J&J's 5-country bike tour 2024

J&J Biking on EV6
J&J on the Adriatic Coast
J&J's 5-country bike tour 2024

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Ottawa, Canada ‐ Sep 14, 2024

Amsterdam, departure

Our flight home went smoothly, with a brief stop in Montreal. Our bikes and gear arrived intact. Once again we had a great bike trip! Although we didn’t get to Luxembourg, we did see a lot more of Fra...
Leiden to Amsterdam, Netherlands ‐ Sep 11, 2024

35.4 km

↗️ 115 m

+19

Amsterdam, day 2

+4

Amsterdam, day 2

We took the train to downtown Amsterdam, about 20 minutes to get to Central Station. We walked over to the meeting spot where our walking tour guide was to meet us at 2 pm. Our tour guide, Robert, was...

Leiden to Amsterdam

We had heavy rain and winds all night. Thank goodness we had brought a tarp to throw over our tent to give us an added layer of protection. We chatted with the other campers in the shelter over breakf...
Kinderdijk to Leiden ‐ Sep 9, 2024

76.9 km

↗️ 180 m

+13

Leiden, day 2

Leiden, day 2

All was dry this morning!! We had a good sleep in and then, had our breakfast in the little shelter. We walked into Leiden, with our first stop at the tourist information center. We had a self guided...

Kinderdijk to Leiden

We decided to go to Leiden, which we were told was a beautiful city. First, however, we went south to Dordrecht, the oldest city in Holland, to check it out and have coffee. We rode past the windmills...
Day 2 afternoon ride back to camp ‐ Sep 8, 2024

6.9 km

↗️ 22 m
Day 2 morning ride to Kinderdijk

7 km

↗️ 29 m
Evening ride to see the windmills lit up ‐ Sep 7, 2024

18.2 km

↗️ 29 m

+7

Kinderdijk, day 2

+6

Evening ride the see the windmills

Evening ride to see the windmills lit up

What a beautiful scene!! We look forward to visiting the site and touring the open windmills tomorrow.
Beusichem to Kinderdijk

54.7 km

↗️ 91 m

+7

Kinderdijk, day 2

It rained last night but we woke up to cool temperatures and partly sunny skies with no rain in the forecast. So, we knew that everything would dry out once again. We had a big breakfast and left to v...

Beusichem to Kinderdijk

We were pretty wet after the night of rain. We packed everything up and rode about 15 km to our breakfast stop in the small town of Zijderveld. There was a town fair going on so a lot of people out. W...
Elst to Beusichem ‐ Sep 6, 2024

54.8 km

↗️ 84 m

+3

Elst to Beusichem

We started our day of riding about 9 am in a nice cool temperature. We quickly got through Elst and were back in the beautiful countryside. We had a tailwind for most of the way along flat paved bike...
Afferden to Elst ‐ Sep 5, 2024

47.6 km

↗️ 277 m

+6

Afferden to Elst

We had a nice leisurely breakfast. We left our cozy cottage about 9:30 am. The morning was overcast and a nice cool temperature for biking. We rode along open country bike paths and through some cute...
Herongen to Afferden ‐ Sep 4, 2024

56.3 km

↗️ 131 m

+3

Herongen to Afferden

It rained off and on all night but it wasn't cool. it briefly stopped while we were having breakfast but as soon as we packed up and rode away, the rain started again. It was a nice ride despite the r...
Langst-Kierst to Herongen, Germany ‐ Sep 3, 2024

47.6 km

↗️ 130 m

+5

Lanst-Kierst to Herongen

Langst-Kierst to Herongen

It was a beautiful sunrise over the Rhine River this morning. It was an overcast morning but a nice comfortable temperature. We had breakfast in a little kitchenette for the campers, a nice cozy spot....
Cologne to Langst-Kierst ‐ Sep 2, 2024

65.7 km

↗️ 106 m

+2

Cologne to Langst-Kierst

We packed everything up and started the process of taking all our gear down the 4 flights of stairs. We managed to get everything down with no incidents. A nice sunny day for riding. We headed out of...
Remagen to Cologne ‐ Aug 31, 2024

63.5 km

↗️ 129 m

+14

Cologne, day 2

+2

Cologne, day 2

This is our 40th wedding anniversary!! We are as happy together as we were on September 1, 1984, with a wonderful family and many good friends. We had a nice and relaxing morning with a big breakfast...
Koblenz to Remegan ‐ Aug 30, 2024

