Have I Planned a *good* Route in Belgium?

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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malcolm4000
Posts: 2
Joined: 10 Sep 2014, 10:59pm

Have I Planned a *good* Route in Belgium?

Post by malcolm4000 »

After a lot of web research and searching on this site in particular, I've devised routes for our soon to happen bike ride from Kent to Antwerp, and I wanted to sound out the group on whether the route will be a good one. We did London to Paris last year, but used the Donald Hirsch route so this is the first one I've done myself...its my first post here so be gentle with me, I have them on ridewithGPS so I will try to post the links.

day1 is getting to Dover, then [url]=http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5962218[/url] is from Calais to Bruges via the canals from Gravelines and south of DUnkirk, it seems to be tracks and paths mostly, but I think it is OK.

Day 3 [url]=http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5967418[/url] is where I've been getting a little concerned, we need to get from Bruges to Antwerp and although I know we could head south and come in via Gent, I was asked by the group to take us more directly, therefore I think we will be on more roads than day 2 BUT I think they are quite quiet, am I right or going slightly mad?

Finally, we've got to get from Antwerp to Brussels the following morning, is there a direct path which we can follow to take us there please

Hope this all works and makes sense, any guidance and insight would be HUGELY appreciated, as it is my first time planning something on this scale, and I don't want to get shouted at for getting it wrong.

Thanks for all the advice I've seen on previous posts, and thanks in advance for any guidance given here
M4K
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Peter Molog
Posts: 95
Joined: 16 Oct 2013, 11:45am
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Have I Planned a *good* Route in Belgium?

Post by Peter Molog »

I don't know the region, but one clue for a better route.
It seemes to me you plannend your route on Google-maps. Turn your map to OSM-cycle (upper right corner of the map). Then you will see a lot of blue lines and numbers. This is the so called 'Knooppunten' (cycling from knot to knot, wich is a very bad translation :D ). If you are planning the route along these 'knots', you will be sure to have a better route.

Or use this planner.

By the way, the grammar for a nice link in your posting is:
[url=link]text[/url]
or
[url]link[/url]
and not
[url]=link[/url]

Good luck,
Peter

Please, excuse my English. I'm Dutch.
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jamesgilbert
Posts: 316
Joined: 5 Feb 2013, 4:25pm
Location: Lyon

Re: Have I Planned a *good* Route in Belgium?

Post by jamesgilbert »

A possibly better translation would be "node" instead of knot :wink:
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Peter Molog
Posts: 95
Joined: 16 Oct 2013, 11:45am
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Have I Planned a *good* Route in Belgium?

Post by Peter Molog »

jamesgilbert wrote:A possibly better translation would be "node" instead of knot :wink:

See below. :D :D
Peter

Please, excuse my English. I'm Dutch.
malcolm4000
Posts: 2
Joined: 10 Sep 2014, 10:59pm

Re: Have I Planned a *good* Route in Belgium?

Post by malcolm4000 »

sorry folks, it looks as though my urls didn't work very well, first post jitters..

I'll look at that planner...
chocjohn9
Posts: 300
Joined: 20 Mar 2012, 10:07pm
Location: Sunny Belgium

Re: Have I Planned a *good* Route in Belgium?

Post by chocjohn9 »

Welcome to the Forum.
Day 1 - there are two schools of thought here. Some like the canal route whilst others prefer to follow the sea and the wonderful tram line (the longest in the World) up to Oostende, before cutting in to Brugge. I like the latter because I hardly ever get to follow the sea, so it's a change. The cycle path is excellent quality and obviously the route is flat :)

The roads, north and south of the main N49 between Brugge and Antwerpen are quiet, if you choose to go either side of it. I think the southern route is slightly shorter but less rural. BTW, the sign posts in this part are terrible but the people tend to speak English. It's not such a good idea to try French out on them....!!

Antwerpen to Brussels doesn't have a direct route as such. The roads to the west of the A1 are more direct than to the East BUT the eastern side is more interesting and it will also mean that you enter Bruxelles from the north east or east. The northern part of Bruxelles is far from charming. If I were you, I would swing around to the east of the airport (Zaventem) and then enter via Kraainem. Avoid Michelen at all costs.

One final bit of good news and that is that bike shops here tend to be found even in medium sized villages....

PM me for me info. Hope you have a good ride.
martin113
Posts: 135
Joined: 19 May 2011, 5:35pm

Re: Have I Planned a *good* Route in Belgium?

Post by martin113 »

You could try the LF routes on this site:
http://www.fietsroute.org/Long-Distanceroutes-LF.php

Alternatively cycle.travel now provides routes on mainland Europe and I have found it superb for finding quiet traffic free route sin England so I assume it will do just as well in Belgium.
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