Friesland islands....Texel etc

[neilob]

A small group of us are riding part of the N Sea cycle route in May and I have just started preparing the outline plan. I was wondering whether to include the Friesland islands in the itinerary. According to Google there will be ferries but I am not sure whether the islands have any great attraction over the mainland coast we will otherwise be following. We only have two weeks so another concern is that a detour will impact our ability to complete the route to Bremerhaven and back to Rotterdam. Thoughts?

[Cyril Haearn]

Some of the German ost-friesen Islands are car-free

[whoof]

Texel is pretty small it's about 5 miles wide and a little over 10 miles long. I was working in Den Helder and got the ferry (about 2 miles) over to Texel and rode all the way around on a hire bike in an afternoon. It's quite nice, the Dutch must rate it as there are quite a lot of campsites.

[foxyrider]

I've been to several of the islands on a similar trip a couple of years ago. Some of the islands are quite nice to visit, the biggest problem is that it's not possible to island hop along the chain, you have to return to the mainland each time. On paper it's possible to do Texel, Vlieland and Terscheling but time tabling make it nigh on impossible without wasting a day on Vlieland (most of which you have to cross by truck anyhow).

Many of the islands have very limited daily crossings and despite the relatively short as the crow flies distances can take an hour or more each way. Also I found it more economical at Terscheling for example to hire a bike on the island as taking your own is quite expensive.

There are a number of ferry operators each with their own websites.

I went out to Helgoland for the day from Bremerhaven which I found to be a better use of a day than the Frisian island visits. There's quite a bit to see and do in Bremerhaven so give yourselves time there too.

Have fun

[Cyril Haearn]

There is a crooked bunker in Sande near Varel, I really want to visit that