54.3 km

↗️ 143 m

+9

Koblenz to Remagen
Bacarach to Koblenz (Guls) ‐ Aug 29, 2024

58.8 km

↗️ 132 m

+11

Bacarach to Koblenz (Guls)

We all loved the little town of Bacarach but it was time to leave. We got an early start today. Beautiful sunny skies riding along the Rhine with nice temperature to start. We stopped several times to...
Mainz to Bacarach ‐ Aug 27, 2024

50.7 km

↗️ 151 m

+14

Bacarach, day 2

+9

Bacarach, day 2

Judy got up early today to get some sunrise photos and go to the bakery, about a 10 minute walk away. Lovely cool temperature and clear skies. We managed to get a load of clothes cleaned in the campsi...

Mainz to Bacarach

Up early and said good bye to our friends that we had met from our Italy trip. We crossed the old bridge in Mainz and headed out of town. It took about 9 km to get out of Mainz and into the countrysid...
Beibesheim am Rhine to Mainz ‐ Aug 26, 2024

49.2 km

↗️ 154 m

+12

Beibesheim am Rhine to Mainz

Very cool overnight. After looking at the map and other resources, we decided to go back to the ferry at Gernsheim to catch the ferry to the other side of the Rhine River, as it appeared to be much mo...
Altrip to Beibesheim am Rhine ‐ Aug 25, 2024

64.9 km

↗️ 161 m

+5

Altrip to Beibesheim am Rhine

We had rain overnight, which cooled the air, and provided a much more comfortable ride than yesterday afternoon. Initially we rode through some nice shaded areas. Then, we were back out in the open co...
Rulzheim to Altrip ‐ Aug 24, 2024

55.7 km

↗️ 124 m

Rulzheim to Altrip

Another sunny day with a cool morning breeze. We rode through a large forest this morning so lots of shade. Then, we rode beside the Rhine River for a short while. There was more water traffic today w...
Roeschwoog to Rulzheim ‐ Aug 23, 2024

65.5 km

↗️ 139 m

+4

Roeschwoog to Rulzheim

As we were playing a s few rounds of the card game, 99's, a few young ladies pulled in beside us late last night and set up their site. We chatted with them for awhile and then, turned in. We got away...
Strasbourg to Roeschwoog, France ‐ Aug 22, 2024

48 km

↗️ 62 m

+3

Strasbourg to Roeschwoog

Strasbourg to Roeschwoog

We left the beautiful city of Strasbourg about 9:30 under blue skies, and cycled along a lovely shaded wooded area and then, through a few small towns. The half timbered houses continued to appear in...
Saint-Louis to Strasbourg ‐ Aug 19, 2024

63.2 km

↗️ 83 m

+17

Strasbourg, day 3

+17

Strasbourg, day 2

+5

Strasbourg, day 3

We took the tram back into Strasbourg early this morning. We had planned to see the inside of the Cathedral first thing since many people had told us to get there early. We arrived at the Cathedral do...

Strasbourg, day 2

Our first full day off the bike since we were in Ghent 16 days ago. It was a beautiful sunny day, not too hot, as we explored the beautiful city of Strasbourg. We took the tram down to Cathedral squar...

Saint-Louis to Strasbourg

Cool, fresh, overcast morning. Today's ride was mostly along the Canal de la Marne au Rhin. It was flat with well maintained bike paths for the most part. We eventually had sunny skies. We entered the...
Parroy to Saint-Louis ‐ Aug 18, 2024

59 km

↗️ 264 m

+5

Parroy to Saint-Louis

It rained during the night but we had a brief period between 6 and 9 am where it stopped raining. So, we got up early, packed up and we left the campsite by 8 am, the earliest departure so far. It sta...
Villey-le-Sec to Parroy ‐ Aug 17, 2024

62.8 km

↗️ 153 m

+7

Villey-le-Sec to Parroy

All quiet in the campground during the night. We picked up our croissants and bread as we left. Overcast and a nice comfortable temperature. We cycled beside the Moselle River and some small canals...
Saint-Mihiel to Villey-le-Sec ‐ Aug 16, 2024

65.1 km

↗️ 497 m

+6

Saint-Mihiel to Villey-le-Sec

Very quiet all night. Cool morning. Once the sun rose over the hill, our fly and ground sheet dried up. We left the campsite about 9:15. We cycled on the road about 20 km, rolling hills. Pretty views...
Verdun to Saint-Mihiel ‐ Aug 15, 2024

