North Belgium and the coast - Ostend / Bruges - A weekend break or just something different

[Wapping]

North Belgium and the coast - Ostend / Bruges - A weekend break or just something different

The north of Belgium (other than Bruges) and the Belgian coast does not come up as an idea very often, not least as bods generally hightail to the Ardennes.

This simple idea from Tourenfahrer magagazine 12 / 20 might be of some interest.

At 176 km (a touch over 100 miles) it is not epic and it’s maybe not full of awesome twisties and definitely not stuffed with mountain views. But, as something easy and just different, it might be worth a look perhaps? Maybe for a weekend break, for those lucky enough to live somewhere where the Chunnel or boat to Calais is not a day’s treck or more away? Bruges alone is a popular destination in its own right.

The GPS route is available via the website, though it would be easy enough to create it from the map.

https://www.tourenfahrer.de/tour-datenbank/tour/tag-am-meer-980/detail/

 

[Smug]

Strange that it is titled North Belgian coast. It is virtually the whole Belgian coast.

 

[Wapping]

I had meant to call it North Belgium and the coast....

Which is what it will now, as if by magic, become.

 

[Ajay]

Thanks for this Richard.
Just a short hop from De Panne in the west, to the WW1 battlefields around Ypres. My first forays into that there foreign, over 30 years ago with mates who had relatives lost there. Worth a visit even without personal connection

 

[Micky]

About a mile north east of Zeebrugge, still on the coast, is the old Russian submarine you can have a walk (crawl) around

 

[Wapping]

Looks like the submarine has gone:

https://www.brusselstimes.com/news/...eebrugge-after-23-years-as-museum-attraction/

 

[Micky]

Looks like the submarine has gone:

https://www.brusselstimes.com/news/...eebrugge-after-23-years-as-museum-attraction/

Oh dear .... how sad

Thanks for the update Wappers

Anyway, we'll have another photo in case anyone is interested

 

[walkingpictures]

Adinkerke is a great place for cheap Belgian beer (and tobacco ) The Duvel was a third of the price that it is in this country.Brugge is a nice place to visit too.

Kimbo

 

[bowser]

Right up at the top of the map is Knokke-Heist just past there is Sluis its a couple of hundred METERS inside the Netherlands, and well worth a visit, lovely little town, good restaurants all the usual stuff canals, big windmill (now a restaurant).

Also if you ever get stuck for parts after a breakdown then the BM Centre near Schare are great people and very helpful (the W was missed out on purpose its the BM centre)

 

[Wapping]

Good tips, thank you.

I once took a jaunt to Ypres, but largely travelling over the reclaimed land, small bridges and dykes. Bits of it made rural Lincolnshire look like downtown Manhattan. I am not sure they were all ‘roads’ at all, more like farm footpaths, with sometimes a small railway, presumably for carrying vegetable produce? All good fun on a 1600.

You can find the same not far from Calais. This one always amuses me: ‘Lost hole street’:

Who said the roads of northern France are boring?

 

[GADGET]

Knokke Is very trendy, well worth a visit in the Summer

 

[Wapping]

To show how easy it is to do and to hopefully give bods some encouragement to do it themselves, I asked ViaMichelin and Kurviger to suggest routes to take me from Calais to de Panne, the most westerly point on the route shown in post #1.

Both route requests were geared to ‘Exclude motorways / tolls’, all be it the motorway section to Bruges is free anyway.

Not unsurprisingly the two suggestions differ, Kurviger’s algorithms differing from viaMichelin’s.

By changing the Kurviger routing preferences, it will alter the suggested route again:

The great thing about using ViaMichelin in conjunction with Kurviger, is that you can zoom in on the Michelin app, to display the roads in very good detail. This will enable you to get a picture of what sort of roads Kurviger is sending you down. Believe me, they can sometimes be quite small. Similarly, the Kurviger app can sometimes throw in some silly excursions off a road, just to make a left, right, left as the algorithm is loaded towards ‘not straight’. You’ll get used to this and you can of course edit these out or just ignore them as you ride along.

 

[AndyB_11]

Whenever I’m bored and want to look for possible routes on the bike I use the split screen approach with a route planner on one and either satellite or street level viewing on the other side. It’s more useful if you’re looking for the start of a byway for off road use but works equally well if you’re looking for places to wild camp

 

[Deleted account 210609001]

Strange that it is titled North Belgian coast. It is virtually the whole Belgian coast.

To be fair, all of Belgium's coast is the north coast!

 

[Deleted account 210609001]

Of those two non-autoroute routes up to De Panne, I'd suggest the one to the South. If you take the one to the closer to the coast, I'd definitely suggest hopping on the autoroute to avoid Dunkerque, which isn't particularly pretty. The D601 between Dunkerque and the Belgian border has some 140mph straights, if only it wasn't for those pesky speed limits. However, the roads are pleasant enough and on a sunny day the scenery is nice too. On a windy day there is nothing to stop the wind and cross-winds can be interesting.

There are some nice towns for coffee breaks and lunches. Gravelines and Bergues are both old towns with fortifications to look at, dating back to prehistoric times to keep the dinosaurs at bay, or possibly Napoleonic times. Or something in between. Pretty, anyway, with huge walls and moats. Gravelines is on the river Aa, cunningly named to ensure it comes at the top of any alphabetic list of rivers anywhere.

Similarly, off the motorway in Belgium can be good too. The coast road, certainly around De Panne, is not very exciting (though if you turn off the main road and go through the residential areas, you'll uncover some hidden houses that are the stuff of lottery win dreams). For about two minutes on the main drag it's nice to catch glimpses of the sea. And there are some long stretches right on the beach, alongside the tramway. Then you'll fed up of the interminable pedestrian crossings in the towns. Though I haven't taken it, I imagine the coastal tram ride is a better option if you want to enjoy the sea views.

I would personally choose the roads inland. They're not particularly fast but again, some lovely scenery. Bruges is a fine destination for a day or weekend - lots to see and do (outside pandemics) and a pleasant place to walk around, take a boat trip and eat and drink.

 

[bowser]

and if you go to Brugge then you MUST visit https://www.brugsbeertje.be/en/home-2/ Its been voted the best bar in Europe, opens at 1600, you can spend all night there , and opposite is a restaurant called the Hobbit, need to book but all you can eat ribs top notch.

Berties is really a fantastic bar if you like beer, I think something like 300 or so maybe more

 

[paul08]

and if you go to Brugge then you MUST visit https://www.brugsbeertje.be/en/home-2/ Its been voted the best bar in Europe, opens at 1600, you can spend all night there , and opposite is a restaurant called the Hobbit, need to book but all you can eat ribs top notch.

Berties is really a fantastic bar if you like beer, I think something like 300 or so maybe more

Yes, I am able

 

[paul08]

Yes, I am able

To second this recommendation. Spent a very boozy Erving here one Christmas. A specific glass for each beer

 

[walkingpictures]

and if you go to Brugge then you MUST visit https://www.brugsbeertje.be/en/home-2/ Its been voted the best bar in Europe, opens at 1600, you can spend all night there , and opposite is a restaurant called the Hobbit, need to book but all you can eat ribs top notch.

Berties is really a fantastic bar if you like beer, I think something like 300 or so maybe more

You're not wrong mate,spent a couple of nights in there,great bar.We had a late drink in there because my friend from Holland spoke some old dialect words to the owner and she loved it,couldn't refuse a late night drink!!

Kimbo

 

[bowser]

I have been going to that bar for well over 20 years, my first trip to Brugge on a bike was 1981