-
The EuroVelo routes are very varied, much like sustrans routes (though possibly better). They generally use a mixture of road types, paths, dedicated cycle routes depending on where etc. I think you may need to refine your question if you want a decent answer such as which countries, how long, type of tour, expected distances, budget….
-
Thanks T_Unit, we start in London and the plan is to cycle along EV2 to Poznan in Poland , maybe a bit further if time / money permits. Already been in most of the capitals on the way, so it’s more about visiting smaller towns and enjoying the ride. I just wanted to see if anybody has cycled along this route before and can share some first hand info about stays, roads conditions, etc. We have 2 weeks, aiming to ride 100-150km a day, cycle one way only and want to pack ultra light so no tents using cheap hotels / airbnbs instead
-
i have done lots of these kinds of rides although not ev2, and, i dunno, maybe it is me but i find it difficult to smell the roses on them. this is mainly because the routes go to huge length to avoid roads and the wiggles and bits where you are slowed down by elaborate infrastructure only makes me speed up in straighter parts because it feels like i have been slowed down and want to make up time. this means nice bits through towns etc get blasted through in my rush if they overlap with bits where it is possible to go faster. my advice is think carefully about where you’ll get the majority of the 150k done, seeing if there are road sections that might be easier and plan to do those bits to protect the potentially nice pretty bits. fast road can be pretty too of course. having said that watch out in germany because if there is a cycle path by the side of a road, motorists demand you go in that and dodge the dog walkers, old biddies etc.
-
i found the camino de santiago (all three iterations i’ve done) better because it is easier to switch between path and road; the drivers are generally less pedantic; the off-road bits are often actually fun; and the whole thing seems to flow better. But this is because the route actually preceded the towns in many cases.
-
I've not done EV2 but I have done a journey aiming to follow a large section of EV1. There seemed to be no logic to where it went or why so I ended up not following big chunks of it.
You're better off sticking the places you want to go (or stay overnight) into something like cycle.travel. Where the EuroVelo route is good you'll end up on it anyway, where it does silly things it'll divert away.
-
Thanks guys, we have about 2 months to go and we are not fixated on a specific locations so can be flexible on the route. We have to be in Poznan before 1st Aug and EV2 looks like the straightest route over there but if someone knows any better route please let me know.
@tmevans - thanks for the Germany tip. The same applies to Poland and I thought it’s the only country with such a silly rule
@grams - thanks, will check cycle.travel as well! -
So, we have started the journey and here is a quick update if anyone wants to make a similar trip. We started in St Albans using cycle.travel (thanks for recommending it @grams, it is my favourite map now) with paved only option as it is close to original EV2 route but with less busy roads. We have older racing bikes (CAAD9 and Ruby) with 25mm tyres hence the road choice and ultralight baggage but for anything else you can use all paths option as it saves quite few kilometres. The first leg of the route was fantastic- country lanes and cycle paths (sometimes using road running next to was quicker), very quiet and picturesque. Few pubs along the way were open early so quick tea/food/loo break is not a problem. We found our first stay in Braintree (the plan was to go to Colchester but we could not find any accommodation available) so did approx 80km in our first day but had to start ultra early the following one to make it to Harwich for 9am and catch a ferry. We opted for google.maps route as it saved approx. 20km but with more traffic. As it was super early (4am start) and wet, we wanted to stop for some tea along the way but most of food places were closed and the petrol station we stopped at, served only coffee. Thankfully we had a good pace and some time to spare, as I got 2 punctures one after another. Lesson learnt- if you have one, do not rush and check the tire throughout. I did not, and less than 10 mins later had another puncture because I missed a piece of glass inside the tyre. We have made it to the ferry around 8am and are now heading towards the continent. Will try to update the thread again in 2-3 days time but pm me if you need any additional info.
3 Attachments
-
-
Thanks Hippy, so far so good and hopefully it will stay that way. It is a real pleasure to cycle on a quiet countryside road after living over 20 years in London and cycling mostly in smog and traffic. Starting early helps to keep the roads clean and the cycle.maps took us through really nice countryside in Uk. Hopefully it will be the same in Holland and Germany
-
following for updates.
-
If you're following Ev2, you'll pass Munster, which is a fantastic city to ride around. Would recommend spending a day or so riding around.
-
This is great, looking forward to updates.
-
Stena. We opted for the cheapest ticket (daily,no cabin) to spend the difference on the continent instead. Onboard free internet is fine for simple web browsing and emails, but no showers are available if no cabin bought. There is enough space in the main area to have some rest and you can bring your food from restaurant to your seat if preferred. No access to the bikes while on board. We get off the ferry shortly after 5pm to get to Leiderdorp, our first stop.
Thanks for all the good wishes and recommendations guys, not sure where we will stop as this depends on how we get on with the cycling. Only the route is preplanned but no bookings made so we stop when we have enough riding or can get some accommodation.
