London to... Bruge? Brussels? Antwerp? Rotterdam?

This idea is still very new and nothing has been decided or thought about properly yet, it doesn't look like I'll be going on a proper holiday this year so I was thinking of making a bit of a trip out of my visit to the grandparents.

They live in Zeeland (Holland) so I was thinking of riding part of the way there and then I would catch a train the rest of the way, it is also possible to ride the whole way there if anyone want to. Obviously no one on here wants to see my grandparents but does anyone want a nice long ride? Where would you want to go?

The plan was to do this early to mid June but this totally depends on what dates people can do (no way I'm doing this on my own).

So, anyone up for it?

Hmmm....Ed, if this corresponds with the "break" I'll have from the job I just got, then yes, I'd be interested.

i rode from bruges to calais in a day and then took the ferry to dover. it was really conducive to fixed though a bit monotonous after a while, so definitely wise to go with company.... i think you have a great idea though!!!

Me and a couple of friends are going to Brussels towards the end of May. You would be more than welcome to tag along. We're all skint so we'll be in tents with cheap beer I would imagine.

While I'm here, I'm going to hijack the thread a little and say does anyone know a good route? I used the 'search' function (I know, I'd never heard of it either, bloody technology) and noticed that 'somebody' had been last year, so I'll check with him/her, but anyone else been there by bike?

You could do Calais to Brussels in a day, it's only 200k. I did Dover, Calais, St Omer (V2 rocket site), Lille and Villenueve d'Asq are a bit shit, Mons and Charleroi I don't recall, Tournai was nice or you could go more direct through Ieper/Ypres is an important WW1 war memorial town (Menin Gate, trenches), Kortrijk/Cortrai (i can't recall but I went through there).

You could do Calais to Brussels in a day, it's only 200k. I did Dover, Calais, St Omer (V2 rocket site), Lille and Villenueve d'Asq are a bit shit, Mons and Charleroi I don't recall, Tournai was nice or you could go more direct through Ieper/Ypres is an important WW1 war memorial town (Menin Gate, trenches), Kortrijk/Cortrai (i can't recall but I went through there).

If you end up choosing between going through Mons/Charleroi/Tournai etc and Ieper/Kortrijk, I would definitely go with the ieper way. Those areas are just much nicer places, pretty/interesting stuff to see etc.
Having said that, I've never been to any of them on a bike...

Me and a couple of friends are going to Brussels towards the end of May. You would be more than welcome to tag along. We're all skint so we'll be in tents with cheap beer I would imagine.

While I'm here, I'm going to hijack the thread a little and say does anyone know a good route? I used the 'search' function (I know, I'd never heard of it either, bloody technology) and noticed that 'somebody' had been last year, so I'll check with him/her, but anyone else been there by bike?

I don't finsh uni until June but thanks for the offer anyway. I'll be looking forward to what you have to say after the trip though.

If you fancy spending more time riding fixed in flatland than getting there, you can take a ferry from Harwich in Essex to the Hook of Holland, which is dead close to Rotterdam. It's cheap(-ish, once you consider cost of bikes on airlines etc.) and you can get ferry tickets sorted at Liverpool St station.

H

Nice one, that sounds a bit more enjoyable, I'm going to look at it seriously after my exams are done.

Funny you should mention harwich to hook of holland as me and bro were
Looking at doing that in july/august and it came up at about £60 each just
Seating- no cabin and it was a 6hr crossing. Not bad! I was reading in
Cycling plus that there's a B&B organisation that's geared towards
Cyclists in holland which costs €9 to join and each night is a maxium
Of €17 which is pretty cheap.

The link is www.vriendenopdefiets.nl

Where you heading in Holland little_yoyeur?

