Route from Dunkirk to WHPV Championships at Maasmechelen

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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triker131
Posts: 21
Joined: 29 Aug 2012, 10:23am

Route from Dunkirk to WHPV Championships at Maasmechelen

Post by triker131 »

Hi Folks, First post ...
I'm trying to plan a route from Dunkirk to Maasmechelen where the World Human Powered Vehicle Championships are being held 21-23rd August 2015. http://www.hpv.be/wk/?q=en Hoping (if I can get there) to be a volunteer and help run it.

I've already searched this forum for "Belgium Canals" and found lots of useful info and links to other sites such as fietsroute.org/Long-Distanceroutes-LF. Many thanks for all the info I've already found.

I've played with ridewithgps, cycle.travel, google maps on line and also planned routes using Garmin Mapsource. The good news is there seems to be plenty of good cycle routes running east-west including some that use canal towpaths and another which runs parallel to the E34 for a few miles (but going in the right direction!).

The ridewithgps route is http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7863718
It picks up LF1 about 20 miles east of Dunkirk; after Bruges it cuts across country to the Leopoldsvaart canal (wonder what Leopold had for breakfast) for a few miles. Runs parallel to E34 Expressweg, picks up LF38 for a while. East of Antwerp it follows LF51 along the Albertkanaal, staying with the canal after the LF51 branches off. Takes north canal branch "Bosholt Herentals"? until it picks up LF51 again (maybe should stay on LF51 the whole of this section). There's a total of about 63 miles of canal towpath on the section east of Antwerp (53 + 10) with the canal running almost to the destination.

The thing is I'm going to be riding an unsuspended recumbent trike (actually a rotovelo velomobile) and my experience in the UK is that cycle paths aimed at two wheeled regular bikes are best avoided if I don't want my dental fillings shaken loose.

So the question is ... has anyone experience of these canal towpaths and how good is the surface. I'm planning on 3 days to cover 187 or so miles with wild camping if at all possible - looks pretty built up along most of the route. Also, any experience of the E34 dual highway - the satellite view on ridewithgps shows the cyclepath well separated from the road - maybe the width of the dual carriageway separation. Any help gratefully received. One last thought - isn't the internet just amazing that you check out satellite pictures of where you might be riding - never ceases to amaze me.
Thanks for reading, John.
roy sh
Posts: 11
Joined: 14 Nov 2013, 4:07pm

Re: Route from Dunkirk to WHPV Championships at Maasmechelen

Post by roy sh »

I rode from Aalter to Brugge on LF5 a few weeks ago and the path was as wide as some of our roads here in Wales with very good surface , some places it is shared with farm traffic .The LF5 was clearly signed I was very impressed and will go back for longer rides
triker131
Posts: 21
Joined: 29 Aug 2012, 10:23am

Re: Route from Dunkirk to WHPV Championships at Maasmechelen

Post by triker131 »

Thanks Roy, that's just the sort of encouraging feedback I was hoping for.

I found this site: http://www.gamber.net/cyclebel/ which has very detailed descriptions of cycling 2000kms of Belgian waterways. It has been updated regularly since 2002 up to December 2014. Very detailed and useful for anyone considering a ride in Belgium. Edited as I initially posted the wrong link above.
DevonDamo
Posts: 1036
Joined: 24 May 2011, 1:42am

Re: Route from Dunkirk to WHPV Championships at Maasmechelen

Post by DevonDamo »

If your objective is just to find quiet, mainly car-free, routes across Belgium and Holland, I'd recommend the following website: http://www.fietsroute.org/Cycling_Planner_Belgium.php
If you tell it your start and finish point, it will produce a list of numbers which you can use to navigate via their 'knooppunten' network. (Google it if you haven't heard of it.) The routes are quiet, and normally on cycle-paths. However, this concept has a few problems - the signage can be hard to spot, people deliberately interfere with the signs, roadworks can force you off your route and using that web-planner, I was told to use ferries which weren't running. I'd therefore recommend you use that website to plot a route, then check that any ferries are running (and plan alternate routes where necessary) and get it all written down. Alternatively, you could do what I did - get a smartphone with good battery life (Sony xperia Z3 compact) and a portable phone charger and download the free OSMand app along with the maps for the regions of Belgium/Holland you'll need. It's free (for 10 map downloads, which is enough for you) and provides excellent routes.
triker131
Posts: 21
Joined: 29 Aug 2012, 10:23am

