We recently spent a long weekend in Bruges and hired bikes for 1/2 day and went riding whilst we were there, just pottering about. I fancy returning by ferry on my own bike and riding around semi-aimlessly for a few days, so I was wondering where else is nice to visit?
I’d be riding from Dunkirk and I’d have 4-5 days. I don’t want to do massive milage, maybe 100km a day tops
I’m thinking along the coast towards Bruges again then Ghent but after the I’m not sure.
I like a bit of history and a nice beer or coffee, and I’d be staying in B&Bs.
Any ideas? 🙂

Definitely Ghent, it’s beautiful – I can heartily recommend the Ghent River Hotel. And basically anywhere that sells beer.

Antwerp is worth a visit and is reasonable biking distance from gent. You could do Lille too (in the other direction) which is nice.

How can you not ride the Bergs of the Ronde? Finish in Oudenaarde at the Ronde museum, where they have showers, food and beer.

How can you not ride the Bergs of the Ronde?

Well, because I’ve never heard of it? 🙂
Tell me more….?

(OK, OK, I’m googling….)

South from Gent and go and do all the Tour of Flanders cobbles and climbs. Oodenarde, (probably not the correct spelling) is a pleasant town, but not as nice as Ghent and Bruges.

There’s a tram that runs right down the coast from De Panne to Knokke Heist, might be a useful option if you didn’t want to do an entirely circular tour.

edit – beaten to it by 1 minute. I’ll try and find a link to a Strava route of last year’s trip.

edit 2 – Here you go. Not my route, I can’t work out how to go back to last year earlier. And it’s spelt Oudenarde.

How far south from Gent?

Right I see. That looks doable yes.
It had crossed my mind to go to Roubaix actually, but I’d rather stick to Belgium mostly

Leuven is worth a visit, bikes and pubs everywhere. Its the home of the Stella Artois brewery which i believe also does tours. If you do visit i recommend a bar called the Capital, they have 2000 beers on stock including 20 beers on draft. Leuven is also a good base to visit the centre of brussels too since you can grab a train and avoid the insane traffic.

Found this

http://www.crvv.be/en/317-routes/10

Looks good

Technique to ride cobbles = Flat out. On the drops*.

*may not be entirely possible on the uphill bits, unless your real surname isn’t Poddy but Cancellara.

No. I’m not Cancellara.. Will luggage smooth things out? 😉

Antwerp is worth a visit

I’m in Antwerp regularly with work. I really wish I wasn’t. Its a shithole. Down around the cathedral is nice but apart from that its horrible.

Add Ypres to the list. Go to the Menin Gate at 8pm for the Last Post. Take tissues. Properly moving, even more so after I went to the museum and realised that Ypres was flattened in WW1 and rebuilt afterwards. Visit Tyne Cot or another major War Cemetery and again, have tissues handy.

Try Flemish Stew. It’s really rather tasty

Ooh yes, Flemish Stew. It’s made of hops and some kind of wheat crop and has a nice white topping. Can be a bit thin, but very tasty.

I’m in Antwerp regularly with work. I really wish I wasn’t. Its a shithole. Down around the cathedral is nice but apart from that its horrible.

Interesting. I used to be there frequently with work too. Stayed in some great hotels, ate some great food, went to some good bars. I used to love it.

I had Flemmish stw in Bruges. I like that. 🙂

Right. So Gent-Oudenaarde-Ypres sounds like a decent plan. Not sure if I want to do Gent in one hit from the ferry though. I’ll have to have a look at the distances involved

Try and visit some of the trappist breweries… or at least the cafes they run.

Yes I be heard a little about those, and drunk some of the beer. 🙂

Ferry to ghent is not a long drive. We stopped off in Ypres on the way. Then drove to oudenaarde and cycled the excellent signed ronde route up the bergs. Next day I did my own 160 km ride down to the muur and back along the river past Wouter’s memorial.

Go. Just go. It’s fantastic. More bikeshops in ghent than anywhere, especially Plum.

When are you back ain Windsor, i’ll drop off a map and some details.

Ferry to ghent is not a long drive.

I’m not driving though am I?
Car stops in Dover, I take bike over as foot passenger. Then cycle around a bit, see? 🙂

Well, because I’ve never heard of it?

Did a weekend down that area last week. Rode the flat cobbled sections of Paris-Roubaix on Saturday, and the Bergs of Tour of Flanders on Sunday.

You probably don’t want to try ride Paterberg, Kopperberg and Oude kwaremont with luggage…

Did it as a recce for the Ronde sportif and Munqe chick hasn’t stopped asking how soon we can go back, something about the place gets under your skin (and its not just the biting wind….)

I’m going to Geraardsbergen for a couple of nights in July. Anyone been there? I’ll be taking the bike, so will be climbing the Muur. Don’t know much about it, except it’s steep and cobbled.

Not sure if I want to do Gent in one hit from the ferry though

that would be quite a ride. If you got that tram I mentioned from De Panne to Blankenberge that knocks off a fair old chunk.

So I’ve got it all booked!
Abandon car in Dover, ferry to Dunkirk
90k first night in Bruges
48k 2nd night in Ghent
46k 3rd + 4th night in Oudenaarde
Day off, go cycling the cobbles (I’m staying at the bottom of the Koppenberg climb) then visit the museum
65k 5th night in Ypres, ride through Menin Gate, staying 2 mins walk away from it
75k back to Dunkirk

So that’s about 320k plus whatever I decide to do as a rest day…..
I’m not slumming it, I’ve booked some nice bike-friendly B&Bs. I’ll be riding my CdF and packing fairly light.
I’ll be on my own so I shall take a good book, a camera and some music and maybe do a mini-blog on Facebook and on here in the evenings.

Fingers crossed for some dry weather! 🙂

Did the Blau route you linked in November when we were over for the 6 day. Well signed, and the cobbles are sooo much smoother than everyone says. Should be easier with bags… Just take strong wheels!

Don’t be tempted to try to ride up the gutter up there ^^^ on the left of the Paterberg tho… It ends abruptly part way up, and if you can’t hop at slow speed onto cobbles, it’ll stop you dead. Walking up in cleats is hard, and don’t even think of riding down the cobbles.

Walking in cleats? I’ll be on SPDs not road shoes. You don’t tour in shoes you can’t walk in! 🙂

Whatever you be careful of the Belgian drivers. Possibly the worse in the world. Oblivious to anyone.

No they aren’t. That’s the Australians. Also, when you see the extent of the Belgian cycling network, it’ll be rare I go near a road, not that that bothers me in the slightest, but thanks for your valued imput…… 😛

Have a good one! One of the most disappointing things from my younger days is not being into road riding when I lived over there!! Loads of good stuff near Houffalize for the XC bike and some lovely little towns/castles if you ever head South.

I have one of the cycle touring maps of the north coast if you want me to pop it in the post to you. It’s an ace way of finding your way around. Hora’s right for the first ever time though. For such a bike centric country, the drivers are toss pots.