Trips done in this area
| Trip | Duration | Distance (miles) |
|---|---|---|
| 30 July 2008 - Terpelân Route | 3:30 | 21 |
| 29 July 2008 - Ameland Loop | 3:45 | 15.5 |
Sample pictures
Area summary
The Netherlands is a country for functional cycling, or easy leisure cycling. There are virtually no hills in the entire country, and the most strenuous cycling consists of climbing 5 metres onto a route running on the top of a dike.
Car drivers are rude to other cars, but generally treat cyclists well. Cyclists are badly behaved, never wear helmets, never indicate, and cross dangerous roads or swerve in the way of cars without blinking.
Cycling is used as much as driving. Many use it to commute, to go shopping, or to take children to school. The crazy variety of bikes and methods of carrying children on them reflects that, including the common approach of balancing a child on the pannier carriers.
With almost no wild countryside (there are some small forests dotted around, and sand dunes on the Frisian islands), most cycling follows road routes. Most main roads (except motorways) have either a dedicated cycle path beside them (for use by bikes and mopeds, and often pedestrians), or cycle lanes on the roads. Many footpaths are also cycle routes. Most roads, but not pavements, can also be used by bikes. It is easily possible to traverse the entire country from the largest city to the smallest village without ever leaving the cycle network. Some areas, such as some of the Frisian islands, are devoted entirely to walking and cycling. The more popular cycling areas even have tyre pump stations scattered along the trails.
Basically, the cycle network would be absolutely perfect, if only the landscape wasn't so monotonously flat and immensely boring. Hope you can find something else of interest, such as the industry and history of the Dutch people.
Bike hire is available just about everywhere, at about 1/3 of the cost of bike hire in the UK. The bikes are capable of ... well ... nothing, except using cycle paths, but at least they are comfortable. I am quite sure all these bikes are the same bike, made by the same company, with different stickers.
