Belgium (all)

From June 16 to August 1 2008, I cycled from Alta to the North-Cape, there I started a 7-week trip through Finland Sweden Denmark Germany Netherlands Belgium and France back to Switzerland.

This is the website and travelogue of The Project VELAIA. 22 year old velosopher, environmentalist and often minimalistic outdoor adventurer Daniel N. Lang has decided to go around the world by recumbent and upright bicycle after finishing an epic journey of more than 17.000km from Paris to Beijing as a rider of the Beijing to Paris 2007 Carfree Rallye, following coastlines for hundreds of kilometers, crossing deserts during mid summer in the Middle East, Central Asia and China and climbing some of the highest passes of the world under extreme conditions in the starting Tibetan winter.

After Eurasia he cycled Australia, New Zealand and the United States and is now on a tour through the South American Andes, starting in Caracas, Venezuela and cycling his way down to Chile at the time of writing this (beginning of September 2008).

I'm at one of those grave intellectual impasses that have been known to bring even greater minds than my own to a standstill. I have an orphan sock. Trivia, you say. Ha! I think not.

The cause of this problem is surely the work of that Slovakian KGB Agent, foolishly disguised as a laundress in Svolen. She stole it, I'm sure. Probably for a DNA sample to impress her superiors in Bratislava. They've been following my every move since the kustoms agent in Warsaw asked me the purpose of my visit to Poland. When I answered ``vacation'' the disbelief on his face gave him away. What, doesn't anyone go to Poland on vacation?

But back to the real problem, the orphan sock. The purists among cycle tourists would say, ``Throw it away, it's excess baggage. And while you're at it, cut three inches off that over-long toothbrush handle.'' But the Calvinist in me says, ``Save it. It's a good sock, nearly new.'' I've already reduced the weight of my baggage by losing its mate. Maybe I'll lose another and be back to even and lighter still.

Here is a trip that takes me to places I have dreamed about for 35 years. Mountains, Glaciers, Volcanoes and Easter Island.

Now includes my 2007 tour of Australia.

Read about my adventures by bicycle around the world,taking in Europe, the Near East, India, South East Asia, Australasia, and the USA on Route 66.

For something a little less ambitious, I have prepared details of a three-week tour of the beautiful landscapes of central Portugal.

Or if you prefer a central base and some day rides, read about my routes on the Spanish island of Mallorca - a cyclist's paradise, with warm weather, flat hinterland, stunning mountain climbs, and huge ice-creams!

Journey from south UK to northern Poland on a bike and a recumbent trike. We stayed in Poland for a few weeks and then travelled home via Denmark.

We left our jobs and sold our house to go on this trip - part of the reason for going was to explore whether we'd like to live in another country. The other reason was to satisfy my craving for long distance touring.

As a rider of the Beijing to Paris 2007 Carfree rallye to celebrate better, carfree mobility (see www.beijingtoparis.com), I am riding in the opposite direction from Paris to Beijing.

I try to get in contact with local cycling culture as much as I can and to spread peace over the world!

The bike I am undertaking this tour with is a recumbent touring bike equipped with high quality components. So far (end of July 07) I haven't had a single technical defect!

We are performing a 2 years (theoretically) trip around Eurasia. During the trip, we are performing a photo documentation for ICOMOS, an expert organization of UNESCO about cultural heritage. The database created will be available on the website.

We wish with this project to perform some challenging cycling, linking with useful actions.

Our website relates our diary and we are putting plenty of photos and comments (and lots of other fields are going to come, such as advices, technical data...).

Our Dutch cycling adventure started on September 3, 2006 with our arrival in Amsterdam. After a few days of sightseeing in and around Amsterdam we took the train to Apeldoorn and cycled to our first overnight stop near Brummen. Over the next 4 weeks we cycled up and down the Netherlands and to Brugge in Belgium. The trip exceeded our expectations and we enjoyed fantastic weather.

If you are planning a similar trip you will find a lot of useful information in our detailed trip Itinerary, day-by-day Trip Report, and the collection of Practical Tips.

If you would like to see the beauty of the Netherlands do not miss the Best Photos. You may also be interested in our recommendations for the best places to see, stay and eat in our Top 5. Enjoy your virtual bicycle tour with Glen and Margaret!

In spring 2007 we cycled Belgium on our new bicycles. In fact we cycled 550 km of the Benelux (Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg). The sun was shining we've got a week off so we got our gear and cycled away. On my webspace you'll find a description of the route and a few pictures of the trip to tell the story. Enjoy!

A short tour of some of Europe's flat bits...
1,029 km (639 miles) over 9 days from April 6, 2007 to April 14, 2007.

