Cycling in the Ardennes

[Stephanie Plum]

Anyone done it? Any tips of places to go, not go, conditions etc? Any ideas and help gratefully received. We’d be on mountain bikes but happy to not do hard core single track trails. Gravel tracks/quiet lanes absolutely fine.

[julianm]

We enjoyed our visit over there but no bikes!

I did spot this & the southern part of her ride looks pretty interesting.

https://rijden.uk/blog/flemish-ardennes-cycle-ride...

Do hope you have a good time!

[Hugo Stiglitz]

From memory it's not very hilly, just undulating. We stayed at a great campsite next to a huge lake. I can't remember what it's called now!

[Stephanie Plum]

Thanks both. Hugo if you can recall the name of the lake it would be interesting! And thanks for the link Julian, I’ll study it carefully, we aren’t planning on going until early May but we will do our best to enjoy it

[Hugo Stiglitz]

Et voila

https://www.eurocamp.co.uk/campsites/france/ardenn...

So still and silent at dusk I remember. Sat there on the 'beach'.

The pizza there is great and the beer is Belgium bottled beer..

Or was when we were there

Edited by Hugo Stiglitz on Friday 29th March 20:15

[Stephanie Plum]

Cheers

[celestequattro]

Don’t confuse the Flemish Ardennes (= more north west and flat) with the Ardennes (as in La Roche en Ardennes getting towards the southern border with Luxembourg). Think Houffalize MTB trails. Home of BeMC MTB stage race is La Roche and its in Wallonia.

Flemish Ardennes, take the road bike. Ardennes, take the MTB and base yourself out of La Roche.

My 2pence worth anyway.

[Dog Star]

We did this in 2019 - we were on eMTBs but were just holiday leisure cycling.

We stayed in Houffalize and just cycled everywhere - bonus being you can drink Belgian beer and Mrs DS had a cooler box on her carrier.

There is a lovely cycle track to Bastogne - so museum, memorials etc to see. You can cycle down trails into Luxembourg.

Cycled to the La Chouffe brewery and got bladdered all day in the pub opposite.

Cycled to La Roche en Ardenne. And got bladdered there. Stopped in many bars on the way back. There’s a quite alarmingly long hill going into/out of La Roche if you’re not on an e-bike.

Would go again.

Would go again.

[Stephanie Plum]

Thanks both. Some useful tips there. We’ll be on electric bikes too hence hills hold no fear!

[celestequattro]

I was riding the BeMC stage race. No electric and brutal climbs all day every day. Great though.

And no beer until crossing the line on the last day. Recovery drink was a Chouffe!

[Dog Star]

Stephanie Plum said:

Thanks both. Some useful tips there. We’ll be on electric bikes too hence hills hold no fear!

We had a big day out and ended up in La Roche - when bombing down the massive hill (I think it’s something like 8km) I was getting quite concerned about how long it was and if we would have enough battery to make it back to base, especially when you’re kegged up.

I love Belgium - there are a lot of surely uninformed people who come up with nonsense like “it’s boring” and “drive across it as fast as possible” (presumably on the way to Germany to “stretch the legs” of their “V8 weekend toy” on the autobahn etc). It’s a lovely place, full of quaint villages, nice people, most of it is spotless and it has fantastic beer. A country of excellence. I’m off to Ghent and Bruges next month, not taking the bikes this time though.

2022 we did a cracking WW1 tour plus Holland around Eindhoven/den Bosch) and took our bikes with us. We stayed at a hotel at the Hooge Crater near Ypres.



Incidentally the Belgian Tourist board do gps routes for bicycles.

For example

https://www.fietsroute.org/cycling/route/WW1_Westh...

We did the Westhoek 80 on a boiling hot day and it stopped at the St Sixtus Trappist brewery. Needless to say a libation was on the cards - evidently the best beer in the world. The monastery shop/bar even had charging points for e-bikes!!!

[Bilkob]

If you’re into history at all, especially Battle of the Bulge then the Ardennes are simply epic! Google ‘La Gleize’ and work from there. Oh, and it’s SODDING hilly!!!!!!

[Stephanie Plum]

Wow! Thanks so much all. And I am interested in WW history which is half the reason for going there. We’ve driven the Ring a few times but our only experience of the Belgian Ardennes was making our way back from there one time and taking a somewhat picturesque route. Thanks for the link to all the routes as well.

[Daveyraveygravey]

Dog Star said:

We had a big day out and ended up in La Roche - when bombing down the massive hill (I think it’s something like 8km) I was getting quite concerned about how long it was and if we would have enough battery to make it back to base, especially when you’re kegged up.

I love Belgium - there are a lot of surely uninformed people who come up with nonsense like “it’s boring” and “drive across it as fast as possible” (presumably on the way to Germany to “stretch the legs” of their “V8 weekend toy” on the autobahn etc). It’s a lovely place, full of quaint villages, nice people, most of it is spotless and it has fantastic beer. A country of excellence. I’m off to Ghent and Bruges next month, not taking the bikes this time though.

2022 we did a cracking WW1 tour plus Holland around Eindhoven/den Bosch) and took our bikes with us. We stayed at a hotel at the Hooge Crater near Ypres.



Incidentally the Belgian Tourist board do gps routes for bicycles.

For example

https://www.fietsroute.org/cycling/route/WW1_Westh...

We did the Westhoek 80 on a boiling hot day and it stopped at the St Sixtus Trappist brewery. Needless to say a libation was on the cards - evidently the best beer in the world. The monastery shop/bar even had charging points for e-bikes!!!

+1 for Belgium! We drive to Italy every summer, and nearly always go through Belgium. The point was to get the cheap fuel in Luxembourg, but it isn't as cheap as it was. We've had some really nice overnight stays in Belgium too.
I went at the start of the year with some buddies, took in two cyclo cross races. Again, the whole weekend was great, but all the locals knew about cyclo cross racing and were very enthusiastic.