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Total distance: 1000 km (625 mi)
Holland - Belgium - Normandie - Bretagne by bicycle
Thomas Driemeyer2005-10-13 22:32:33
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We didn't actually ride N57 but on bike paths or small streets; there are signs showing the way. Quite obviously someone has thought carefully about how to best get from here to there by bicycle. The bicycle routes are practical and not at all like those "recreational'' paths one finds in other countries that go nowhere and disappear whenever they might get in the way of motorized traffic. Holland is a cyclist's heaven.
We took the ferry from Vlissingen to Breskens. As before ferries ran frequently and are cheap for cyclists. We went through Groede to Sluis near the Belgian border.
BELGIUM
There was a rather abrupt change after entering Belgium; the cyclist's heaven ends just after Sluis. We decided again to bypass cities like Brugge or Brussels, and followed the coast. Only there were no bike paths; all we could do was using less busy side roads from Blankenberge, De Haan to Oostende, then on the N318 to Middelkerke, Nieuwpoort (a problem because we had to detour around the harbor), then on N396 past Veurne and De Panne into France.
After leaving Holland we didn't really find a good reason to stop anywhere in Belgium - it was all asphalt and concrete and car traffic, and ugly and boring towns. I am sure that there are beautiful places in the Belgian countryside, but I can only warn people to stay away from the coast. We rode all the way from Middelburg to Dunkerque in France in a single 175-km day.
(29 May 2002) I received recommendations to ride in the Flanders region of Belgium, which is supposed to be beautiful and quite unlike the nasty coastal route. In particular, we should have followed signs Noodzee cycle route and Noordzee fietsroute from Sluis to Boulogne. I'll check it out next time.
FRANCE
Until now we had a nice tailwind and sunny weather, but in the Normandie
...
See photographs from:
Netherlands Gallery
,
France Gallery
,
Belgium Gallery
