This time of the year is the toughest for me. The changing from daylight savings to standard time means more darkness in the evening, encompassing cold and wet weather, and knowledge that it won't be warm for about four more months.
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| Short sleeves have since been packed away for the winter. |
Last winter, we got an awesome deal on air fare which made my life long desire to travel to Iceland possible. I spend many rainy, cold Sunday afternoons last winter pouring over Google maps and websites figuring out where we would go in Iceland. Having the goal of cycling in Iceland also made it easier for Melissa and I to get out for rides in the middle of winter knowing that, in some cases, this is what the weather in Iceland would be like.
Just a few weeks ago, Igor and Adrian booked flights to Denmark for next fall so they are starting their planning. Any tips or suggestions on places to go in Denmark, northern Germany or The Netherlands?
Any trips in the works for next year?
Riding in the Netherlands is great, but Veluwe National Park is a great escape from the fields and towns. Riding through the quiet forests is fantastic and relaxing. Stay at the Golden Tulip in Epe and you are already in the forest when you wake up each morning to ride.
ReplyDeleteProbably the best single day I've had on bike was riding up the Noord-Holland coastal path, 100km of smooth off-road bike path with the wind at our backs the whole way. Very important to go with the prevailing wind (south to north), the locals fit tri-bars to their omafiets as a countermeasure against the wind. From the tip of Noord Holland you can then cross the afsluitdijk or hop along the Freisian islands (Texel, Vlieland etc). The ferry between Texel and Vlieland is good fun, the boat drops you at a pier on an endless expanse of sand and you continue your journey on a big yellow off-road truck.
ReplyDeleteThe veluwe is nice enough but I wonder if visitors from a country with plentiful actual wilderness might prefer to skip this heavily managed ersatz wilderness in favour of what .nl does like nowhere else like massive geo/hydro-engineering, as in the polders.
You hardly need maps in .nl, just take a photo of the map board at a cycle-route junction, follow the signs to the next junction and repeat, but if you do buy maps get the Falk ones as they show campsites which the ANWB ones, despite being designed for cycletouring, bizarrely omit. Also they're aesthetically better if you're a map nerd.
The best place to ride a bike in Denmark is definitely Greater Copenhagen, with its wide network of bike paths. Outside Copenhagen, things can get a little rough, at least from a Dane's viewpoint: many roads without bike paths, or bikelanes, or even a decent shoulder. One should be carefull which route one takes, and you will do well to study it in advance in Google Street View. But with a little care you'll find quiet, minor roads, as I do when I'm out on my 1971 Crescent Pepita :-)
ReplyDeleteDepending on how hilly you want your trip to be, you can choose Eastern Jutland, Funen, and Central Seeland for lots of smallish, steep hills, or Western Jutland for flat, flat, FLAT cycling (and lots of Westerly winds).
Most Danes are cyclists on a more or less daily basis, so drivers will try to be considerate. But there are assholes in every corner of the World...