Oct 22, 2016 - DAY 3 Monday: Bougival - Conflans Sainte Honorine - Auvers sur l'Oise. (cycling @ 30km). Leaving Bougival
BIKE & BARGE HOLIDAYS IN EUROPE 2016
FRANCE, BELGIUM & HOLLAND - PARIS TO AMSTERDAM 22-day / 21-night easy to moderate STANDARD cycling cruise
Departs:
From Paris to Amsterdam 1st – 22nd October, 2016
Cost:
$3600 (usually $5100) per person twin share
VALUE CRUISE - SAVE $1500
Single cabin supplement on request (limited)
Includes: Twin share cabin (comfortable twin or bunk beds with quality mattresses), ensuite shower/toilet, bed linen, towels and weekly cabin cleaning, use of washer/dryer for laundry, breakfasts aboard the barge, packed lunches on cycling days, 6 dinners per week, coffee, tea, biscuits and afternoon snacks. 21-speed bike hire, lock, pannier and water bottle, ferry fares and experienced cycle tour guide, city maps, route notes. Highlights: Paris, Palace of Versailles, Auvers-sur-l’Oise, Chantilly, Wallonia, Peronne and the Somme, the Ardenne, Ghent, Bruges, Dordrecht, Amsterdam. Forests, woodlands, rolling hills, canal tunnels and history. Bike & Barge cruises combine two popular ways of exploring Europe (cycling and river cruising) allowing partners of different abilities and interests to holiday together (trips are just as interesting for leisure cyclist OR enthusiasts). Unpack once and come ‘home’ each night to a wonderful meal and a comfortable cabin with your own bathroom. These Standard class barge cruises offer indoor/outdoor dining areas with excellent meals. There are simple, twin or bunk-style cabin accommodation with comfortable full size mattresses, all linen, portholes and ensuite shower/toilet. Well-maintained multi-geared bicycles with panniers are provided – comfortable, easy to ride and ideal for this route – and a fascinating and varied guided cycling and sightseeing program with free time. Explore this diverse and fascinating countryside, with visits to historic and cultural centres, sampling the wine, beer and local produce that make these areas of Belgium, France and Holland famous. Each day you can join our cycle guide on a bike tour, ride independently and meet up with the group at the boat, or stay aboard to enjoy the cruise. In the evenings our guide will often offer a city walk or a suggestion of other activities. The cycling is interesting and varied - in France we follow country roads and the occasional bike path. In Belgium we cycle through relatively flat country, mostly along river banks or towpaths. Around major cities there is of course some traffic. Your guide will avoid the traffic wherever possible, taking small country roads, towpaths, paved forest trails and the occasion cobblestone road in cities and major towns. Around Paris you may also avoid the traffic by staying on the barge or by taking public transport if you prefer. A highlight for Australians will be the two-night stop in the Somme region of Northern France, not far from VillersBretonneux where ANZAC Day was celebrated for the first time in 2008. These two nights will allow access to the many important World War One ‘Western Front’ battle sites and memorials. We have scheduled free time to relax or to arrange to visit Amiens, Villers-Bretonneux, Fromelles or Bullecourt (at your own arrangement possibly using local transport or a local tour operator). The last week is spent exploring The Netherlands where the ingenuity and technical skill of man triumph over the power of nature and hold back the encroaching sea. This is the opportunity to explore varied and interesting rural countryside, with visits to historic and cultural centres, sampling the cheeses, beer and other local produce that makes this part of Belgium and Holland famous.
