Holland 16/21 Aug 2015

So Kris and I are going to Holland between the 16th and 21st of next month.

We are booked on the Sunday 16th 09:00(AM) Stenaline (Harwich) sailing and return on the Friday 21st 14:15 service from Hook of Holland.

Riding from Hook of Holland up the coast, cross the Ijsselmeer (see 60's image) and back down the other side.
Then go get stoned (or not).

Around 500KM but since there are zero hills we are taking the ESB and Charge (big tires/wide bars/flat pedals/straps).

Itinerary:

Sat night / Sunday morning  - 2nd last train Chelmsford - Ride Harwich (mini Dunwich!) - 73KM

Sunday ferry to Hook of Holland - Ride Haarlem - 60KM

Monday - to Den Helder - 90KM

Tuesday - to Lelystad 150KM

Wednesday - to Amsterdam - 60KM

Thursday - Amsterdam rest day

Friday morning - to Rotterdam/Hook of Holland - 90KM

Friday night - to London by train

If anyone wanted to join us you could catch the same ferry or the Eurostar to Brussels which is about 120KMs away from Rotterdam..

Or meet us sometime over there.

Most likely route

Looks awesome. I did a few bits of that route a couple of years back, I loved the bit on the coast path through the dunes.

Headwinds can be a right bitch tho #nofuckingshelter

Hey.

I did a fairly similar route last month.

Day 1 https://www.strava.com/activities/332147255
Day 2 https://www.strava.com/activities/332147230
Day 3 https://www.strava.com/activities/332147316
Day 4 https://www.strava.com/activities/332147336

Day 0 - Train to Harwich for night sailing to Hoek van Holland
Day 1 - Hoek van Holland - Haarlem.
Day 2 Haarlem - Den Oever
Day 3 Den Oever - Lemmer
Day 4 - Lemmer - Zwolle
Day 5 - Train from Zwolle to Hoek van Holland (you need to buy a bike ticket at the station) for afternoon sailing to Harwich. Train to London

We got a rail/sail deal (£120 each, including mandatory cabin for night sailing), which includes the return train to Harwich and return train to ANY station in Netherlands.

One thing that caught us out is that you can't take a bike on the rail/sail anymore, so we had to pay £4 each or something each way. Plus they hated us. Apparently you can book and pay for the bike over the phone or something. Anyway, we made it after some faffing.

Got a fair old head wind for most of the trip (it changed direction when we did!).

Day 1 was also rather a lot of the same stuff - rolling through dunes behind dijks with no view of the sea, but not entirely unpleasant... Haarlem is well worth a stop. We stayed in a lovely hostel - http://www.helloimlocal.com/
I've been to Haarlem twice and loved the vibe. They also have a great local brewery called Jopen. It doubles as a bar and is in a former church.
Got 15 min train in to Amsterdam that evening for a pootle about and some dinner.

Day 2 was pleasant. - camped in a tiny quite campsite in someones back garden.

Day 3 - I personally found the Afsluitdijk (all ~35km of it) to be pretty dull and tiresome. I wouldn't do it again. But I guess it's a means to an end, as there's some nice stuff on the other side. Hindeloopen is pretty and good for a beer in the sun on the water front.

• camped in a small but pleasant campsite on outskirts of Lemmer.
  
  

Day 4 was grim and wet. Horizontal sheet rain for hours, but the scenery was pretty.

• camped in big corporate campsite (very pleasant actually) on outskirts.
  
  

Anyway, I can probably dig out the campsite names if you would like.

Have a great trip!

Thanks!

Be good to know about those campsites.

Just booked the first night's stay at helloimlocal. So we will smash it there from the ferry on Sunday night then have some time to check out Haarlem in the morning.

Nice! I'll try to find the campsites for you over the weekend.

So we are doing this
(Riding ESB/Charge with flat pedals):

On Saturday 15 we catch the 23:58 train to Chelmsford and ride to Harwich (73KM) for the 09:00 sailing to Hook of Holland.

Sunday 16 - Arrive Holland around 18:00 and ride to Haarlem (60KM) and stay in an 8-person dorm in this hostel (http://www.helloimlocal.com/)

Monday 17 - To Den Helder (90KM) staying here:
Hotel Cape Horn
Zuidstraat 82-83 Den Helder,
1781 BV, Netherlands
Phone: +31223613178
(https://www.booking.com/hotel/nl/cape-horn.en-gb.html)

Tuesday 18 - To Lelystad (150KM) staying here:
Waterlodges Hajé de Lepelaar
Rijksweg A6 de Lepelaar 4 Lelystad,
8218 PX, Netherlands
(https://www.booking.com/hotel/nl/waterlodges-haje-de-lepelaar.en-gb.html)

Wed 19 - To Amsterdam (60KM) staying here:
Corendon Vitality Hotel Amsterdam
Aletta Jacobslaan 7 Slotervaart Amsterdam,
1066 BP, Netherlands Phone: +31208207888
(https://www.booking.com/hotel/nl/corendon-vitality-amsterdam.en-gb.html)

Thursday 20 - Amsterdam staying Corendon Vitality Hotel Amsterdam

Friday 21 - Return Hook of Holland (90KM or train) for 14:00 ferry - Harwich at 19:45, booked on 21:30 train to London (change at Manningtree for 21:53 to London - you need a cycle reservation for this leg, available when you buy the ticket at Liverpool Street station)

Never ridden around Holland, just skateboarded in Amsterdam and got stoned.

Really looking forward to this.

Routes here

Cycled to Haarlem a month ago, really excellent town. Recommend stopping in Katwijk for a mackerel sandwich from the slick place next to the old white church, you can't miss it. In Haarlem itself an excellent and great value restaurant is http://www.hetpakhuishaarlem.nl and don't miss out on poffertjes with strawberries and shitloads of cream from the truck in the main square for breakfast of champions.