London to Amsterdam Route

Looks like I might be taking a trip to Amsterdam in a few weeks time. I've been there a bunch of times before, so to make this one a bit different I'm thinking of riding part of the way. I haven't done any long distances for a while so I'm thinking of just doing the nicest stretch (less than 100 miles)

Ferry:
London to Harwich?
Hook of Holland to Amsterdam?
Laps of the cargo deck?

Train:
(some of) Brussels to Amsterdam?
Wapping to Kings Cross? :-)
Wapping to Ashford?

Any other suggestions?

thanks

I'd vote ferry route, but I love ferries.

Check bikley for routes from London to Harwich and Hook of Holland to Amsterdam.

+1 for the ferry.

The Hook of Holland to to Amsterdam has got to be better than slogging through Essex, no?

chris

my quick advice is:

do your mechanised travel in uk.

and your cycling in france, belgium etc.

i just got back from london to brussels and back. and cycling in belgium is great.

I've taken that ferry more times than I can remember and I recommend that you look into getting a cabin. There's bugger all to do on the boat because it's mostly for lorry drivers, and the cabins are cheap and comfortable.

They're pretty good with bikes, but you get treated as a generic vehicle, so you have to roll-on with all the lorries. You feel a bit of a Muppet queuing up with them all.

Also, don't rush to get up at the other end - it takes over an hour after docking to actually get off the boat, so get the extra sleep.

The Hook of Holland is quite a way from Amsterdam, as is Harwich from London, but if you can sleep on the ferry then you could ride both legs I suppose.

I did the ferry in the fall. I believe you have to get a cabin now. And I'd recommend it, but only because I too love ferries.

When I used to do it you had to get one at night, but not in the day, but its best to sleep whichever you take.

I have to do it soon, for two reasons. If I don't take a break from work soon my brain is going to melt, and I still have a bike over there I need to collect.

When I used to do it you had to get one at night, but not in the day, but its best to sleep whichever you take.

I have to do it soon, for two reasons. If I don't take a break from work soon my brain is going to melt, and I still have a bike over there I need to collect.

Ah! I did it at night, so I see what you're saying. I took an over night ferry from Newcastle to Stavanger once and you didn't have to book a cabin (we slept on the floor of the observation room/deck/thing). I thought that's what you meant.

but only because I too love ferries.

I don't...

I think you meet more interesting/weird people on the ferry, too. I ran into a single-speed riding robotocist once, and another time ended up getting drunk with a tank driver and watching Platoon while he told me which parts weren't realistic.

I did the ferry in the fall. I believe you have to get a cabin now. And I'd recommend it, but only because I too love ferries.

I looked into getting a container ship over to the states once, but it terned out so expensive. It's probably because I hate flying with a passion that I like ferries so much.

I looked into getting a container ship over to the states once, but it terned out so expensive. It's probably because I hate flying with a passion.

I did the same when I moved - but from Montreal to here. Cheapest I found was $1200 - for one way! Travel is better when the actual traveling is part of the adventure.

How about going the other way round? Trans-Siberian Express and hire a fishing boat for the short hop across the Bering Strait. That would be an adventure...

Indeed it would be! Or the trans-Siberian "highway"

How about going the other way round? Trans-Siberian Express and hire a fishing boat for the short hop across the Bering Strait. That would be an adventure...

I was reading about the bering strait recently and the most eastern area of Russia where the bering straits is narrowest is still very much closed off, with visas hard to get. Leaving the area by fishing boat can be difficult too apparently coming from sea means instant arrest and deportation.

Found the info the area is called Chukotka the Governor is Roman Abramovich

I was reading about the bering straight recently and the most eastern area of Russia where the bering straights is narrowest is still very much closed off, with visas hard to get. Leaving the area by fishing boat can be difficult too apparently coming from sea means instant arrest and deportation.

Found the info the area is called Chukotka the Governor is Roman Abramovich

Strait.
Well, deportation would save money... ;-)

going to iran is a bit of a way round besides...

ok, just to round this thing off, I decided to HTFU (especially after reading the L2P story) and do the whole land based part of the journey by bike.

In summary everything went smoothly.

Day 1: London->Harwich. 142km, 8h22m door-to-door. Average speed not including breaks 20.2km/h. Top speed 51km/h. Nicest part of the journey was weaving through the country lanes around Maldon, Wivenhoe and up to Harwich. I wonder about researching national cycle route #51 a little more - I picked it up just out of Colchester and it certainly seemed like a nice choice of roads.

Day 2: Hook-of-Holand->Amsterdam. 93km, 5h30m door-to-door. Average speed not including breaks 21.8km/h. Top speed 39km/h. Highlights? riding off the ferry and having a car give way to me at an intersection! Separate cycleways for almost the entire journey. But most of them were paving tiles - making me happy I was on fat (but smooth) tires - to iron out the constant chatter.

On the road, hydration was 6L of Nuun enhanced water. Nutrition was a trail mix of brazil nuts, sultanas, dried figs, bananas and chocolate duct taped in an easy access bag to my handlebars - allowing constant nibblation. I also drunk around 300mL of honey from a squeezy bottle. Sunscreen - Riemann P20.

No cramping or dehydration. Was loosing power toward the end of each day, but certainly could have handled a good few more km (especially if I remembered to keep the spin rate up). Some arse soreness, but I guess that's to be expected since I've never spent that long in the saddle before. Actually this was quite bad about 1/2 way through the first day but I nudged the saddle nose a degree or two down and it was significantly better. And I wonder if the cockpit might be a centimeter or two too long though.

Next trip? I'm thinking about Salisbury.

Nice work!

Nice one.. sounds like a good ride.
I might have to pop over, fill my panniers with 'natural produce' from Amsterdam and return ;)

yea this sounds wicked i started a thread along the same lines not seeing this one.

The plan is to leave the late night on the 30th from Harwich and arrive the Hook of Holland early in the morning and then ride to Amsterdam. I've been looking around for a route for a decent and reasonably direct route but can't seem to get one. Has anyone got one? and any other advice?

Cheers

I did that about a month and a half ago. I would recommend riding up the coast. There is a nice bike path there next to the sea. Very easy to follow and it goes through some nice towns. There also were not a lot of people on it (at least when I was there) so you can build up some speed. And if you get tired of following that specific route its easy to get off it. The map I was using had the path marked but you might be able to get away without using a map, if that's your type of thing, as its very well marked along the way (x km to Amsterdam and so on).

There's a whole thread on this. Search for it.