Holland to England
07-02-10, 03:37 AM
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Holland to England
Hi all
In a few weeks time my wife and I want to continue our cycling trip after taking a break from our 3000km, 51 day tour de France in the South of England. We just found out that the ferry from oostende is not taking bicycles. The next best thing seems to be Rotterdam-Harwich.
We are looking for suggestions for overnighting an Harwich and subsequent route to London.
Thanks in advance.
Rudi
In a few weeks time my wife and I want to continue our cycling trip after taking a break from our 3000km, 51 day tour de France in the South of England. We just found out that the ferry from oostende is not taking bicycles. The next best thing seems to be Rotterdam-Harwich.
We are looking for suggestions for overnighting an Harwich and subsequent route to London.
Thanks in advance.
Rudi
07-02-10, 01:33 PM
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Hi Rudi.
One possibility is to take the night ferry crossing to Harwich. You arrive at breakfast time, so you don't need to worry about accomodation. I've done that 3 times now, the cabins are quite nice and it's not much more expensive than the day crossing.
I've caught the train from Harwich. The station is just by the ferry terminal and the trains run to Cambridge and then London.
But presumably, you want to cycle to London. It looks like there are Sustrans routes that run from Harwich to London:
https://www.sustrans.org.uk/map
My experience has been that the Sustrans routes are mostly on road, but not too busy. If you try the CTC touring and expedition forum, you should be able to find more info. It's more focused on England.
https://forum.ctc.org.uk/
Good luck,
James
One possibility is to take the night ferry crossing to Harwich. You arrive at breakfast time, so you don't need to worry about accomodation. I've done that 3 times now, the cabins are quite nice and it's not much more expensive than the day crossing.
I've caught the train from Harwich. The station is just by the ferry terminal and the trains run to Cambridge and then London.
But presumably, you want to cycle to London. It looks like there are Sustrans routes that run from Harwich to London:
https://www.sustrans.org.uk/map
My experience has been that the Sustrans routes are mostly on road, but not too busy. If you try the CTC touring and expedition forum, you should be able to find more info. It's more focused on England.
https://forum.ctc.org.uk/
Good luck,
James
07-02-10, 02:46 PM
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Pretty amazed that the Oostende ferry isn't taking bikes - never heard of that before.
I agree with the suggestion that you look at the sustrans maps, their routes are usually well signposted and take you through some attractive country. But there are stretches through towns which aren't quite so clever.
Much depends on how much time you want to take. If you aren't in a hurry, I would not take the direct route southwest to London. I'd stay further North than that, going more or less due west from Harwich and turning south for London only when I was in the vicinity of Saffron Walden or maybe a bit west of that. That keeps you in the south part of Suffolk, and the north part of Essex, for a lot longer and these areas are full of really attractive little villages, as well as being easy cycling country.
I agree with the suggestion that you look at the sustrans maps, their routes are usually well signposted and take you through some attractive country. But there are stretches through towns which aren't quite so clever.
Much depends on how much time you want to take. If you aren't in a hurry, I would not take the direct route southwest to London. I'd stay further North than that, going more or less due west from Harwich and turning south for London only when I was in the vicinity of Saffron Walden or maybe a bit west of that. That keeps you in the south part of Suffolk, and the north part of Essex, for a lot longer and these areas are full of really attractive little villages, as well as being easy cycling country.
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