Touring in Europe - Route app

[Neil_Sc]

Taking the Harwich - Hook of Holland ferry in late May for 8 nights of touring in the Netherlands.

I don't usually use any cycle apps, but was wondering if anyone could recommend a decent route mapping app to use in Europe?

I'm staying in Delft and Amsterdam and likely to follow the North Sea route, but would be nice to have an app that is aware of the shorter distance paths in the Netherlands, particularly for the Haarlem to Amsterdam segment.

[smifffymoto]

Komoot.

[benny.c]

I’ve just spent a week in NL and forgot to take my Garmin so downloaded Ride With GPS for my phone. It worked very well and seemed to pick up all the cycle paths, no matter how small. I had a few minor issues with route planning when it thought certain paths were one way when they weren’t but otherwise it was spot on.

[neilr]

LF 1b is the cycle route from Hook of Holland up the coast. You turn inland off it at Katwijjk. I've cycled that way several times. Its a nice and easy route up to Amsterdam. Next time i want to go up to Zanvoort and in that way.

Its reasonably well marked but do look out for the sign posts and be prepared for them to disappear from time to time, don't worry though, its never hard to find it again and it is mostly well marked. My top tip would be to get a little familiar with how you get through places like Scheveningen around the edge of the Haig as though its not difficult, its easy to get a bit lost if you miss a signpost as I did the first time i went that way.

The only part that night trip anyone up is just after turning inland at Katwijk where you continue along the large canal towards Amsterdam (eventually) you have to follow the route (no longer LF1b i forget which one) and sort of turn left away form the canal up through a small industrial estate and then end up going right again taking you back to the canal. It s much easier than it sounds but it tripped me up the first time i went !

There's a drive through McDonalds about 20km from Katwijk where the route takes you though the car park which is handy if you want to stop, its about 10km ish from where you have to cross the railway line.

I dont use on bike GPS to follow a route so im sure you wont have any issues, but its dead easy without!

I love cycling in the Netherlands. Blasting around Amsterdam on a warm summer night after 10pm ish midweek (when there's less people about) is one of my favourite things to do on a bike. (watch out for the tram lines though!)

Hope thats been of some use. Have a great trip!

[wobblyweb]

We have just returned from 5 days in Holland, easy for us as living near Newcastle it was an easy ride down to North Shields and the DFDS ferry to Ijmuiden, ride to Haarlem then later down and around the bulb fields. Came back via Zandvoort. Once we got the feel for the cycle path numbers and using Google maps it was a doddle.

Now looking for another Euro ride 20/30 miles a day Any suggestions???

Thanks