37.5 km

↗️ 167 m

+5

Verdun to Saint -Mihiel

It didn’t rain overnight but a lot of our stuff was still wet. Sunny and cool this morning. We had coffee and a croissant in the camp restaurant before packing everything up. We got out of Verdun a...
Doulcon to Verdun ‐ Aug 14, 2024

46.5 km

↗️ 176 m

+3

Doulcon to Verdun

A thunder and lightning storm lit up the sky for a few hours early this morning. It seemed very close to us for awhile. As a result, it broke the heat and we woke to a much cooler morning. We pack up...
Mouzon to Doulcon ‐ Aug 13, 2024

43.7 km

↗️ 392 m

+5

Mouzon to Doulcon

Surprisingly, we slept well. It was quiet and calm all night. Once again the forecast is hot and sunny today so we got up early again and we rode away from the campground at 8:15. The route took us on...
Charleville-Meziers to Mouzon ‐ Aug 12, 2024

48.4 km

↗️ 149 m

+2

Charleville-Mezieres to Mouzon

Remagen to Cologne

An overcast and cool morning. We left camp about 9 am. We had a nice bike path to ride on today. Lots of shade. Our first stop was to take pictures of the Rhienhotel Dressen which is where Hitler and...

Charleville-Mezieres to Mouzon

It was a warm night. We got up early so that we could get an earlier start and finish earlier than usual. The forecast is hot and sunny. Our plans have changed for this part of the trip. We have decid...
Fumay to Charleville-Mezieres ‐ Aug 11, 2024

54.1 km

↗️ 217 m

+13

Fumay to Charleville-Mezieres

it became quite cool this morning. There was a lot of dew in the tall grass where we had set up our tent. Plus, the sun did not rise over the hilltop until we were ready to leave. Thus, we packed up e...
Emines to Fumay ‐ Aug 10, 2024

65.3 km

↗️ 243 m

+7

Emines to Fumay

Vincent brought us some milk for our cereal in the morning. We packed up and left their place about 9:45 am to look for the Eurovelo 5 route, a short distance away. Once on the EV5 we had a beautiful...
Waterloo to Emines, Belgium ‐ Aug 8, 2024

55.1 km

↗️ 544 m

+4

Waterloo to Emines

We chatted with Luke and Oscar over breakfast and then we left Benoit's place about 10 am. Our first stop was The Lion's Mound, erected between 1824 and 1826, commemorates the spot of the battle of W...
Hekelgem to Waterloo ‐ Aug 7, 2024

52 km

↗️ 533 m

+7

Koblenz to Remegan

We left camp early as we planned to visit Deutches Eck in Koblenz, the point at which the Moselle river meets the Rhine river. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out as we had planned because they were set...

Hekelgem to Waterloo

It had rained a little during the night so we had to pack up everything wet, again! The good news is we left all our panniers and other bags under the umbrella on the terrace, so all was dry. After br...
Ghent to Hekelgem ‐ Aug 6, 2024

48.7 km

↗️ 138 m

Ghent to Hekelgem

We left our cozy little apartment in Ghent about 10 am and rode through the busy morning traffic of the city. Once out of the city we rode along paved dykes for most of the way along the Schelde Rive...
Tielt to Ghent ‐ Aug 4, 2024

43.2 km

↗️ 84 m

+15

Ghent, day 2

+4

Ghent, day 2

We are very comfortable in our 2 bedroom apartment in the heart of downtown Ghent. Our second day in Ghent was spent touring the city in the sunshine. This morning, we walked a short distance passing...

Tielt to Ghent

Sure enough we had rain last night!! But, we stayed dry since we were under cover, in the shed!! We left Wim's place about 1030. A nice day, cloudy and a tailwind, and not too hot. Countryside riding...
Ieper (Ypres) to Tielt ‐ Aug 3, 2024

61.8 km

↗️ 254 m

+9

Ieper(Ypres) to Tielt

We had a nice easy ride day. We stopped to visit the Canadian memorial in Passendale, a lovely and peaceful site overlooking the valley, lined with maple trees and red hedges surrounding the site. We...
Violaines to Ieper (Ypres) ‐ Aug 2, 2024

