[Closed] Family touring holiday

I really enjoyed a tour of the Netherlands a few years ago. Yes the scenery is a bit bland but spending an entire 2 week tour almost traffic free was great - and you have the dunes and the islands for a bit of variety plus loads of historic towns to mooch around.

We did a nice tour of belgium from the Hull - Zeebrugge Ferry. Ypres, Ghent and Bruge all worth visiting, also stoped in at Tyne Cot Cemetery - incredibly moving. Last post ceremony at the Menin Gate had me close to tears.

You could extend a tour like that and get a different ferry back home, e.g. from Amsterdam

Was thinking of getting ferry to and from Hook of Holland and doing a bit of the Rhine and making a loop up or down.
Any tips.

I imagine there's a forum for beardie tourers somewhere anyone recommend?

We found the junction to junction cycle routes best. Not the most direct but the most scenic. You do spend a lot of time in suburbs tho.

Stop at a junction board. memorise the numbers of the next few junctions you need, spot the tiny indicator signs directing you to the junction you want before the next one and follow it.

https://www.hollandcyclingroutes.com/cycling-daytrips

velodyssey is a good route.
from biaritz back to st malo, you have beaches available for the whole route, and some nice towns to visit with usual seaside stuff for kids.
and a diversion into nantes for the attractions at isle de nante is a must.

AA - pics from our tour to give you a bit of an idea.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/25846484@N04/albums/72157624977918769

Brittany is ace.
Like Cornwall with considerate drivers, fewer people and better food.

We're doing northern Poland next year. Can't wait.

What type of surfaces is velodyssey on? Can you do it on skinny tyres and the stiff road bike?

on very good cycle tracks. we rode tourers with 38c tyres.

Holland, use Stayokay.nl, their version of YHA. We did Rotterdam-Dordrecht-Utrecht/Bunnik-Amsterdam/Heemskerk(awesome castle for your hostel)-Haarlem/Keukenhof-Delft then back to the boat.

Don't make your last day Kings Day when they all go nuts, drink too much, faff about and get lost on the way back to the boat and miss the thing. A friend tells me that was a bad thing to do, though it's always nice to have tails to tell.

There are decent family-friendly routes right from the ferry at Caen/Ouistreham and St Malo (if you nip across the river on the little ferry to Dinard).

Mind you, out of season even the roads are quiet: the boy and I did St Malo to Caen on the tandem with a mix of roads and disused railways in May half term and the traffic was at typical rural French levels, ie sparse.

I'd offer the eurovelo 6 through France focusing on the Loire. Nice, traffic free cycle paths & a campsite every 5km or so. We never booked a pitch just stopped around 3pm for a glass of wine and decided if we wanted to cycle 5km or 25km further that day. Loads of castles too for the wee lad.

It was a brilliant cycle tour and cyclists are very well looked after. We met a Dutch family of 4 doing it - a young girl around the age of your lad cycling her own bike and a much younger tot in a trailer behind mum with dad towing a small trailer for tent. They were having a rare time!

Thank Ton

Awesome, thanks all some great options.

Another idea involving a ferry trip - Portsmouth to Cherbourg, then tour around the Contentin Pensinsular. Some lovely quiet lanes, gravel tracks and old railway lines on the routes vert, easy to do a loop of the peninsular in a few days doing 30km a day. Excellent D Day exhibition at Utah beach. Lots of campsites and didn't need to book which makes it v flexible.

We have toured with our 2 for 3 weeks every year. Just got back from the Aland Islands which was great. Also done Holland, Brittany, the Adige Valley, French Atlantic Coast etc etc. I think our best 2 trips have both been to Denmark. Island hopping from the German border to Copenhagen and back in a loop, and then the 2nd trip we went north up to Skagen.

I think The Netherlands (and Belgium) are a great choice for touring. We've recently done our second trip there with kids (now aged 11 and 9) taking the ferry to Rotterdam riding down the coast and then through Belgium via Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent and Brugge, returning from Zeebrugge.
I'm used to riding in the hills, but I don't regard Holland as bland cycling. The cycle routes have lots of variety. If you go down the coast route, the path winds along the coastal dunes through lovely woodland, and takes you through pleasant wee towns and villages. You also get to cycle some impressive long causeways over the tidal barriers. There are miles of long sandy beaches, which you can cycle right up to. Lots of interesting diversions en-route; we stumbled on The Bunker Trail, a network of German bunkers that have been excavated and restored. The Belgian network is not quite as good, but still great cycling. There are good routes along the major rivers and ship canals, with free ferries for pedestrians and cyclists to hop from one bank to the other.
We were camping (towing the tent and gear on a trailer) and there are lots of campsites, but there is also the Vrienden op de Fiets network, a network of people who do cheap B&B, but only for people travelling on foot or by bicycle. One of my friends has used this and said it was a great system.
You can cover reasonable distances without too much trouble because the terrain is so flat. The routes are well signposted, and they are all covered by Google Maps, so it is dead easy to plan or adjust your route on the phone. It's also easy to hop on a train with your bike if you need to cover bigger distances.
The thing I enjoy most about the cycling is how relaxing it is. You can roll straight off the ferry onto hundreds of miles of car free paths, which is great with kids, and also quite enjoyable as an adult.

taking the ferry to Rotterdam riding down the coast and then through Belgium via Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent and Brugge, returning from Zeebrugge

How long did that take? Sounds great. Do ferries go from Hull to both?

We did a 10 day holiday, 4 big days of cycling between campsites, three days of short cycles to visit nearby towns or beaches, and the rest travelling into Brussels by train from our campsite (kids are comic fanatics, so the main objective of the trip was the Comic Museum and Herge Museum). The long days were up to 50 miles, apart from one 70 miler (because I cocked up a campsite booking!) That was a lot further than the kids had ever cycled before, but because it was flat, we took our time and had stops when necessary, they managed OK. The beauty of Holland is that it's easy to travel as far as suits you. The first time we went with the kids, 4 years ago, we did a great tour just cycling 10 to 15 miles between campsites, heading north from IJmuiden (Newcastle ferry).
You can sail to Zeebrugge or Rotterdam from Hull.

UK south coast including a tour of IOW?