North Sea cycle route
Germany
The North Sea cycle route, EuroVelo 12, is over 6.000 km long and a few years ago, we decided to cycle it in bits and pieces. Whenever we have just a few weeks, we were going to do a part of it.
There is no specific starting point as it really goes in a circle around the North Sea.
Years ago, you could still take a ferry from Bergen in Norway to the Shetland Islands and further on to Scotland. These ferry services stopped and we are not sure if we will include the Shetlands in the trip.
This part of the route is mainly in Germany and goes from Warffum in the Dutch province of Groningen to Esbjerg on the west coast of Denmark.
You can find photos of the previous part in The Netherlands under the short trips :
NSCR - Netherlands
You can find photos of the following part in Denmark under the long trips :
Around Denmark
Video on DILISTUFF YouTube channel
We have cycled this part with our eBikes in November. Doing this in winter time has the advantage that you are alone on the road and there is always a room available in hotels. The downside is that the day does not have as much daylight as during the summer months.
We were lucky that our eBikes have a rohloff hub with a belt as the roads along the coast were very dirty (sheep !!!) and in wintertime, it seems to be impossible to find a water hose to spray the bike for removing mud or the more smelly sheep poop.
Tips
While we have all the gear to go camping in wintertime, we will never combine cycling and camping when it's starts getting too cold to dry clothing, shoes, etc.. overnight.
This time of the season, we will also not make hotel reservations until later in the afternoon on the day of arrival. It's getting dark and colder in the late afternoon and there is as such a limit on how much distance you can cover, certainly when there are the unpredictable roadworks, cancelled ferryservices, worse weather conditions, etc...
Worth staying a little bit longer: Ribe
(Photographic impressions and tips via Menu)