Re: Route from Dunkirk to WHPV Championships at Maasmechelen

Post by triker131 »

Thanks for the link, I've had a play at building a route using the nodes. I have a Garmin Etrex Legend HCX and will load my route(s) into that. It runs for hours on a couple of rechargeable AA's; alternatively can run it from usb power using a power pack. The LF cycle routes are labelled on the OSM derived maps I installed when I first got it.

I tried a search for LF5 on ridewithgps - several routes popped up - again wall with downloadable gps tracks. What I liked most was the maximum gradient on the 185 mile track was 2.2%. I expect that searching ridewithgps for the other "LF" routes will get similar results. I think finding a route is probably the easy bit - I was really wanting to know if anyone had experience of the routes and how smooth they were to travel on.
Thanks again, John.
chocjohn9
Posts: 300
Joined: 20 Mar 2012, 10:07pm
Location: Sunny Belgium

Re: Route from Dunkirk to WHPV Championships at Maasmechelen

Post by chocjohn9 »

Welcome to the Forum.
Just a few notes, off the top of my head.
1. Getting out of the ferry terminal is confusing at Dunkirk. Follow ANY sign you see to any village. Keep your eyes pealed..... it is easy to get trapped in there, you will see what I mean when you arrive.
2. If you want to go up to Bruges, then I would follow the coast up to Ostend and then bend in. It's glorious along the tram line which is obviously flat and the longest in the World.
3. Where there is a cycle path in Begium, by law, you have to use it and cars will be unkind if you don't.
4. Bruges to Antwerpen is a nice run, well paved, flat but around A, I find the roads "hairy".
5. Note that Belgium marks roads, tracks, unpaved gravel, farming rights of way ALL as roads on Garmin.....I get caught out all the time with this!
6. The road surfaces are good generally, better than the UK, which isn't saying much is it, but they are far from perfect. There are cobbled streets about..... The canal stuff though is great. 9/10.
7. I see quite a few WHPVs in Belgium so you will feel at home! There's one or two that turn up for audaxes here.
8. If you want to go for speed, to get to your destination, go through the middle of Belgium, Ypres, Waregem, Affligem (avoid Ninove and the road into Brussels, horrid!) Kortenberg, Genk, in which case you will pass very close to my house, and you are welcome to a cuppa....
Have fun,
ANTONISH
Posts: 2970
Joined: 26 Mar 2009, 9:49am

Re: Route from Dunkirk to WHPV Championships at Maasmechelen

Post by ANTONISH »

When you leave the ferry terminal at Dunkerque you will come to a roundabout where the ferry traffic takes the first exit (right), if you take the second exit (straight on signposted Mardyk) you can avoid the ferry traffic and have a fairly quiet ride to the T junction. Turn right and follow this road and it will take you to the main road you would have got to anyway but at a more convenient place. Either cross this road (signposted Craywick I think, which will lead you to the quieter roads) or follow the main road towards Dunkerque - there is a cycle path - I'm not sure how far it goes.
triker131
Posts: 21
Joined: 29 Aug 2012, 10:23am

Re: Route from Dunkirk to WHPV Championships at Maasmechelen

Post by triker131 »

Antonish, Thanks for the tip, I've followed your route on the map: straight ahead at roundabout is Route des Dunes, which connects to Route du Fortelet, which connects to the D1.
@chocjohn9 - thanks for the route advice (and the offer of a cuppa!). Maybe the most important thing is knowing which roads to avoid.
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