A photo you took, today

[daveuprite]

Just back from five days on the Netherlands and Belgian TET. Time to relax...

Tell us more. Does it go through the Ardennes?

Is the netherlands section any good? (You heard, of course, about the dutch tourists who went to Norfolk and got altitude sickness.)

[UK-Rider]

Just back from five days on the Netherlands and Belgian TET. Time to relax...

Tell us more. Does it go through the Ardennes?

Is the netherlands section any good? (You heard, of course, about the dutch tourists who went to Norfolk and got altitude sickness.)

We took the Harwich Ferry to the Hook of Holland, and then moto'd 201 km down to Emmerich Germany to a hotel that is on the Netherlands TET for two nights. On the first day, we road rode 200 km northwest and then did parts of the North section of the Netherlands TET at the Bourtange Fort. On the second day we strapped panniers back on and did parts of the South section of the Netherlands Tet and stayed at a B&B on the border with Belgium. Then we did parts of the first half of the Belgium TET, one more hotel mid way at Tubize, and then final parts of Belgian Tet until the border with France, and then rode to Calais for the Eurotunnel home.

You can see the exact Tet routes at https://www.transeurotrail.org/netherla ... 53.69/6.35 and https://www.transeurotrail.org/belgium/#2.22/53.69/6.35 We used a Garmin Montana 610 to follow the routes.

Overall, we enjoyed the Belgian TET sections the most. There were some nice forest sections in the Netherlands, but it seemed that more than 50% of the parts we did in the Netherlands were light to very, very deep sand, and on loaded adventure bikes that was less than fun. The most challenging was a 6 km or longer mountain bike track about 3/4rds of the way through NL that was basically a wide trench of deep, soft sand with constant 3 foot whoops. After a couple of KMs, we both partly fried our clutches just climbing out of the trench. Others might love that type of surface, but I think we prefer forest tracks with occasional rocks or mud.

The Belgian TET had some sections of exceptional farm tracks that went on for many KMs but were really enjoyable on our bikes-- some cobblestones, some sand, some gravel, some dirt, some rock and even some fun climbs. Other sections in Belgium seemed more tailored to small narrow bikes (going down single tracks with adjacent fencing making the width about 4 feet, when our bikes with panniers were a bit too wide). Some of the farm tracks were over-planted with corn, so we turned around so as not to hurt crops. Some tracks started in farmyards, and we didn't want to knock on doors to have equipment moved so we could get through. Some lanes were so rutted (like 2.5 feet deep) that we didn't want to get stuck. Some had 3 feet of over-growth and we plowed through on narrow ridges somewhere beneath with deeper ruts on each side.

So, we had to pick and choose, but the choice went on for mile after mile and was entertaining. We respected other trail users (horses, walkers, tractors and farm trucks) and in 4 days so only one other motorcycle on the route. We had no drops or damage. We didn't get caught up in doing every trail and every mile-- with our bikes and skill level, that might have taken 4 days per country.

Here are a few more pics-- next year, I think I would return to Belgium and do four days, maybe from a centrally rented house so we could leave panniers at the home base.

[daveuprite]

Thanks - great write up.

[Steve T]

Linn of Dee Glen






Steve T

[Oop North John]

On the A837 near to Loch Borralan looking towards Suilven.

[johnnyboxer]

York

[SHarper]

68F65B73-FEA6-43CC-884E-D75AB940044C.jpeg (222.67 KiB) Viewed 3077 times

[OnHellas]

Homer, Alaska.

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[macvisual]

Out this afternoon for a lovely relaxed 35 mile bimble, ended up at the David Stirling memorial close to Doune, Central Scotland.
Beautiful weather today......for a change.



David Stirling memorial by APM Photography, on Flickr

[macvisual]

Untitled by APM Photography, on Flickr