Cycling to Berlin via Holland

[BambooKiro]

How do I decide my route once in Europe? Which places to visit or avoid? How much to carry and where to stay overnight?

It's my first big cycling adventure and I have a month to prepare. Any useful advice is appreciated.

My plan is to cycle to Harwich and get on the overnight ferry to Holland. I'll be carrying my tent and sleeping bag, spare clothes and water. Most likely using my smart phone for navigation, so will be building a new front wheel with a dynamo for the charge.

Which airline or train service is best to get me and my bike back to the UK?

[climo]

You're post may be too general to answer. Perhaps read some bike blogs. There's plenty around with lists of kit, budget, charging phones from dynamo, routes etc etc.
Try looking at the Eurovelo website specifically EV2 Holland to Berlin section

[mjr]

Consider including the details in viewtopic.php?f=16&t=128727

One approach would be to throw the start and finish into https://cycle.travel/map and drag it through any interesting-looking places along the way and try to make it at least be near accommodation every night. Setting it to "paved only" and a via point in Hannover generates a 490mile route as a starting point.

For getting home, consider the reverse of https://www.seat61.com/bike-by-train.htm#Germany

[Will]

Regarding getting home at the end:

There is a direct train service between Berlin Hbf and Amsterdam Centraal that has space for 16 bikes (bike reservation and international bike ticket required).

You can also get this service as far as Amersfoort where you can change onto a dutch intercity train to Den Haag or Rotterdam from the adjacent platform soon after. If you get the 08:34 from Berlin, you can be in Rotterdam or Den Haag around 15:30 which gives you plenty of time to cycle to Hoek van Holland ferry port for the overnight ferry to Harwich. You can purchase a single ticket (+ international bike ticket) from Deutsche Bahn for Berlin to Amsterdam or Rotterdam or Den Haag.

You can only book a bicycle ticket/reservation online if the journey is completely within Germany. You can book the train for yourself online, but you have to phone Deutsche Bahn to purchase the international bike ticket and reservation. It is easier to check what trains are available on the DB Bahn website (https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml) and then phone them up and book it all in one go.

Here is a couple of numbers for UK DB Bahn sales:

0871 880 8066
020 8339 4750

These numbers are only available during normal office hours (Mon-Fri). I have used this number before and have found them to be very helpful.

Will

[mjr]

Another possible route would be www.euroroute-r1.de

[BambooKiro]

Another possible route would be http://www.euroroute-r1.de

This looks ideal, yet I find it hard to understand how to follow the route. The map is not too detailed and there is no gpx file I can upload on my phone.

Has anyone done it?

[BambooKiro]

You're post may be too general to answer. Perhaps read some bike blogs. There's plenty around with lists of kit, budget, charging phones from dynamo, routes etc etc.
Try looking at the Eurovelo website specifically EV2 Holland to Berlin section

Eurovelo route 2 seems to match my requirements.
http://www.eurovelo.com/en/eurovelos/eurovelo-2

How do I follow the route? Is it signposted and is there a gpx file for it somewhere?

[JMaude]

Ride with GPS is the go to location for GPX files. Probably need to be registered with them to download the file, but here it is for reference:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/29343802

[mjr]

Ride with GPS is the go to location for GPX files. Probably need to be registered with them to download the file, but here it is for reference:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/29343802

https://cycling.waymarkedtrails.org allows GPx downloads without registration. I'll check if these two are on it once I have time.

[yutkoxpo]

For created routes (and gps files) https://www.biroto.eu/en/find-cycle-rou ... urs-on-map

For creating your own route https://cycle.travel/map

For inspiration https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/loc ... pe=journal

Practical advice:
Get out on your bike for a few overnight trips and get a feel for distance, what you need, what you have, what your bike needs and how to do all the things you will need to do - navigate, camp, cook, clean. How long will your phone last if navigating?

You'll have a more enjoyable trip if you have mastered all the basics before you depart.