During the summer of 2006, I traveled with only a bicycle from Lviv, Ukraine down to Napoli, Italy, then north to Calais, France. From Calais I ferried to Dover, then rode to London to complete the voyage. I visited eleven countries and saw a variety of landscapes and weather. I had encounters with many people and most of these were positive. I also used this experience to draw attention to a little orphanage in eastern Ukraine, the Makiivka HIV / AIDS orphanage.

A travelogue from an 8 month, 16,000km bike tour from London to Beijing via the ancient silk roads.

In the summer of 2004 we cycled 2250 kilometer from Holland to Rome. During the trip we passed through 10 countries and cycled through the Ardennes, Vosges, Alps, Apennines and Tuscany. We enjoyed the beautiful italian villages and met a lot of other cyclists. A lot of pictures, tips and travel stories in Dutch (English translations will soon appear).

In 2004 fietsten we van Nederland naar Rome. We fietsten door 10 landen en door/over de Ardennen, Vogezen, Alpen, Appenijnen en Toscane. We genoten volop van de mooie Italiaanse stadjes en ontmoetten heel veel andere fietsers. Veel plezier!

In March of 2006 we set out to cycle from the UK to Tibet. We didn't quite make it but had a great adventure cycling across Europe in one of the wettest winters on record and then through the wilds of Central Asia. The site includes lots of images from Tajikistan one of the really countries for cycling.

I do not believe my eyes. Before us lies a wide, completely flat valley. A late evening sun shines over the valley below. The 2.400 meter high Monti Sibillini rise majestically out of the plains. This is one of the most beautiful valleys I have ever seen.

Willem Hoffmans and I set out from our homes in Holland for a journey to Italy. Through the Vosges, the Jura and across a lot of cols in the French Alps we reach the Italian border. In Italy we make a lot of detours through Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio.

I am hanging around the Cathedral for two hours, just to see the people passing by. Half of the passengers are locals, the others are pilgrims for Santiago. The pilgrims are full of stories about physical endurance, injuries, loneliness, spirituality, will power, faith, love and hope. A young girl thinks of giving up. An old man tells that he has slept on a churchyard because there were no normal facilities anymore. A special experience is meeting an old man who has a tremendous charisma; the man is constantly radiating from a seemingly enormous reservoir of stimulating energy. If it is actually possible to reach enlightenment in the way that Buddhists describe, then this man must have reached that stage.

Account of an eight week cycle journey through east, west, north, central & south Spain.

Joris en Stella fietsen vanaf augustus 2005 van Nederland richting China. Na een uitstapje door het middenoosten wordt nu de weg naar het oosten voor gezet.

We have cycled many kilometres trough Europe. On our first trip we cycled from Holland to Sweden. After Sweden we cycled trouhg Great Britain. And we cycled further trough Holland, Belgium, France, Spain and ended our tour 6000 km later in Faro (Portugal).

On our next trip we are going to cycle from Heraklion, Crete to Holland. This trip starts 14 April 2006. More info on our site. In the future we will expend our tours outside Europe.

``The Great Heart Travelers'' promote the blood donation riding around the world. They made a Europe tour of 5400 km in 2004, and a tour in New Zealand in 2005. (Follow the archive link at the bottom of the page to go to the European tour.)

A record of my progress from Alkmaar to Aix; by pedal power. From Netherlands to France via Belgium.

Most important is perhaps to point out that this for me was a most enjoyable thing to do. It was also an easy thing to do, and required remarkably little advance planning. I checked the bike and did the necessary repairs and changes, I drafted a route though the low countries and through France, estimated how long it would take me to do it, and with the minimum physical preparations I set off from Alkmaar on the 5th June.

I benefited of course from previous bicycling experience, I was aware of possible (physical) problems that might turn up, and was very careful not to let minor problems develop into more serious ones. Also extensive travel experience over the years (not much of it on bicycle) has taught me that there is always accommodation, there is food and drink to be found on the way. I climbed from Bonnieux up the hill [...] there was the most fantastic ride down the narrow valley towards Lourmarin, narrow hairpin bends, and again a downhill ride that seemed to go on forever.

We are 2 18 year old students. We made a tour across Europe from Holland to Sweden and Great Britain. After this we took the boat to Holland and set off to the south of Portugal.

In the spring (2006) we are going to make a trip from Anataly Turkey to Holland.