3 Attachments
-
-
The Netherlands. We have been in this picturesque country many times, but never actually riding bicycles, as you can’t count half a day in Amsterdam on a rented bike. What a country. What a great place to cycle through. If you have been there already, you know what I am writing about. If you enjoy cycling and you have never been there, you have to go to, preferably with your favourite bike. Riding through Holland is so refreshing and rewarding because cycles are rulling there first and most. There are miles of flat highways and intersections with priority for bike lanes, and cycles are literally everywhere. For most of the time our route is completely separated from vehicle’s traffic, running along canals, fields or through small villages. No exhaust fumes to breathe, no stress with every passing car or truck, very good quality tarmac helps to roll effortlessly and it’s super easy to keep your pace. And finally, for most of the time it’s a movie or model set feeling. Most of places we passed by, look like being ready for filming or are part of a scale model in XL size. All fresh, colourful with green areas trimmed nicely, to the point you start asking yourself is the bike you riding clean enough for the place.
Another lesson for long touring learned, is to use tyres in as new condition as possible. I had older but still usable set of 4000’s on, and when bike was tested with luggage in the UK everything seems to be ok. Unfortunately, after few days of fully loaded riding they softened a bit and I had another puncture. Classic snake bite. Quick visit to the local bike shop resulted in a new rubber and it’s a day and night difference.
For the stats, our overnight stays where in Leiderdorp, Zeewolde and Twenterand. If passing by, it’s worth to plan a break in Zwolle and stroll a bit around the old town. We left the country already, now ending our rest day in Bremen. As we now mainly navigating with cycle.travel maps rather keeping to the original EV route, I modified title of this thread accordingly.
5 Attachments
-
-
Germany. We left the Netherlands with high spirits and were looking forward to the next chapter of our road trip. No dramas so far, hot but not unbearable weather, great views, what could possibly go wrong? I will come to that later, but let’s start with positives first.
Bike lanes are pretty much everywhere, either dedicated and completely separated from other traffic or shared with others. Surfaces condition in some places being a different subject (again, more on that later) but bike roads infrastructure is impressive for such a big country. The same applies to German drivers- with only few exceptions, they left us loads of space when passing, or waited patiently behind if could not immediately overtake. We felt completely safe and in my opinion, UK and Poland have a lot of catch up to do in this particular subject. There are also crossroads with priority for bikes, but not as many as in Holland and mainly when path is shared with pedestrian’s walkways. I have never learned to fully trust car drivers on those, keeping in line with old Polish sentence stating that cemeteries are full of people who had the right of way. Although you supposed to use bike lanes if available, cycling on main roads is not prohibited according to few local people asked. Must be legit as there were other bikers happily cycling on those and no one had any problem with that even if clearly marked bike path was running alongside, not even police patrols that we were passing by. German towns have also some amusing names. On our way to Poland we passed through Jerusalem, Kamerun or danced a bit of twist in Twist.
So, let’s go through some things that we were not impressed by. To start with, you never know what kind of road surface is waiting for you ahead, as German bike lanes are very diverse and unpredictable. Large concrete slabs with 1” gap between, concrete paving with overgrown bushes that have been forgotten for more than a while, long sections of cobbled roads or tarmac damaged by overgrown roots? Be my guest! Furthermore, paved only option on cycle.travel maps is very good in general, but it gave us couple of nasty surprises. For whatever reason, sandy forest duct or loose crushed-stone surface section falls into this category as well. Don’t get me wrong, it happened only on few occasions, but somehow not at all when cycling in the UK or Holland. Another annoying thing in Germany were road closures with absolutely no warning prior to that. Imagine cycling alongside a canal on those lovely well-spaced concrete slabs for approx. 20 minutes, only to find out that the path is closed. Or expect to cross a river but the ferry is not there, and no info provided about it’s closure or any alternative route. Bike lanes in small towns are commonly shared with pedestrians, or are part of the only walkways in the area with house entrances and shops fronts in a way. It is worth to remember that most of the shops are closed on Sunday, and small towns or villages we passed had no shop or pub/restaurant so extra stock of snacks and drinks is a must. To our surprise, we were also charged for tap water top-up even when ordering other drinks.
Our overnight stops were in Loningen, Bremen, Egestorf, Aulosen, Lentzke and Berlin. First rest day was in Bremen and we had two more days without bikes in Berlin, were I managed to cut my new rear tyre right through the carcass. This happened on Sunday morning when we were leaving this magnificent town with all shops closed so my pre-made patch cut out of piece of old tyre became useful. I could feel the tyre bump on a smooth tarmac but it was not too bad otherwise, and more importantly we could continue the journey without risking another puncture. Another tip for long journey travel is making sure that a bottle of chain oil is always on board. With daily average of approx. 100km, it was required nearly every day, especially when bikes were left outside overnight. Overall, the ride across the country gave us a lot of good memories, was fun and enjoyable although tiring sometimes due to unexpected road conditions. Some of the routes we enjoyed most were close to Aulosen (parts of EV13 / Iron Courtain Trail and near Elba river) and alongside Oder river on our way to Kostrzyn (part of EV2 and Oder-Niesse / Odra-Nysa track). Cycle paths were completely separated from car’s traffic, had a very good road surface and were running alongside stunning landscape. We finally reached Poland on the 28th, with 1st night stay done in Kostrzyn.
