Yet Another Cycling Forum

General Category => Rides and Touring => Topic started by: Pedal Castro on 29 July, 2022, 09:10:28 am

Title: Gothenburg to Hook of Holland
Post by: Pedal Castro on 29 July, 2022, 09:10:28 am

Booked a 1 way flight to Sweden to visit daughter early October. The plan is to ride back via ferry to Frederikshavn, Denmark. Camping hopefully unless the weather is worse than expected, should take 6 days, flat but potentially headwind all the way.

Title: Re: Gothenburg to Hook of Holland
Post by: GdS on 30 July, 2022, 04:54:57 pm

did Hamburg - Hoek via Bremen and Groningen a few years ago including a DIY 200 (Double Deutsch!). The Netherlands bits were sublime but hated the German cyclepaths which are mandatory, mostly unmaintained bumpy tarmac and pavements. Try to use roads without one!

Title: Re: Gothenburg to Hook of Holland
Post by: bhoot on 30 July, 2022, 05:40:41 pm

We did the opposite direction - Hoek to Hamburg. Went a bit further south than you as we headed east towards Munster and then north east. As you say all of NL was fantastic.  Germany was more variable - we tried some German long distance cycle routes which were a bit rubbish, or at least not what we really wanted on the tandem laden with camping gear. Some seemed to be bumpy farm tracks which linked up otherwise dead end lanes. However we got better at reading the map and selecting roads instead of cycle routes. Quite a few of the main roads had really good cycle tracks beside them which were a pleasure to ride, although we usually took to the road through villages, where often the cycle track merged with the footway. Happy to say that where there was not track and we cycled the road we did not get standard UK aggression and bad driving.

Title: Re: Gothenburg to Hook of Holland
Post by: CAMRAMan on 30 July, 2022, 06:09:03 pm

I'm sure you've considered it, but keep an eye on day length that time of year: https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/sweden/goteborg?month=10&year=2022 (https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/sweden/goteborg?month=10&year=2022)

Title: Re: Gothenburg to Hook of Holland
Post by: Pedal Castro on 12 October, 2022, 07:47:45 pm

Well that was fun (type 2).

Denmark was hillier than expected. Or it felt that way with the strong headwind. Cycle paths in Germany were variable, some very good but some with tree root bumps, which would not be an issue on an unladen bike but with 2 full panniers a bit too bumpy.

Title: Re: Gothenburg to Hook of Holland
Post by: quixoticgeek on 12 October, 2022, 09:24:42 pm

Yep Denmark is surprisingly Hilly, esp the island with Copenhagen on it. Rather took me by surprise too...

J