Call OUTDOOR TRAVEL on 1800 331 582 for details or reservations
Suggested itinerary: Please note this itinerary is a sample only and may be subject to change. Distances shown are approximate and may change if the cruise schedule so demands. Itinerary and mooring points are completely at the discretion of the ship’s captain and the cycle tour guide. DAY 1 Saturday: Paris Welcome aboard the hotel barge at about 2.00pm at our mooring point in central Paris. You may like to try out your bicycle on an introductory city cycle ride, or make yourself at home on the barge. Tonight your guide will take you on a city walk so you can appreciate the highlights of la ville lumière. DAY 2 Sunday: Paris - Bougival (cycling distance @ 40km) Every morning a substantial breakfast is served and you choose your own picnic lunch from the buffet. After breakfast we depart Paris by bicycle heading for Versailles. The beautiful Château de Versailles is one of the largest castles of the world and is UNESCO World Heritage listed. There may be a short time to tour the parkland and gardens but not inside the many galleries, chambers and grand corridors (do this before the tour). We continue on to Bougival, home to a number of French celebrities over the decades and one of the birthplaces of Impressionism. Painters like Monet and Renoir painted the light, the sky and reflections on the river here. DAY 3 Monday: Bougival - Conflans Sainte Honorine - Auvers sur l’Oise (cycling @ 30km) Leaving Bougival, we cycle to the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a French royal palace, which houses the national archaeological museum and has very beautiful gardens with a wonderful terrace viewpoint back across the city of Paris. We continue on to Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, at the confluence of the Seine and Oise Rivers. This is a popular location for weekend boating and sailing. Many beautiful boats, big and small, are often docked here. The town itself has a lovely ambiance and many skippers retire here to enjoy their twilight years. From Conflans we follow the Oise to Auvers sur l’Oise, a small village once home to many famous artists including Vincent Van Gogh – he created over 70 paintings in and around the village and he and his brother Theo are buried here (there is a chance to visit his grave site near the river). Time permitting you may like to visit the small museum in the Auberge Ravoux, where Van Gogh lived and worked. Exploring the village you may recognise some of the scenes painted by the artist, including the church and wheat fields with crows. DAY 4 Tuesday: Auvers sur l’Oise - Creil (cycling @ 40 or 55km) We follow the Oise upstream, diverging to cycle through the Oise-Pays de France nature reserve, the green ‘lungs’ of the northern Ile de France region, providing interesting and mostly flat cycling. Our route takes us past Chantilly, home to a storybook chateau, museum, beautiful gardens, racecourse and a museum to French horses. The stables here were built at the behest of a duke of Bourbon who thought he would be reincarnated as a horse – which is why they are so large and luxurious! We continue through forests to end our day in Creil, with its Gothic church (with a 13th Century interior and 16th Century tower). There is an opportunity to visit the museum here, featuring 19th Century provincial furniture, pottery and paintings. DAY 5 Wednesday: Creil - Compiègne (cycling @ 45km) We cycle through forests and typical French rural scenery to Compiègne. On the way, time permitting, we may visit a museum with art dating from the Stone Age. Compiègne has a chateau and a beautiful town hall or hôtel de ville. The lovely church, the Église St Antoine, has a collection of unique Greek porcelain. DAY 6 Thursday: Compiègne - Chauny (cycling @ 50km) Today’s route is more undulating with some hills. We cycle through the forest of Compiègne, perhaps stopping at to the Rethondes Armistice Clearing where the World War I armistice agreement was signed by the French, German and British in a railway carriage. A replica carriage and museum are well worth visiting. We also may visit the chateau of Pierrefonds - the castle has a museum with an ever-changing display of old bicycles, trebuchet (siege catapults), the original furniture and a beautiful ballroom. It is also the traditional starting point of the famous Paris - Roubaix cycling race. We continue to Noyon, a small but historic town, with the lovely cathedral of Notre-Dame, a museum dedicated to John Calvin, and the remains of Roman-era city walls. We end our day in Chauny, at the beginning of the Canal Saint-Quentin. Look for the monkey which is the city’s mascot. DAY 7 Friday: Chauny - Saint Quentin (cycling @ 45km) The barge cruises on the canal to our destination, the town of Saint Quentin, founded in the 2nd Century where two Roman roads met at the site of a ford across the River Somme. During the Middle Ages it was an important destination for religious pilgrims visiting the tomb of St Quentin. Its strategic position, on the border of France and on the trade route from Champagne to Flanders, led to its occupation, siege or devastation by foreign armies during the Hundred Years’ War, the Napoleonic Wars, the Franco-Prussian War and of course World War 1. The Gothic basilica housing the relics of St Quentin was begun in the 12th Century and took some 300 years to be completed. It was almost completely destroyed during WW1 – only the external walls and some 13th Century Renaissance stained glass windows remained – and has been beautifully restored. Saint Quentin has a definite Art Deco flavour as so many buildings were restored in this style following the war years.