5 Attachments
-
-
Very nice
-
9 Euro damn.
-
Poland. Ride through our home country was short, but it provided us with more adrenaline than our entire journey so far. Unfortunately, not in a positive way. All started very well as route to German/Polish border was alongside Odra (Oder) river with no cars or busy roads in sight. The path was great with good quality tarmac, the river flowing gently next to it and with very picturesque surroundings. We arrived to Kostrzyn in high spirits, had a nice dinner and went towards our accommodation. In the meantime, our plans had changed slightly and Bydgoszcz became our final destination. The shortest route there from Kostrzyn went through Gorzów Wielkopolski, in Krzyż Wielkopolski direction. We set off in the morning happy to be home, but little did we know. First, the bike paths. Their design is chaotic, they start and finish in completely random places, switching between two sides of the road frequently. Very often, cycle path suddenly disappears and you have to use main busy road instead. Big towns usually maintain their bike lanes much better, but smaller cities or villages have other priorities and cycle lanes are at the bottom of their to-do lists. This means old and uneven surface, high kerbs, shops/house entrances or bus/tram stops in a way, etc. Even sections marked R1 were lower standard than what we got used to and expected. So, more about the roads. For whatever reason, according to cycle.travel maps a soft sand road was marked as a paved track. At least it was visible and easy to find because the next section was literally a forest duct that was forgotten about a very long time ago. Cobbled sections stretched through entire villages, and some potholes were of the 700c wheel size. When a cycle lane finishes and becomes a main road, you want to cycle close to the lane edge, as everywhere else in the world. Only you can’t, as the damaged surface is patched over and over again and it’s impossible to ride on it fully loaded unless you have a full suspension set up. You move to the middle of the road and then drivers are unhappy about that. Polish drivers, the final piece of jigsaw. You could write a book about them, but you would more likely gone mad just doing the research for it. With only few exceptions, drivers in Poland are still mentally in the dark ages. If you don’t drive a car or something more substantial, you are no-one to them and they are not afraid to shout it out straight into your face (not literally). Overtaking you less than 50cm away at nearly 100km/h? Notorious. Overtaking someone else on the opposite side without any care that you are in the way? Done. Joining your lane and pushing you to the kerb without even acknowledging you? Yep, no problem. Furthermore, everyone is rushing like there is a fire somewhere, they have been just called to help and you are in the way. They are dangerous, careless and do not have respect for bikers, nothing whatsoever.
All above happened in a space of less than 100km. Don’t get me wrong, we lived and cycled in London for over 20 years, many of those involved commuting on the bike every day but I had enough even before reaching Gorzów Wielkopolski. We decided to continue to see if the conditions would get any better. They did not, so we arranged a pick up from Krzyż and finished our journey there as we did not want to risk any physical damages to ourselves or the bikes. We were approx. 180km from our final destination but it would take us another 2-3 days and a lot of grey hairs to get there so just decided to call it a day.
So here is a quick summary. We started our trip on the 15th of July in St Albans, and finished it on the 29th in Krzyż Wielkopolski. According to my partner’s Garmin we did 1294km in total, the shortest daily distance was 86.4km, the longest one 131.2km, so a daily average was just over 100km. We had 3 days of rest in total- 1 in Bremen and 2 in Berlin. Our overnight stays were mixture of Couchsurfing, Airbnb, our friends place and some local hotels. Paid stays were ranging between £30 to £70 per night, and we only booked in advance the first night and the ferry. With exception of Poland, the routes were fairly easy, with only few short sections being either difficult to find, or to go through. Approx. 90% of time we were fine on our racing bikes with 25mm tyres, while remaining 10% was doable but would be much more comfortable with wider tyres. For the roads in Poland we used, I would recommend a touring bike set up as it is a pain to do that on a racer. You not only have to worry about your own safety but also navigate the bike through various obstacles. I am sure that if you stick to regional trails or if you cycle in bigger towns, you will not be faced with problems we experienced. But if you decide to ride across the country, you will need eyes on stalks, very comfortable set up for your bike and be prepared for the unexpected. All in all, we had a great fun and would be happy to do the same journey again if necessary. If you have any questions about it or need more info, just let me know. Thanks for reading, have fun on two wheels and stay safe!
4 Attachments
-
-
Good info on Poland! Nice write up.
T_Unit
tmevans
grams
hippy
Belagerent
RonnieOatmilk
Squaredisk
-
Post a reply
About
Cycling to Poland via Harwich / Hook of Holland
Posted by
We departed from original EV2 route hence title change.
Has anyone got any experience with Eurovelo 2 route? We plan to go to continental Europe this summer and just wanted to gather some more info about the roads type, accommodation availability, etc. Any help much appreciated!