I was thinking Hook of holland to Amsterdam-touristy i know but ive never been. Then Utrecht- dont really know why just i thought it would be a bit of a loop then down to Rotterdam.

nothing to hardcore thought it would be nice to take it easy, spend a couple of days in Amsterdam etc.

it would rough look something like this:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=hook+of+holland+holland&daddr=52.333661,4.563446+to:De+Ruyterkade%2Fs100+to:A27+to:Unknown+road+to:Abraham+van+Stolkweg&geocode=%3B%3BFYA6HwMdUNhKAA%3BFVrsGgMdXLROAA%3BFfIbFwMd7qdLAA%3BFTA8GAMdxMVDAA&hl=en&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=10&via=1,2,3,4&doflg=ptm&sll=52.409121,4.975433&sspn=0.609872,1.779785&ie=UTF8&ll=52.100601,4.890289&spn=0.614129,1.779785&z=10

Looks good..doing it fixed?

yeah, i'll be riding fixed and my bro will be riding a road bike- im doing it fixed on the assumption that holland is flat.

i may be up for joining someone in june!

i was planning a lejog trip that time but it's fallen through but i've built a fixed tourer especially..

was either thinking the netherlands or maybe riding down to see a tour de france stage or 2 later on in the summer

anyone?

i don't know what i am asking really. yes.. it appeals, specific dates?

No idea on specific dates yet, I currently don't have a valid passport so that is kind of controlling things at the moment. Sorry to be so vague about everything at the moment but I'm super busy at the moment and will be for ethe next few weeks. Once things have calmed down a bit I'll sit down properly and start planning stuff.

Hello.New to this forum.Thank you. Im planning a trip over to europe in September. I would love to bring my bike and ride ride ride. Read and saw a bunch of stuff on London fixed, and would love to ride your city. Anyone know the cost of shipping a bike? cheaper than putting it on a plane?

I've just come back from a long distance fixed gear tour through the Netherlands and Germany.

I can totally recomend Holland for fixed gear / cycle-touring and the paths are fantastic.

I noticed on your route plan in Holland that you were highlighting main roads.

You are much better off taking routes along minor roads and cycle paths. For example, you can easily ride from the Hoek of Holland to Rotterdam without using the roads, simply following excellent cycle paths across open fields. Rotterdam is a fantastic cycling city and the facilities must be amongst the best in Europe.

Rotterdam - Utrecht is a delightful ride and if you roughly follow the towns along the N210 and the River Lek you won't be disappointed.

As a friend of mine who lived in Utrecht said before I set off "you couldn't get run over or lost if you tried!"

I kept a blog which might be helpful: http://brylonscamel.blogspot.com/ Have a great trip!

I'm with brylonscamel on this, avoid the main roads - stick to the cycling lanes, they are joy to use, everything is well posted. The paths are super smooth, just watch out for the scooters!

Some friends and I have just got back from riding from Hook of Holland to Brussels (Via Bergen op Zoom, Antwerp and Gent). Awesome trip, great cycling, great beer!

Hi
I've done that route from hoak von holland to diemen on 42/16 in 4hrs 10min plus stopped for breky at the national park near hague on the beach.
Get a cap it's really windy otherwise AWESOME!!!!!

i did london to denmark last summer can't recommenfd higly enough the belgian dutch and german cycling lanes paths etc
brilliant cycling very few cars and beautiful scenery
i want to organise a cycle to amsterdam this summer sometime for the forum could be an epic mission !

i am getting serious about sorting my trip now, buying maps of holland and cycle tour guide books and a long visit to spa cycles last night discussing racks and packing...

just not sure when (maybe end of july-august) or where, i am in yorkshire, so thinking cycle to hull and get the overnight ferry to rotterdam then ride to amsterdam, maybe get the train to berlin and ride there then travel south and tootle round the black forest?

i will be b&bing it the whole time so shouldnt be too stressful, not bothered about my total mileage but i would love to get a double century in on one day then rest with beer and food the next.

your blog looks really interesting brian, am going to to read it in a mo, glad to see you packed light too, similar racks to what i am looking at... any tips?

oh yes.. brief explanation...

this july i was meant to be doing le-jog for charity through a local company with 3 other guys on geared bikes and me on the fixed.

sadly this has fallen through (damn economy) so i figure as i have spent X amount on building a touring fixed i may has well come up with a sunny alternative.

it recently occured to me however that i will now be doing this solo which is becoming less and less appealing. If anyone wants to join me i plan on riding and siteseeing and eating for something like 4-10 days? (long weekend of full 5 days off from work) with maybe one or two days of long rides

anytime in late july or early august.let me know if you're interested, have you had any updates moog?

I don't have a valid passport at the moment and it's taking a while for the new one to get sorted, I finished exams on Thursday though so I'm going to start planning in a few weeks once the partying has finished.