DAY 8 Saturday: Saint Quentin (free day – optional cycling) The barge remains in Saint Quentin. You can relax on the boat or explore the surroundings by bike or on foot. There is a magnificent square here with many interesting buildings and museum/galleries. Perhaps take a train or arrange a taxi to Amiens or Ypres to visit WWI memorials, military cemeteries and battlefields including Villers Bretonneux (site of the Victoria School) with its strong ties to Australia. The Museum of the Great War is at Peronne for those interested in the history of this period. Dinner tonight is at your own arrangement locally. DAY 9 Sunday: Saint Quentin - Honnecourt (cycling @ 40km) The Canal Saint Quentin was commissioned in Napoleon’s time to carry coal. You may like to stay aboard the barge today as it cruises through the 5670-metre-long Riqueval tunnel. Ships are pulled along the tunnel by electric towboat – the process takes about two hours or you can join the guide cycling on an alternate route. Once through the tunnel we continue to Honnecourt, a small village on the Escaut (Schelde) River. DAY 10 Monday: Honnecourt - Cambrai (cycling @ 35km) We cycle today along the banks of the Escaut or the Canal Saint Quentin from Honnecourt to Cambrai, where the barge is moored overnight. Cambrai began as a Roman settlement and has changed hands several times over the centuries – once part of the Holy Roman Empire, then an independent bishopric, belonging to the Habsburg Empire and finally, in the 17th Century, annexed by France. Worth seeing are the Town Hall (a replica of the 19th Century building destroyed during WW1), the cathedral with its icon of the Virgin Mary and child, and the Porte de Paris, the old city gate dating from the late 12th Century. DAY 11 Tuesday: Cambrai - Tournai (cycling @ 50 or 65km) Today we cycle through the oldest regional park of France: the Scarpe-Escaut. The park is mostly forested or open pastures with many cycling and walking paths. We cross the French-Belgian border here heading for Tournai (called Doornik in Flemish), one of the oldest cities in Belgium. Tournai is a French-speaking town that was once a great cultural and economic centre of the region. Our Lady’s Cathedral, Saint-Brice’s church, the 13th Century Scheldt Bridge and the main square and city gates are well worth visiting. DAY 12 Wednesday: Tournai - Oudenaarde (cycling @ 45km) Our route today takes us along the River Schelde, and we leave French-speaking Wallonia behind; from here on we will hear Flemish spoken. We finish the day in Oudenaarde, called the pearl of the Flemish Ardennen, and known for its carpets, tapestries and silverware. There are over a hundred protected monuments including two that are UNESCO listed: the Begijnenhof and the town hall (with a fascinating museum). Perhaps sample a brown beer or fruit beer from one of the city’s breweries, or genever from the local distillery. DAY 13 Thursday: Oudenaarde - Ghent (cycling @ 40km) We follow the River Schelde through rural farmland towards Ghent. We arrive with free time to explore this lively, cosmopolitan and picturesque city. It is the capital of the province of Oost-Vlaanderen and has a small historic centre with impressive buildings dating back to the Middle Ages. Another town founded by the Romans in a strategic position, at the confluence of the Rivers Leie and Schelde, Ghent was a centre of the cloth trade in the Middle Ages and many of the merchants’ houses from this time period have been preserved. Ghent’s 15th Century Lakenhalle, where wool and cloth merchants gathered, and the adjacent bell tower, are worth a visit, as is St Baafs Cathedral which houses several masterpieces of medieval art including the Ghent Altarpiece, The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, painted by Jan van Eyck. DAY 14 Friday: Ghent - Bruges (cycling @ 35 or 60km) After breakfast you can choose to stay on the boat and enjoy the cruise or join our guide for the cycle tour to Bruges, a city often called ‘the Venice of the North’ due to its many canals. Bruges is the capital of the province of West-Vlaanderen and it dates back to the second half of the 9th Century. There are an enormous number of monuments and well-preserved medieval streets and squares to explore. Bruges is famous for its lace-work and fine chocolates. The city’s canals are floodlit at night making it exciting to walk, cycle or explore by water taxi. DAY 15 Saturday: Bruges (cycling @ 15 to 20 km) Morning free at leisure. It is possible to take part in a ride along the city ramparts and through the countryside to the nearby little town of Damme, the former seaport of Bruges. There is so much to see usually just a short walk from the mooring point. Return to the barge in the afternoon and after dinner there is an opportunity for a guided walk in the well preserved medieval town. DAY 16 Sunday: Bruges - Ghent (cycling @ 35 to 60 km) We leave Bruges and head back to Ghent, cycling along the canal. The ride is diverse and leads you through woods, fields and some little villages. The roads are good and not too busy. A second visit to Ghent gives the opportunity to see some of the many things you may well have missed the first time around. The medieval centre is certainly worthwhile visiting. In Ghent the guide will show you some more highlights of the town, which was once one of the biggest towns in Europe, including the Belfry (a 91-metre tall medieval bell tower), Gravensteen Castle and the many small street, canals and squares.