47.8 km

↗️ 217 m

+2

Violaines to Ieper (Ypres)

Our ride today started with nice flat roads until we got close to the Belgian border, when the terrain changed to be quite hilly. After climbing a few hills, we stopped in Dranouter for something to e...
Arras to Violaines, France ‐ Aug 1, 2024

47.4 km

↗️ 275 m

+12

Arras to Violaines

Another rainy night and morning. We left Vincent's place with rain gear on. We had a good breakfast in the main old square. Then, we met Mary in a small suburb outside of Arras and headed off towards...
Albert to Arras ‐ Jul 31, 2024

39.5 km

↗️ 358 m

+11

Albert to Arras

Thunderstorms, heavy rain and wind during the night. We packed up everything wet with the hopes of some dry weather today and tonight. After a couple of hours of riding through the countryside with so...
Amiens to Albert ‐ Jul 30, 2024

44.9 km

↗️ 199 m

+19

Amiens to Albert

The light show on the cathedral last evening was excellent. This morning we packed up and left our little studio apartment in Amiens. About 4 trips down the elevator got everything down!! As we depart...
Abbeville to Amiens ‐ Jul 28, 2024

46.5 km

↗️ 105 m

Abbeville to Amiens

The nights are still quite cool, down to 13-14 C, which we did not expect for this time of the year. We will wait and see how this may change as we move inland but we may have to buy some extra layeri...
Le Crotoy to Abbeville ‐ Jul 27, 2024

46 km

↗️ 64 m

+2

Le Crotoy to Abbevile

Heavy dew in the morning made everything wet again. We had our breakfast and left the campground about 10am once our fly had dried out a bit. Another easy day of riding along flat bike paths with a ta...
L'Epy to Le Crotoy ‐ Jul 26, 2024

47.4 km

↗️ 90 m

+3

+4

Wimeruex to L'Epy

L'Epy to Le Crotoy

It rained most of the night but we woke up to sunny skies, We let our tarp and tent fly dry up before we packed it up for the day. We had a pleasant day of bike riding, flat and mostly paved surfaces....
Wimereux to L'Epy ‐ Jul 25, 2024

47.4 km

↗️ 314 m

Wimereux to L'Epy

We love it when we can get fresh bread, croissants and pastries delivered right to our campsite!! The croissants are very buttery, flaky and delicious! More hill climbing today but lovely countryside....
Calais to Wimereux ‐ Jul 24, 2024

44.4 km

↗️ 542 m

+12

Calais to Wimereux

Today we followed the Eurovelo 4 route. This was the first time we have been challenged by hills. The route took us up and down hills and valleys, into quaint little villages and passed beautiful fiel...
Dunkirk to Calais ‐ Jul 23, 2024

62 km

↗️ 100 m

+10

Dunkirk to Calais

We got on the bikes only at 1130 this morning. We are now following the Eurovelo 12 route so the different signage along the route took some getting used to. We travelled on various types of surfaces...
Middelkerke to Dunkirk ‐ Jul 22, 2024

50.6 km

↗️ 116 m

+2

Middlelkerke to Dunkirk

The on-site bakery was a bonus for our breakfast today! Today's ride was mostly along the beach front. This beach is very wide and long with white soft sand. The entire strip is hotels and condos, wit...
Burge to Middelkerke, Belgium ‐ Jul 21, 2024

39.9 km

↗️ 55 m

+12

Bruge to Middelkerke

+26

Bruge to Meddelkerke

Bruge to Meddelkerke

We are happy that the weather seems to have turned, as we have another sunny and warm day!! We had a short ride today. The ride was mostly on a beautiful flat trail along a canal. We saw a lot of rowe...

Bruge, day 2

Another sunny day!! We took the bus into Bruge in the morning and arrived in the town square about 1030. We looked around and admired the old buildings until we met our tour guide for a food tour of B...
Ertvelde to Bruge ‐ Jul 19, 2024

36.2 km

↗️ 39 m

Ertvelde to Bruge

We got a late start today as we knew we didn't have very far to go. We stopped in a little town called Eeklo for coffee and then arrived at our campsite about 1:30pm. This campsite is about 1.5 km to...
Kessel to Ertvelde ‐ Jul 18, 2024