No need to go overboard on planning. Excellent infrastructure all the way. Best not to overestimate your distance abilities. Much easier to stop and absorb if you're ahead of schedule, more stressful to catch up if you're behind.

If flying, consider flying there and cycling back - It's easier to organise. If using a train, no difference.

Enjoy!

[Gontlib]

Re using smartphone for navigating while camping. Keeping it charged is likely to be significant issue.
Every phone, usage, app etc will be different but here's my experience.
1) I use iPhone 6 running RidewithGPS app charging on the move by Dynamo and Ewerk
2) At touring speed the Dynamo is able to slowly charge the phone if I have the screen off
3) With screen on the phone battery loses about 5% every 10 minutes
4) The battery drains faster when it has 3G signal than 4G and drains faster when in Europe compared to UK (no idea why)
5) Don't rely on being able to recharge your phone at campsite

So in summary you need to do some long test runs it you're planning to use it as sole navigation.
And you need a reliable way to charge it.
I take a 20000 mAh Powerpack which gave me enough overnight charges for my recent 9 day trip.

[mjr]

3) With screen on the phone battery loses about 5% every 10 minutes

Wow. That's really really fast. Mine uses about a third of that, on a smaller battery than an iPhone 6 (1,810mAh in iPhone, 1350mAh in my phone). But even so, screen off as much as possible.

4) The battery drains faster when it has 3G signal than 4G and drains faster when in Europe compared to UK (no idea why)

It's probably because it's searching for more networks whenever it loses 4G signal because it can't quickly find its default/home network. Even in the UK, it's often worth turning the settings down to 2G if you're not intending to use calls or data because the basic network connection uses a bit less energy, plus the phone won't keep scanning for 3G or 4G networks becoming available. If you're actually going to use the phone for more than texts or you know you're in a good 3G signal area all the time, it's worth switching 3G back on because it uses less power to transfer the same amount of data - but don't go switching back and forth too much because that also uses more power.
Other views: https://www.speedguide.net/faq/2g-vs-3g ... phones-362 https://android.stackexchange.com/quest ... ve-battery

[Gontlib]

3) With screen on the phone battery loses about 5% every 10 minutes

Wow. That's really really fast. Mine uses about a third of that, on a smaller battery than an iPhone 6 (1,810mAh in iPhone, 1350mAh in my phone). But even so, screen off as much as possible.

Last week I stopped to buy gas.
I left the app running with just screen off. I was in the shop about 12 minutes. The battery had dropped from 80% to 35!!
It's not the phone, battery usage is quite normal when not using app for navigation.

[mjr]

It's not the phone, battery usage is quite normal when not using app for navigation.

It could still be the phone. The GPS chipset in it might be a hungry one - or the app you use might be hammering it, as you suspect.

Try looking at the Eurovelo website specifically EV2 Holland to Berlin section

Eurovelo route 2 seems to match my requirements.
http://www.eurovelo.com/en/eurovelos/eurovelo-2

How do I follow the route? Is it signposted and is there a gpx file for it somewhere?

EV2: maps: Netherlands, Germany; gpx download: Netherlands, Germany.

Euroroute R1: maps: Netherlands, Germany; gpx download: Netherlands, Germany.

Both should be signed anyway, but I know the GPX is a useful backup. EV2 should be signed with a yellow 2 surrounded by stars on a blue background and R1 should be signed with R1 in green with a green bicycle symbol on a white background. Both use square signs. In Germany, both routes use the same route as D3, which uses a symbol of a black D making the right-hand half of a bicycle wheel - the D is filled with red and the number 3 written in white on that - probably best to see the example below! In the Netherlands, the EV2 follows the Dutch National Cycle Route LF4 from The Hague to Borculo and then the LF8 to Zwillbrock on the German border. LF routes have green-on-white rectangle signs. I can vouch for the LF signs I've tried being pretty consistent but I've never tried following the others.

Examples: R1 signs, LF signs, an EV sign.