on the train for part of it.

-Dash

Is it a nice route with good roads and scenery? How much mileage?

Got a friend out that way and been considering doing similar myself for a while so would be interested to hear how you get on?

For hotels, can't you just take the bike into room?