DAY 17 Monday: Ghent – Goes (cycling @ 45km) Early this morning the barge will cruise towards the Dutch border on the major canal that connects Ghent with the sea and into the province of Zeeland. This area was once a world of islands that are now interconnected by dams and bridges and protected by massive sea-barriers. Our barge takes us to the former island of ZuidBeveland, from where we cycle off along winding dykes through scenic landscape to the town of Goes. Tonight the barge is moored in Goes and there is the possibility of an evening walk in the town with the tour guide. DAY 18 Tuesday: Goes – Willemstad / Dordrecht (cycling @ 35 or 60 km) Today the more enthusiastic cyclists can choose to cycle the entire distance to Willemstad, otherwise enjoy a scenic cruise on the barge towards the northeast before cycling over the bridge across the Oosterschelde seainlet (which is 5km long) to the beautiful small town of Zierikzee, a good place for a coffee stop. We continue our ride on the island Schouwen-Duiveland where there is a newly expanded museum highlighting the impact of the 1953 floods. The museum houses four former caissons, which are big floating concrete boxes that were used to fill the gaps in the broken dykes. After the fishing village of Bruinisse we follow a dam to the island of GoereeOverflakkee and onto the town of Oude Tonge. We ride across a dam with a view of the Volkerak locks, the most extensive inland locks in the world. We finish our cycling tour in Willemstad, a former town of medieval fortification (the ramparts and moat still remain). If possible the barge will stay overnight in Willemstad, if not it will cruise onto Dordrecht during dinner. DAY 19 Wednesday: Dordrecht – Gorinchem (cycling @ 50km) If we did not get there the night before, the barge sets off early to cruise on the busy waterways (Diep and Noord) to Dordrecht, the oldest town of the province of Holland with an interesting, historic city centre. There are a number of cycling options today, to be decided with the barge crew and tour guide. The first is to head for the former tidal area of Biesbosch, which has been partially turned into natural reserve. We take a ferry to get there. Across the water there is a museum which tells you about the history and nature of the area. Alternatively we take a ferryboat to the UNESCO listed site of Kinderdijk with its 19 (water pumping) wind mills. This is a ride through a typical Dutch landscape with meadows, waterways, traditional villages and gardens. The final option is to make our way through Woudrichem and a ferry to the medieval castle of Loevestein. After this we take the ferry to Gorinchem where the barge is moored for the night. Day 20 Thursday: Gorinchem – Vianen (cycling @ 40 or 60 km) Today we are cycling through the countryside between two main rivers, bordered by beautiful villages and winding roads. There is an option to visit the glass museum in Leerdam. Overnight in Vianen, on the River Lek. Day 21 Friday: Vianen – Amsterdam (cycling @ 50 km) During breakfast our barge cruises to the village of Breukelen, where we begin cycling to the north along the scenic River Vecht with its beautiful houses and gardens. After a coffee stop we continue on to Weesp, a beautiful little village to have lunch. We then cycle into the city of Amsterdam. In the evening there is free time to take a canal tour in Amsterdam or you can perhaps join the guide on a city walk. Day 22 Saturday Tour ends after breakfast in Amsterdam.
Bike & Barge cruises are available from OUTDOOR TRAVEL in France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Romania, in Austria along the Danube, to the islands of Croatia, Greece and Turkey or Vietnam. River and canal hotel barge cruises are available throughout Europe (where bicycles are available for passenger use) - ask for details. Inn-toinn guided or self-guided cycling holidays are available in most destinations in Europe and in the UK. Contact the experienced staff at Outdoor Travel for more details and reservations:
Call Toll free 1800 331 582 or (03) 57551743 or Fax (03) 57501020 Email:
[email protected] Web: http://www.outdoortravel.com.au Mail: Outdoor Travel Pty Ltd, PO Box 286, Bright 3741, Australia
