Ronde van Nederland
Quite nearly biking around the whole of the Netherlands
October 17 - 28, 2018 -- compiled by Jeff DePree
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Quite nearly biking around the whole of the Netherlands
October 17 - 28, 2018 -- compiled by Jeff DePree
There is a very circuitous, 1300km route that leads you around the entire circumference of the Netherlands. Some parts are quite enjoyable, but, due to sheep poop, cobblestone, and random forest breweries, it takes quite a lot longer than you might expect.
How-to Guide:
(caveat: I only made it through half, so perhaps the other side is totally different)
Flights: There are sometimes flights to Amsterdam for $330 roundtrip, but failing that, you can get to Paris or London for cheap and take a quick bus or 10 euro flight from there.
Bike Rental: There's a network of 300 spots throughout the Netherlands with bike rentals for $5/day. You can return them to a different location for $10 extra.
Lodging: Plenty of campsites for free/cheap, but if you don't bring camping gear, you can dig through booking.com and AirBnb and pay on average $40/night, which is a big pain and gets expensive fast, but you do get ridiculously huge breakfasts every day.
Food: Dutch Restaurants are crazy expensive, but groceries, farmstands, and Indonesian restaurants are cheap and frequent.
Trail quality: Really enjoyable mix of trails, though a bit hard to follow sometimes. Many unmarked detours due to construction and missing ferries.
Weather: Often cold, windy, and wet, but I did see the sun a few times.
How-to Guide:
(caveat: I only made it through half, so perhaps the other side is totally different)
Flights: There are sometimes flights to Amsterdam for $330 roundtrip, but failing that, you can get to Paris or London for cheap and take a quick bus or 10 euro flight from there.
Bike Rental: There's a network of 300 spots throughout the Netherlands with bike rentals for $5/day. You can return them to a different location for $10 extra.
Lodging: Plenty of campsites for free/cheap, but if you don't bring camping gear, you can dig through booking.com and AirBnb and pay on average $40/night, which is a big pain and gets expensive fast, but you do get ridiculously huge breakfasts every day.
Food: Dutch Restaurants are crazy expensive, but groceries, farmstands, and Indonesian restaurants are cheap and frequent.
Trail quality: Really enjoyable mix of trails, though a bit hard to follow sometimes. Many unmarked detours due to construction and missing ferries.
Weather: Often cold, windy, and wet, but I did see the sun a few times.
Pumpkins for 20 cents!
So much more boat beneath the waves!
Zurich: The glitzy banking capital of Friesland
This train station is somewhat lacking in utility
My bike and a random bomb
Morning traffic
Farmstand
Free trailside coffee stand.
Bizarre playground equipment
Old school drawbridge
Restaurants are expensive in the Netherlands, but the pancake and muesli diet comes out to right around $1/day.
Indonesian soup and rice
These bins seem to be about the equivalent of our gas station rotating hotdogs
This car has such a piddling engine that you're required to drive it in the bike lane. And if you're late for Mass, you can park it on the steps of the church.
This bridge not only has two bike lanes, but is flanked on both sides by pedestrian bridges.
At 37m, Europe's highest free-standing rock wall
The rock gym doesn't charge for shoes and harnesses - they just point you to bins full of old ones and let you figure it out -- the harnesses were mostly still intact.
Top of the climbing wall
Cooperative bouldering
So Dutch
Unmanned roadside date bar stand, with free samples!
This sign says bikes are allowed to proceed, but the incline seems a bit steep.
Terrance never felt like he really fit in with the other chickens.
Either Indonesian or Surinamese
Pancake house dessert
Hyper-realistic cave drawings
So German
The lettuce on top means this cheese-stuffed waffle is healthy.
Cologne cathedral
Fancy themed hostel
At breweries in Cologne, they automatically bring you a beer as soon as you sit down, and they keep bringing them to you unless you put a coaster on top of your glass to signal surrender