I am a child of 67 summers who enjoys cycle touring. My ride is a 1999 Litespeed Blue Ridge fitted with 46-36-24 chainrings and 12-25 cluster. I have largely abandoned camping, and use small hotels and restaurants. I carry a [credit] card, a set of bike clothes (shorts, jersey, shoes with Frog cleats, helmet, tights, a capilene long sleeve shirt and Gore-Tex jacket) and a set of dinner clothes (running shoes, nylon long pants and shirt and a polypro sweater). A small bottle of CampSuds for the evening clothes wash keeps me social. Rear panniers (now with rain covers) carry the clothes and a handlebar bag carries maps and camera. All together bike plus gear comes to about 35 lbs.

From Bob Lucky's Biking Page. This is a trip that I took in 2001, beginning at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, following the coast of Holland south and crossing into Belgium. East across Belgium through Bruges and Ghent, and then north back through Holland. There are nine chapters here with detailed description and lots of pictures.

The sun is now shining brightly, and for the first time I don my sunglasses. After a while the bike path turns into a dirt path that is shielded from the wind. Except for being careful about rocks and pools of water, this is very pleasant biking. [...] The bike path goes along the shore leading to the bridge, with sheep grazing on the landward side.

The 450 km London-Eindhoven tour will take place at June 24th of the year 2000 when we will start at 02.00 AM Greenwich Mean Time at the Piccadilly Circus. The London-Eindhoven tour is part of our project ``Europe is small'' because the center of major European cities are all within 24 hr cycling distance from Eindhoven. In 1997 we did start at the Arc de Triomphe for Paris-Eindhoven. This year we will do the London-Eindhoven tour and in 2002 Berlin-Eindhoven will be on the program.

The trip was an attemp to beat Fritz Hansens record from 1999. He did the trip in 20 dayes and nights, 3 hours and 12 minutes. I also went for his average of 289 km a day.

Why alone? It gives you some satisfaction, to know you did the trip alone, and without any help. If you bike in a group, you have to adapt yourself to the groups choice of route and daily distance. When you are alone you are completely free to follow your own rhythm.

An account of four and a bit weeks' cycling in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Liège-``Bastogne''-Liège: May 29, 1999; and Pseudo La Flèche Wallone: May 30, 1999. The site also has many bicycle rides in England.

An excellent and complete guide! If you like to ride on good pavement but away from car traffic, the towpaths of Belgium offer some of the best cycling in the world. You can ride across the country from north to south or east to west with only occasional concerns about cars or trucks. Much of the way is through pleasant farmland or nature preserve, with the loudest noise bird songs or the engine of a barge. The network totals a little over 2,000 km (1,200 miles), of which more than 1,600 km provide fine riding for any kind of bicycle.

The purpose of this guide is to describe the entire network from a cyclist's perspective. Included are all waterways in Belgium, and logical extensions into France and the Netherlands, which are or were within the last few centuries navigable and where it is physically possible to ride along or reasonably close to the water. Also included are a few connecting rail trails.

Fiets Vlaanderen is een initiatief van de Vlaamse Overheid, gericht aan recreatieve en woon-werkfietsers. De fiets die bijdraagt tot de leefbaarheid van onze samenleving, het milieu spaart en het mobiliteitsprobleem helpt oplossen staat centraal op deze site.

On these pages we will show you the cycling pursuits of John and Daniel Gould (from Australia) and our friend Peter (from Japan).Our challenge will be to ride from London to Istanbul through 12 countries in 2 months while having a great time and seeing the sights. Peter should be there to Italy and then its just 2 unless anyone else wants to join us. For father and son John and Daniel the quest will also try to raise money for Odyssey House.

Tabular data and altitude profiles of mountain passes all over Europe.

From the cycling pages of Karl Brodowsky: see the German Version for plenty of interesting reports in German.

Many of the towns in the Normandie have unusually large cathedrals. Eu was no exception. The cathedral is built on a hill. There is a youth hostel built into the base of the hill under the cathedral. It was more expensive than average (FF 93) but definitely worth the price. The picture to the right shows the hallway leading to the rooms, each with a vaulted ceiling and its own bathroom. Recommended.

Route descriptions, with maps of the recreational bicycle route network in West-Vlaanderen/Flandre occidentale and in the North of France.

A catalogue of excursion for walkers, mountain bikers and road cyclists, with maps, indices, etc.

570 km de sentier décrits en détail et 28 promenades. Vous êtes passionné de VTT ou de marche à pied et vous désirez de nouveaux horizons, sortir des sentiers habituels, vous oxygéner les poumons et la tête. Alors, suivez nos "Escapades" et partez à la découverte des plus beaux coins de Wallonie et des alentours.
Chaque mois, vous trouverez en feuilletant ces pages un nouveau circuit adapté à la marche ou au VTT.