Cycling from Dunkirk to Veurne

Рет қаралды 465

Жыл бұрын

Day One of 'The Ghent Weekender' The plan had been to ride all the way from Dunkirk to Ghent, however, a bit of illness meant cutting short the first day resulting in a train journey from Veurne to Ghent. This will be continued...

Пікірлер: 8

@davidcollier6520 Жыл бұрын

Really enjoyed this, great music to accompany delightful scenery - what more could you want. It made my row and indoor cycling laps a pleasure. Is it my imagination or do you have to push your bike a lot more during boarding and leaving the ferry?

@duveleffe1701 Жыл бұрын

I think you'll like the 'Journey Back' video a bit better - lots more to see on that. We usually ride on and off the ferries in the UK. The only thing they ever insist on is that you walk over the little ramps - the 'Fingers' that bridge the gap between the boat and the jetty. On the French side there seems to be no consistent rules. I've been told to both ride and walk on or off. Guess it may depend on numbers and how quickly they think the cyclists will be parked up when getting on or out of the way when getting off before releasing the vehicles. Sometimes the cyclists get kept until last before being released. Calais now has an escort vehicle that leads the cyclists out. We had to wait almost half an hour for it last time which was a pain.

@rogink Жыл бұрын

Cyclistes anglais: prenez la droite, s'il vous plait! I still haven't mustered up the courage to take my bike - plus panniers - to France, then cycle through Belgium to Netherlands. But I spent a couple of weeks in NL a few weeks ago, hiring bikes for day trips. The funny thing is that, although NL beats anywhere else for bike infrastructure - and of course the number on bikes - it's not that easy to hire a bike. Sure you can hire a bike from a shop for the day, but unlike every major city in Europe, nowhere in NL can you pick up a bike - Boris style - and drop it at your destination. I guess the argument against a bike hire scheme is that all Dutch people have at least one bike, so a bike hire scheme would just be for tourists. And even if it was for tourists, where would you find the space, considering how much is already devoted to bike parking?

@duveleffe1701 Жыл бұрын

Go for it - you'll be fine. I think it's a lot less stressful riding over there compared to the UK. Easy to navigate via canals and rivers too. I think there's a 'Donkey Bike' facility in some NL cities which looks quite similar to the Boris bike scheme.

@KeithPollard Жыл бұрын

You get around a bit! Nice and flat… my kind of cycling. What bike are you using? Road or hybrid?

@duveleffe1701 Жыл бұрын

I love it over there and go as often as I can - There's been a bit of a glut lately as I've got two years of Covid frustrations to get over. Yes, completely flat. The only lumps tend to come from bridges crossing roads or canals. I took a hybrid for this weekend trip - purely because it has holes in the frame to screw a pannier into, but the riding we did was totally suitable for a road bike. Two more videos to come...

@garybarker9139 Жыл бұрын

I thought that in France the one approaching the roundabout has the right of way?

@duveleffe1701 Жыл бұрын

Not always - I understand there are differing rules depending on the roundabout. I presume you're referring to the van that almost drove into us at 4.40? Priorité à Droite does not apply at that roundabout. The warning signs confirming that are inverted triangles with Cédez le Passage, which are at every entry road onto it. At 4.42, you can see the one right in front of the van. More details here.. www.frenchentree.com/living-in-france/driving/right-of-way-driving-on-french-roads/