|
Northern Europe Bike Trips
Get a sense of what’s along the route: visit the Northern Europe photo gallery, courtesy of our riders. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Our most international itinerary carries you through three countries, four languages, and an endless variety of landscapes! Flat Flanders’ brick cities and tow paths are perfect for bike exploration. The Ardennes’ bucolic valleys and pastoral plateaux are home to 78 species of deer (more than you need, really). Bike paths line the German Mosel, lined in turn by terraced vineyards, castles, and half-timbered villages. History is alive in the stone of each village: from Huns to Hapsburgs, from the Crusades to the Battle of the Bulge (Patton’s, not yours). Dine on North Sea mussels, eel in sorrel, Oostende grey shrimp, waterzoi, carbonade, and the ever-present frites, served with a dozen sauces. Wash it all down with “Belgium’s burgundies” – the kingdom’s famous beers – barrel-aged, spontaneously fermented; brewed from wheat, barley, rye; seasoned with orange peel, cloves, cherries.... Then pop the sumptuous local chocolates for dessert. Yum! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The following trips follow our “Northern Europe” itinerary: Northern Transcon (3 or 4 weeks) Cyclist's Paradise (2 weeks) Mousse Head (2 weeks) Northern Star follows this itinerary exclusively. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Day of the Week
|
Description
|
Typical distances, in km
|
|
Saturday
|
ARRIVE in BRUGGE If you are arriving from Champagne, you will reach Brugge around noon on Saturday. If you arriving from elsewhere, feel free to consult us for travel arrangements: see the trip’s Access Package for detailed options. We join our trip in the beautiful “Venice of the North.” Use the bike to explore Brugge’s stunning churches and guild halls, convents and canals. The Flemish primitives called Brugge home, and the Groeninge and Memling Museums are worthy stops. An authentic Belgian meal welcomes us: mussels, fries (yup, they’re Belgian: neither “French” nor “Freedom”), waffles, and the world’s best beers. “Half” Baggage. |
Whatever k your work in tooling around town
|
|
Sunday
|
BRUGGE LOOP A loop ride across the polders and out to the ocean, to Blankenberge. Visit the ornothological preserve in nearby Knokke, wander out onto the pier that reaches to the North Sea, try your hand at the odd bicycles in the velodrome. Then back to Brugge. If you want more k, you can head out to the ocean a second time, to the seaport of Oostende. Use your evening in Brugge to sip a Red Flanders Ale in the shadows of a windmill on the banks of a canal, while you pop Belgian chocolates. Can we work any more stereotypes into this scene? “Half” Baggage. |
variable k
|
|
Monday
|
FLEMISH CANALS to GENT Follow Flanders’ canals, lined with their oft dramatic trees. But don’t get to used to the flat terrain... you are soon headed for the hills. Through Damme, Brugge’s harmonious 15th century port (and now a restaurant mecca), and along the banks of the Leopoldskanaal. Eeklo offers a beautiful brick town hall, and a town square perfect for a waffel stop. When you get to Gent, you may want to visit the lively old town by street car rather than bike: rather too many cobbles! But just the right number of beautiful bridges, churches, squares and Flemmish facades. |
55 k
|
|
Tuesday
|
Through BRUSSELS to the ARDENNES Start the day with a train ride, from Flanders to Wallonia. The proactive can work in a stop in Brussels, for a quick look at the Grande Place, or at Belgiums iconic statue of a little boy urinating. If we were Belgian, we would ask for a new icon. Back on the bikes in Rochefort, home to Belgium’s greatest Trappist beer. Then perhaps a visit of Europe’s most imposing underground caverns, the Grottes de Han. Underground boats, trams, bars... a lot going on down there. On south through the hills: now we are earning our supper! The differences in scenery, not just in the terrain, are striking. And the journey is lovely. Fresh raspberries in Redu, cafés by babbling brooks, and a night in the country, under a thousand stars. “Half” Baggage. |
50 hilly k
|
|
Wednesday
|
POIX-St. HUBERT - ARLON / GAICHEL Across the Ardenne plateau, and through the “Bulge” battlefields of WW II. According to myth (and the label), the local beer is brewed by lawn gnomes. Maybe if you have enough of it, you'll come to believe that. Our destination is Arlon, the biggest town out here, but that is not saying much. Actually, we often stay on the Luxemburg side of the border, in neighboring Gaichel, just to say we did. |
75 k
|
|
Thursday
|
LUXEMBOURG, from end to end An extraordinary ride across the country of Luxembourg. How may times do you cross a country in a day, much less by bike? We reach the border within minutes of setting out, and cycle through the fascinating landscape of this peculiar country. The route is quiet and varied, the villages are quaint, the language is impossible. Yes, Luxembourg has its own language. Down the “Valley of the Seven Châteaux,” skirting Luxemburg City and its attendant traffic. Through the “Petite Suisse,” so named because of an imagined resemblance to Heidi-land. And finally, out the other side of the country, and to Germany, which we reach at the Mosel Valley. Night finds us (or we find it) in Roman Trier, which advertises itself as the oldest city in Europe. And so it may be, though if it is Roman we wonder how it beat Rome to the punch? A beautiful place, regardless. Explore the pedestrian center and the vestiges of a 2000-year-old past. “Half” Baggage. |
75 - 85 k
|
|
Friday
|
TRIER - BERNKASTEL A beautiful riding day on the bike paths that line the Mosel River, Germany's most beautiful. The villages are prosperous and well-kept, the weingartens are cheerful, pretty, lush, and full of same. When we enter the valley in earnest, you will travel 20 kilometers side to side for every 10 forward. Bernkastel’s most famous vineyard is called the “Doktor,” because of the therapeutic benefits its produce were said to bestow. They still do. |
70 k
|
|
Saturday
|
The MOSEL VALLEY, CONNECTION DAY Leaving Bernkastel, we follow a loop in the river to Traben and the facing town of Trarbach. Then on to Bullay, along the prettiest stretch of the river. Castles look down on your path — climb up to one if you are feeling strong. Long routers can do an extra loop of the river and ride in to Cochem. Or, 5 minutes on the train from Bullay brings you there. The trip ends upon arrival in Cochem for those completing their cycle journeys. Those continuing to Denmark catch a northbound sleeper train.... “Half” Baggage, wherever you are. Post-trip “Access Package” includes a Saturday hotel night and ongoing travel. |
25 - 130 k
|
|
Sunday
|
RHINE CRUISE, if applicable (Access Package subscribers only) Wake up in Boppard, on the banks of the Rhine, and amble down to the dock to catch your river steamer. Cruise up the Rhine, under the shadows of castles, to the Lorelei Rock. Sit in the sun on the upper deck with a cold drink and shades. We touch ground again beyond the rock, and head off in our different directions by afternoon train. |
departure dates