102.2 km

↗️ 210 m

+4

Kessel to Ertvelde

Nice sunny day! We made our first stop in Lier, a small city just south of Antwerp. We sat in main square and had a coffee and croissant. A local resident stopped to talk as he was curious about our l...
Baarle-Hertog-Nassau to Kessel, part 2 ‐ Jul 17, 2024

12.7 km

↗️ 26 m

+3

Baarle-Hertog-Nassau to Kessel

Another sunny day but not too hot with temperature around 24 C. Today, we visited Baarle-Nassau (The Netherlands) and Baarle-Hertog (Belgium). The people in these two towns, and two countries, work to...
Baarle-Hertog-Nasssau to Kessel, part 1

44.2 km

↗️ 54 m
Baarle-Hertog-Nassau, Netherlands ‐ Jul 16, 2024

50.9 km

↗️ 56 m

+9

Balen to Baarle-Hertog-Nassau

Balen to Baarle

We did not get the rain as expected overnight We woke up to a nice sunny morning. We said our goodbyes to Marja and left for Baarle-Hertog-Nassau. The bike riding was easy going, along a large canal....
Balen, Belgium ‐ Jul 15, 2024

58.1 km

↗️ 114 m
Zonhoven ‐ Jul 14, 2024

81.1 km

↗️ 207 m

+2

Zonhoven to Balen

+9

Veldhoven to Zonhoven

Zonhoven to Balen

Another sunny day. Yahoo! Packed up early and left Johnny's place around 8:30. We rode to another unique cycling experience called Cycle Through Water. The cycling trail goes through the pond from one...

Veldhoven to Zonhoven

It was a chilly night-down to 9 degrees and heavy dew in the morning. But, sunshine today! We left camp about 9:30. We had a nice ride along canals, wooded paths and green countryside. We arrived at t...
Veldhoven, Netherlands ‐ Jul 13, 2024

44.1 km

↗️ 83 m

Den Dungen to Veldhoven

Bike in Trees

Den Dungen to Veldhoven

There was more rain in the forecast so we got up early and left before it started at around 7:30am. It rained off and on most of the day and was quite chilly. We decided to make it a short ride day an...
Den Dungen ‐ Jul 11, 2024

85.2 km

↗️ 145 m

+4

Utrecht to Den Dungen

Den Dungen, day 2

The rain started about 7:15 am and continued for most of the day. We sat in the kitchen shelter, and chatted with some of the other campers, drank coffee, surfed the internet, and played backgammon an...

Utrecht to Den Dungen

Beautiful sunny day and first day with no rain. We decided to try to make it to a small village outside of s-Hertogenbosch, called Den Dungen, about 85 km away. Knowing how long we had to go so we got...
Gouda to Utrecht ‐ Jul 9, 2024

41.6 km

↗️ 68 m

+10

Utrecht, Day 2

+8

Utrecht, day 2

Sunshine early this morning but small rain showers here and there. We visited Utrecht today through a walking tour. Our tour guide was fantastic. So knowledgeable and entertaining. What a pretty littl...

Utrecht

After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we went to the Gouda Cheese Experience. This was an excellent interactive display of the history of gouda cheese and the cheese making process. We checked out of t...
The Hague to Gouda ‐ Jul 8, 2024

56.9 km

↗️ 130 m

+12

Gouda

We took some time in the morning to dry out our tent, our tent fly and ground sheet. So, we didn't get started on the bikes until about 10 am. We rode into The Hague to check out the International Cou...
Haarlem to The Hague ‐ Jul 7, 2024

55.1 km

↗️ 276 m

+3

The Hague

Holland won the soccer match last night. As a result the folks in the campground restaurant and all around us were cheering, car horns were honking and fireworks went off. This all happened just as we...
Camping de Liede ‐ Jul 5, 2024

15 km

Haarlem

It rained quite hard overnight and continued to rain, off and on, all morning. So, we stayed put until it stopped around noon hour, and then we biked into downtown Haarlem to check out the market and...

Arrived in Amsterdam

John assembled our bikes at the oversized baggage area. Once our bikes were ready to go, we walked out of the airport to find the bike path to our campground. Needless to say, a few heads turned as we...
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
Montreal, Canada ‐ Jul 4, 2024
Ottawa, Canada ‐ Jul 4, 2024

Leaving Ottawa

Departure day

Finally, our departure day. Our bikes are packed in bike boxes and all our gear in 4 large panniers, 4 small ones and 2 handle bar bags. We are excited to set out, once again, for a bike tour in Europ...

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