Cycling in the Netherland Autumn 2014

The First Journey in our Carado T337 Motorhome

Margaret Williamson

Click: Complete Travel Log of the 5,000 miles Overland Journey from the UK to Greece via the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria

Click: The map, table of distances and photographs of the route and an account comparing this journey through Eastern Europe with parallel bicycle journeys made in the days of the iron Curtain

Introduction 

After a wasted month of July in England, wrestling with the phenomenon of Marquis Malpractice, August passed pleasantly in the purchase, equipping and testing of an excellent Carado T337 motorhome from the rejuvenated Brownhills Motorhomes of Newark. By September we were riding the long-distance river cycle paths of Germany, and October saw us motorhoming through the Eastern European countries of Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Our aim - to reach the warm shelter of Greece before winter strikes! 

LATE AUGUST – DFDS FERRY FROM NEWCASTLE TO THE NETHERLANDS

Ijmuiden Port to Camping De Wapenberg, Ugchelen, Nr Apeldoorn, Gelderland – 70 miles

Open 28 March-1 Nov. www.dewapenberg.nl. ACSI Card rate €15 inc local tax, 6 amp elec and showers. Excellent WiFi €2 per day or €7.50 per week (with a second machine half price!)  N 52°10'19”  E 5°54'45”

Shopping was easy by bicycle, riding the Fietspads (cycle paths) that included a dedicated bike path on either side of the busy Europaweg leading to the motorway and Apeldoorn. The local shops included Halfords and a Deka supermarket, which had tasty free samples at every counter. We did buy a roast chicken.

Cycling to Otterlo & back (47 km): The cycle path that passed the campsite's rear entrance led us through the woods to the village of Hoenderloo, where there is one of several official entrances to the Hooge Veluwe National Park. Shocked to discover that the entrance fee was €8.50 per person, even for walkers or cyclists, while motorists paid an extra €3 per car to park! This did include entrance to a museum and loan of a White Bicycle but there was no reduction for simple entry to the park, not even for seniors. Revising our high opinion of the Netherlands, we left and worked out our own route around the perimeter of the private park! We rode on excellent free bike paths alongside both major and minor roads to the small tourist town of Otterlo. Here we ate our chicken sandwiches in the park, looked round the street market and enjoyed coffee and apple cake outside a café in the sunshine. Interesting to find a memorial to the Canadians, British and civilians killed here in April 1945 in the last battle for the liberation of the Netherlands, following Operation Market Garden in September 1944.  Returning to the campsite at Ugchelen by a longer route, we completed a wonderful 30-mile ride: warm, light wind, no rain, gentle hills – this is cycling heaven!

Ugchelen to Camping de Wije Werelt, Otterlo, Gelderland – 50 miles

Open 28 March-31 Dec. www.wijewerelt.nl. ACSI Card rate €16 plus local tax, inc 10 amp elec and showers. Reductions for long stay (2 weeks plus). WiFi €3.50 per day or €9 for 3 days (less for 5 days, etc). N 52.08657  E5.76934

Otterlo proved a good centre for cycling, with Fietspads past our campsite in every direction.

Cycling to Kootwijk & back (35 km): Rode into Otterlo (2.5 km) past 2 other campsites. At the obliging hardware shop we bought a few things, leaving them to collect on our way back. The Spar mini-market opposite had free coffee for shoppers! Then rode the cycle path on to Harskamp. Here we turned off on a track through the sandy woods to the eerie 'Kathedral Radio Kootwijk', a huge 1920s concrete building, rising high above the open heathland. It was used initially for short wave radio transmission to Dutch colonies in the Far East (Dutch East Indies) and later used as a signal station during WW2. It's currently having a facelift, with scaffolding and men who don't suffer vertigo. Returning via Kootwijk village and an ice cream in Harskamp, we reached Otterlo with 3 minutes to spare before the hardware store closed at 6 pm.

Cycling to Hoenderloo & back (45 km): Going anticlockwise round the perimeter of the private Hooge Veluwe National Park, we rode SE to Schaarsbergen, N to Hoenderloo (with coffee and apple cake in the bakery café), then W back to Otterlo. All on good sealed cycle paths or a bike lane at the edge of a very quiet road. MAGIC!

Cycling to Lunteren & back (33 km): Rode some new paths, SE through woodland and across the Ederheide heath, purple with heather, to Ede. Turned NW to Lunteren, where we found a bank machine and had coffee and cakes at a lovely old pub, complete with carpet-clad tables. Returned east to Otterlo on a route suggested by a helpful Dutch couple, using the 'cycling by numbers' method following signposts.

(Continued at Cycling in Germany Autumn 2014)