Touring in Holland

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
charlielast
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Touring in Holland

Post by charlielast »

Hi, am planning a cycling holiday to Holland August 2018. The party would be me (65yrs), daughter (33), son in law (39), grandson (11), grandaughter (6)
We are irregular cyclists, but reasonably fit
We intend to take ferry from Hull yo Europort, then on to Deft and Amsterdam
Any advise on finding cycle routes (no roads beacuse of children), general advice on cycling in Holland, reasonable expected riding distance, accomodation, advice on kit, organisations in Holland that would be useful and things to see and do
Thanks
Charlie Last
steady eddy
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Re: Touring in Holland

Post by steady eddy »

Touring in Holland is easy - 30 -40 miles a day on level smooth cycle paths will be a comfortable distance if you want to stop and look at stuff and eat apple pie and cream on the way.
There are many online cycle resources, the cycling dutchman by Eric Van der Horst is but one, which give details of how to navigate the cycle route system which is cunningly numbered by junction.
Write the numbers down in order(taken from the map) and follow them and you won't go wrong.
Stamfords in London do a wide range of maps at varying scales or you can buy a cycle route atlas for the whole of Holland for £25.
I photocopied the route ages from that for our Tour of South Holland and Zeeland a couple of years ago and laminated the a4 sheets so we could read them in the rain if necessary and left the (heavy) atlas at home.
You may be able to print the pages form an online resource, google cycle map for Holland and you will find one and do the same thing.
It saves the book getting dog eared in your panniers.
Enjoy your trip it is a wonderful place to cycle and the Dutch are very friendly.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Touring in Holland

Post by Cyril Haearn »

The railway museum in Utrecht is great for children, most of the locos are British
The cycle museum in Nijmegen is very good
If you are interested in Japan the Siebold-Hus in Leiden is very good

Trains are great (lots of double-deckers) and Nederland is compact, you could take a day off for museums, worth learning the lingo too just for fun

The ferry to Rotterdam is good for children, there are two cinemas on board

But why is every meal like breakfast? :wink:
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eileithyia
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Re: Touring in Holland

Post by eileithyia »

Virtually all the roads have cycle routes alongside, the one or two roads we used without a cycle route alongside, they were such minor lanes that I would have no hesitation taking a young child on them...
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hamster
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Re: Touring in Holland

Post by hamster »

Worth starting here:
http://www.holland-cycling.com/

Look up the 'knoppunkt' system for routes. As said, it's blindingly clear to use when you understand its logic.
For maps, the best are the ANWB fietskaart series, printed on waterproof paper too!
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pjclinch
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Re: Touring in Holland

Post by pjclinch »

eileithyia wrote:Virtually all the roads have cycle routes alongside, the one or two roads we used without a cycle route alongside, they were such minor lanes that I would have no hesitation taking a young child on them...


The trick is that you have fietspads where you need them. Typically the case that in a quiet residential street there's no need of them, so quite possibly not there.
You'll see plenty of Dutch children of all ages riding, and that's because the environment is safe for them to do so. It's about A to B transport more than anything else.

charlielast wrote:general advice on cycling in Holland, reasonable expected riding distance, accomodation, advice on kit...


It's as easy as it could reasonably be expected to be, because it is the basic way for a lot of people to get around. Aside from being on the right rather than the left it's all pretty straightforward. Somewhere like Amsterdam you might suffer from being Bloody Tourists getting in the way, but other than that it's remarkably benign.
For routes, there are plenty laid out to get you from where you are to where you want to go. Decide where you want to go, follow the excellently signposted routes, and there you are. Expected distances is very much up to yourselves and what you're trying to do, but being as compact as it is you'll be able to get somewhere on any given day.
Accommodation is likewise up to yourselves according to budget, needs, wants and expectations. Anywhere will cater for bikes.
For bikes you can take your own or you could hire locally. Local hires will typically be traditional Dutch roadsters which are slow but comfortable and designed to carry stuff. They're not great up hills, but outside of the border regions in the south that's a bit of a moot point. The dunes areas up the coast have a few interesting inclines, but not so many you'd be pushing a lot of the day.

