Cycling in Belgium / Flanders

Looks terrific. It's a really good part of the world to travel

Well, where do I begin from: Belgium is boring.

Endless flatland, soulless villages, repetitive landscape, meaningless after 50km.

This is the basic outcome of our weekend. I hope this was just our experience. Beer and chocolate was great, food better than expected, cycle lanes are alright.

Day 1: Lille to Geraardsbergen. Dodgy section on the canal close to Roubaix, long canal stretch to Oudernaarde. Museum was nice (considering there was a blackout so half of the exhibition was down), route from Oudernaarde to Geraardsbergen was probably the best bit of the trip, few minor hills and the Muur in the end.

Day 2: Geraardsbergen to Bruges. First part from Geraardsbergen to Ghent was alright. Ghent to Briges was awful, in case you ever do that don't do the cycle lane along the canal, it's one of the most boring places I've ever cycled.

We were supposed to cycle back to Lille from Bruges on the third day through Ypres but my gf's knee decided it had enough, so we took the train back to avoid stressing it more.

Apologies if I'm hurting feelings here, I am not going back specifically for cycling in Belgium.

5 Attachments

just got back from the GP at Spa, took a bike with me and i can say the roads in that area are a joy. Good quality road surface with pretty views of endless pine tree forests. Only thing is theres very little flat.. it was either 10% uphill or downhill most of the way.

That noodle place. Thank you.

Myself and a group of mates are riding over to watch the Tour of Flanders this year - anyone got any tips for the best place to watch it from?

We will be somewhere on the Paterberg, Kruisberg/Hotond is an other good option.

But if you want to follow the whole race, just pick a café along the route.

Are there any forumengers in Antwerp? Bicycle buying from afar prompts the question!

@LeMesjeu is really good with food :-/

Hi guys check out my travel agency offering luxury cycling holidays in Flanders: http://www.musette.co

For the LFGSS members I offer a 5% discount, code: LFGSS2017

I challenge you to come out and ride with us, you're feelings will change in an instant!
http://www.musette.co

Only seeing this now, still needed?

hey, it's ok thanks-i found someone else who said they'd do it, then made a strange request if I could give them campagnolo super record brake pad holders (which I don't have?) and then never replied so the bike is probably long gone now! Probably best just buying direct where possible-was a lovely Diamant monostay frame in EL though so I was very keen! cheers

Anyone have a route out of Bruges that takes in some of the colls from Flanders, is it worth cycling out to the Roubaix velodrome, or just industrial farming fields and headwind for days?

also if anyone has any experince of ordering from Bierverkoop Trappist Westvleteren and could talke me through the process that would be great.

Two of us are riding from Calais to Ypres over a weekend, any advice on somewhere to stay on the Saturday night in/near Ypres?

Still looking, @bitterbuffalo ? From Bruges to the nearest hill from the Tour of Flanders is about 60-70 km one way. And it is a flat boring trip.

Come by train to Ghent and I will take you on a guided tour to these "colls", it's my weekly ride. :-)

There's loads of airbnb's near Ypres. Some weeks ago it was impossible to find one (100 years battle of Passchendaele - think half of Britain was there) but should be doable by now.

Could somebody please explain the Belgian railpass to me?

https://www.belgianrail.be/en/travel-tickets/passes-cards/rail-pass.aspx

How old are you? Railpass is for +26 and costs 77 €. For this price you have 10 one way tickets (one way= a journey between two belgian stations, without interruption except for changing trains). I live in Belgium and I'm using it almost every time I take the train. E.g. a return trip from Ostend to Arlon in the outer Ardennes costs with a Railpass 2 x 7,7 €. A standard return ticket wil cost you 44 €.

But ofcourse, it's only really interesting when you use the complete pass. When travelling together with others, all can use the same pass.

Did this help?

This is how a railpass looks like. For every journey you use one line, indicating day, date, station of origin and destination.

1 Attachment

Does anyone have any experience of bikepacking/bivvying in Flanders.

I've ridden the area a few times now, love the country. Hoping to go back this August bank holiday, riding from Dunkirk to Leuven day 1, to Tournai via Mons Day 2 then back to Dunkirk day 3.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Tournai is nice, but the route W4 between Mons and Tournai is boring. Thuin, Binche are much nicer, same can be said for the W6.

Mont Cassel is also very nice and a welcome break from the pancake flatness of the area.

Also Ooudernarde and Geraardsbergen are a must on your day 1

Great, thanks for the tips. We travelled through Ooudernarde and Geraardsbergen when we last visited for the Ronde in 2017. But will definitely check out the Thuin and Binche suggestions.

Do you know of a site that shows the W4/W6 routes you mention - presume these are cycle lanes?