Where to go?

[quixoticgeek]

I have three days of holiday I need to use up by the end of June. I'm thinking of making a 5 day weekend with them. I want to use that to do some long (~100km) days of riding somewhere nice.

My main thoughts are somewhere not to expensive, not too hilly, beautiful, and not too far from the Netherlands (maybe within 500-700km to start anyway).

Can anyone think of anywhere that might meet that brief.

J

[mzjo]

Most of the places that spring to my mind from the french side fail on the hilliness criteria.(Champagne, Beaujolais, Alsace!) Going the other way gives you Denmark, Sweden or Finland. Unless you fancy cycling along european waterways which can be quite flat and very picturesqueak (but which might seem a bit too much of a busman's holiday for a dutch resident).

[quixoticgeek]

Most of the places that spring to my mind from the french side fail on the hilliness criteria.(Champagne, Beaujolais, Alsace!) Going the other way gives you Denmark, Sweden or Finland. Unless you fancy cycling along european waterways which can be quite flat and very picturesqueak (but which might seem a bit too much of a busman's holiday for a dutch resident).

I'm going to Finland/Estonia/Latvia in September, so wasn't thinking of heading north.

The waterways stuff can be nice, but yes, I've done it a few times now.

I don't mind if there are hills, I don't need pan flat. But I'd like to avoid the need to do 1500m of climb to get to the next village...

J

[Cudzoziemiec]

Kent? Oh no, you said beautiful and not too expensive.

I can only say that wherever you go, I'd be seriously tempted to take another two days off unpaid and make a 9-day double-weekended week of it.

[Wowbagger]

Is Brittany too far? It's utterly gorgeous, certainly not pan-flat, but undulating, and has some of the best beaches I've ever been to, if you like a bit of sea swimming.

[quixoticgeek]

Kent? Oh no, you said beautiful and not too expensive.

I can only say that wherever you go, I'd be seriously tempted to take another two days off unpaid and make a 9-day double-weekended week of it.

I could shift my free day from my four day week around to get me more time off... It's just longer trip makes it more expensive.

Is Brittany too far? It's utterly gorgeous, certainly not pan-flat, but undulating, and has some of the best beaches I've ever been to, if you like a bit of sea swimming.

I did think about that, but I'm not sure how I'd go about getting there. Or back. From De Panne (last Belgian station), it's >700k. Getting a bike from Brussels to Paris to then get a train west is... convoluted at best.

J

[slugbait]

My suggestion: take a train to Hannover (easy to reach by train from Amsterdam where you live). And then a tour that first take you east until you hit the former German-German border. Continue until close to Hamburg. Go across the Lüneburger Heide and continue to Wildeshausen (avoiding Bremen if you can). From there you head back to Hannover. If you need extra kilometers, the area southwest of Hannover is full of villages straight from the Brother Grimm stories (especially around Hameln).

[Cudzoziemiec]

You could probably do worse than browsing somewhere like the routes on bikepacking.com to get inspiration: https://bikepacking.com/locations/europe/

[Pickled Onion]

I have three days of holiday I need to use up by the end of June. I'm thinking of making a 5 day weekend with them. I want to use that to do some long (~100km) days of riding somewhere nice.

My main thoughts are somewhere not to expensive, not too hilly, beautiful, and not too far from the Netherlands (maybe within 500-700km to start anyway).

Can anyone think of anywhere that might meet that brief.

J

For the first criterion, you'd probably want to go East. Google maps suggests there's a night train to Regensburg (just about within your 700 km distance) then head to Czechia. It's a wonderful place for cycling, there are a few hills to cross from Germany, but after that you've got gentle but beautiful landscape and a million cycle ways to choose from. I'd suggest a rough route taking in Šumava National Park, Ceske Budejovice and possibly along to South Moravia and back along the Austrian border would fulfil your brief.

[Robh]

You could have a very pleasant time exploring the Moselle in and around Nancy. We camped at Liverdun in 2017 and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

[Wowbagger]

You could have a very pleasant time exploring the Moselle in and around Nancy. We camped at Liverdun in 2017 and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

From Trier to Koblenz is great. We've done that twice.

[arabella]

Once upon a time I had a plan to (start at Hamburg and) keep going East on the Western European Plain.
N Germany, N Poland (mind the lakes).
Scuppered by a.n.other not bothering to get the right visas, Grrr (this was the early 1990s)

[quixoticgeek]

You could have a very pleasant time exploring the Moselle in and around Nancy. We camped at Liverdun in 2017 and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

From Trier to Koblenz is great. We've done that twice.

Have booked a camping pod in the Mosell valley.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions.

J

[Robh]

 

[Robh]

Forgot to add: be sure to visit the Art Nouveau Museum in Nancy, it's a gem.

[quixoticgeek]

From Trier to Koblenz is great. We've done that twice.

You ain't wrong. Thank you for the suggestion.

Sent from a biergarten somewhere on the banks of the Mosell. East of trier, west of Koblenz.

J

[Polar Bear]

I have a good friend who lives in the Mosel valley.  As part of a tour sometime in the next 5 years I hope to visit him on our way to Denmark. 

[felstedrider]

I’m riding Trier to Koblenz this Sunday as part of a 10 day trip.

[Wowbagger]

When we did that I think it took us about 4 days. There's a ride report by Auntie Helen somewhere, dated 2010 IIRC.

[Hot Flatus]

The Lorraine? Could cycle in the Verdun area in the forests. Really nice.

[felstedrider]

I’m riding Trier to Koblenz this Sunday as part of a 10 day trip.

That was a stunning ride.  Would have been better broken into 2 days, but that may have just been the heat.

[chrisbainbridge]

We cycled from Trier to Koblenz many years ago but at a leisurely speed. Coffee and apfeltart (?) at 10:00, then beer and sausage at lunch then local sparkling wine and more cake at 3-4 before arriving at the hotel for wine and dinner.  5 days I think. One of the best holidays we ever had.

[felstedrider]

We cycled from Trier to Koblenz many years ago but at a leisurely speed. Coffee and apfeltart (?) at 10:00, then beer and sausage at lunch then local sparkling wine and more cake at 3-4 before arriving at the hotel for wine and dinner.  5 days I think. One of the best holidays we ever had.

Absolutely loads of couples and small groups on hybrids and e-bikes.  It did give me an idea.

Being a non meat eater and tee total I don’t make the ideal tourist in Germany.

[chrisbainbridge]

Sadly my wife would also struggle now as her gluten allergy post dates this holiday

[Auntie Helen]

I’m teetotal and live here - I have swapped beer for cakes.