Pete.
Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...
nirakaro
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Re: Touring in Holland

Post by nirakaro »

It's worth knowing that when you come off the ferry at Europoort, the first ten miles or so is through a totally industrial landscape – fascinating if that's your cup of tea! (it is mine). If you didn't breakfast on the boat (I didn't), breakfast opportunities are very few. This place
http://www.restaurantdepunt.nl/
will just be opening as you reach it, if you're going that way, and I've had an excellent egg-n-chips or something there, and a good coffee, two or three times.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Touring in Holland

Post by Cyril Haearn »

nirakaro wrote:It's worth knowing that when you come off the ferry at Europoort, the first ten miles or so is through a totally industrial landscape – fascinating if that's your cup of tea! (it is mine). If you didn't breakfast on the boat (I didn't), breakfast opportunities are very few. This place
http://www.restaurantdepunt.nl/
will just be opening as you reach it, if you're going that way, and I've had an excellent egg-n-chips or something there, and a good coffee, two or three times.

+1 for Europoort, there is a lot of railway there but it is 40 km to Rotterdam
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Slowroad
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Re: Touring in Holland

Post by Slowroad »

Eric Van Der Horst's book is really useful for first time in the Netherlands - https://www.waterstones.com/book/cyclin ... 0957661714 (other bookshops are available). It has a route to get to Hook van Holland from Europoort. Then up the coast and across to Amsterdam then back via Utrecht, Gouda and Delft.
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atlas_shrugged
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Re: Touring in Holland

Post by atlas_shrugged »

Cycling in Holland is brilliant. It is worth learning how the node routing system works. Every node is numbered and you navigate from one node to the next. Major routes have can have special markings.

If you are going from Rotterdam to Amsterdam then the Lf1a/b is your friend. This will take you on a brilliant route next to the north sea through the sand dunes and almost without cars. You could even see the occasional deer. The route has special markings in places that look like red mushrooms. At some point when heading to Amsterdam you will want to head inland and I went through Harlem.

When you get to Amsterdam I would recommend following a waterway to make navigation easier. My navigation skills are not good but I found following the waterways made this much easier.
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mjr
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Re: Touring in Holland

Post by mjr »

LF1a/b - the a and b are directions IIRC. N and Z or S would have been easier...
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timmitchell
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Re: Touring in Holland

Post by timmitchell »

I have a pet hate on forums when a question is asked but someone replies about something slightly different but that is what I am going to do, sorry.

I have had 2 family holidays on Zeeland ( a large Island in the Southern Netherlands) I would restrict myself to here. It has everything we think of as being Dutch - and is a popular holiday spot for Dutch and German families. We drive via Hull, then 90 minutes from Zeebrugge. Once there everything is cyclable...

So good we are going for # 3 this summer.

My kids are 6 and 4 - we stay in one place http://www.minicampingdebroodkist.nl/ and ride out. Max mileage in a day has been 20.

Beach, town with canals, windmills, WW2 defences...can't believe more Brits don't do it.
mercalia
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Re: Touring in Holland

Post by mercalia »

timmitchell wrote:I have a pet hate on forums when a question is asked but someone replies about something slightly different but that is what I am going to do, sorry.

I have had 2 family holidays on Zeeland ( a large Island in the Southern Netherlands) I would restrict myself to here. It has everything we think of as being Dutch - and is a popular holiday spot for Dutch and German families. We drive via Hull, then 90 minutes from Zeebrugge. Once there everything is cyclable...

So good we are going for # 3 this summer.

My kids are 6 and 4 - we stay in one place http://www.minicampingdebroodkist.nl/ and ride out. Max mileage in a day has been 20.

Beach, town with canals, windmills, WW2 defences...can't believe more Brits don't do it.


thanks for the idea. shame site is in Dutch cant understand a word
mercalia
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Re: Touring in Holland

Post by mercalia »

has any on used the Dutchflyer trains+ferry+train all in one from Stena Line? Will they allow you to take your bike with you?

ah just looked at the faq - NO


traveling on trains: is the OV-chipkaart like the London Oyster Card?
Last edited by mercalia on 19 Feb 2018, 5:23pm, edited 3 times in total.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Touring in Holland

Post by Cyril Haearn »

mercalia wrote:
timmitchell wrote:I have a pet hate on forums when a question is asked but someone replies about something slightly different but that is what I am going to do, sorry.

I have had 2 family holidays on Zeeland ( a large Island in the Southern Netherlands) I would restrict myself to here. It has everything we think of as being Dutch - and is a popular holiday spot for Dutch and German families. We drive via Hull, then 90 minutes from Zeebrugge. Once there everything is cyclable...

So good we are going for # 3 this summer.

My kids are 6 and 4 - we stay in one place http://www.minicampingdebroodkist.nl/ and ride out. Max mileage in a day has been 20.

Beach, town with canals, windmills, WW2 defences...can't believe more Brits don't do it.


thanks for the idea. shame site is in Dutch cant understand a word

Send a mail in English, nearly everyone in NL understands it
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