Navigating through a landscape where you speak the language is tough enough. Navigating when signs are a mystery and people incomprehensible is a little more interesting. Luckily, having started in the Netherlands, bike signs were abundant and very easily decipherable. And in a tough spot, many people know English, and gesturing, English, mediocre French, and sporadic German seemed to convey enough to result in help to varying degrees of success.
In some places the bike lanes were well marked on the ground, especially so as to distinguish it from foot traffic and minimise opportunities for collisions.
Much of the Netherlands is a web of two kinds of bicycle lanes. One, major bike lanes, are actual marked routes (line data), the others, are a web of marked and numbered intersections (point data) with connecting possible routes. The first is much easier to navigate, and frequented by more people (allowing for a greater number of campsites and eating opportunities), the second is more likely to give a view of the "real" Netherlands, campsites are generally cheaper, and gives you more flexibility to vary your route as wind directions and sightseeing opportunities arise. I did a combination of the two, but found that the second was much more suited to my style of bike riding. However, on days when I wanted to cover more distance, it was nice to take the smoother, less interrupted major routes.
I used a combination of high and low-tech navigation tools. These consisted of my ipod touch with preloaded maps of Europe (and when internet was available, google maps), to physical maps, a small compass (so useful!) and on sunny days, the shadow put forth by my bicycle. I spent several days doing large chunks of distance solely based on direction (vaguely south west), as due to the flexibility of my schedule, it didn't really matter where I ended up from day to day, as long as at some point I put some kilometers behind me and ended up in Paris (which I did).
On days when I did plan, I would generally look for 2-3 campgrounds, One 40km away, another 50-60km, and the third 60-80km. Then, as the day progressed, I could see how long I wanted to be cycling, and where I would want to spend the night. It also gave me the flexibility to see a location and decide I didn't want to stay there, and move on to the next place.
Sticky situations arose when signs were less easy to see, or were nonexistent, but, really, the Netherlands was a dream. Navigation throughout Belgium was also pretty great, although signs were less well maintained, and major routes were less common, to France where I've had trouble finding information about bike routes, and have done much more road biking (please prove me wrong and point me in the right direction), not entirely less pleasant, as I see more of the towns than I did throughout the Netherlands, but definitely more vehicle traffic intensive.
Another problem I came across was seasonal options for crossing bodies of water. I added a full day's biking as one of the ferries noted on my map turned out to be only operational June through September. This meant a quick shuffle to find a new campsite, and a day's biking further along the coast to catch a bus through a tunnel underneath the channel. However, when there were ferries, they were so easy and cheap to use. Lovely.
I'm sure there will be more challenges, but the problem solving and adaptation of plans is part of the fun. Plus, it's like one gigantic orienteering adventure, and as a geography geek, that can only be a good thing. I won't get into the possible theses I see branching out before me (undergrads, apply here for ideas) . . . but suffice to say, the mind boggles at how interesting it is to use my brain to get from A to B (to Z) through different environments and multiple countries using different modes of transport and different navigation aides.
In some places the bike lanes were well marked on the ground, especially so as to distinguish it from foot traffic and minimise opportunities for collisions.
Much of the Netherlands is a web of two kinds of bicycle lanes. One, major bike lanes, are actual marked routes (line data), the others, are a web of marked and numbered intersections (point data) with connecting possible routes. The first is much easier to navigate, and frequented by more people (allowing for a greater number of campsites and eating opportunities), the second is more likely to give a view of the "real" Netherlands, campsites are generally cheaper, and gives you more flexibility to vary your route as wind directions and sightseeing opportunities arise. I did a combination of the two, but found that the second was much more suited to my style of bike riding. However, on days when I wanted to cover more distance, it was nice to take the smoother, less interrupted major routes.
I used a combination of high and low-tech navigation tools. These consisted of my ipod touch with preloaded maps of Europe (and when internet was available, google maps), to physical maps, a small compass (so useful!) and on sunny days, the shadow put forth by my bicycle. I spent several days doing large chunks of distance solely based on direction (vaguely south west), as due to the flexibility of my schedule, it didn't really matter where I ended up from day to day, as long as at some point I put some kilometers behind me and ended up in Paris (which I did).
On days when I did plan, I would generally look for 2-3 campgrounds, One 40km away, another 50-60km, and the third 60-80km. Then, as the day progressed, I could see how long I wanted to be cycling, and where I would want to spend the night. It also gave me the flexibility to see a location and decide I didn't want to stay there, and move on to the next place.
Sticky situations arose when signs were less easy to see, or were nonexistent, but, really, the Netherlands was a dream. Navigation throughout Belgium was also pretty great, although signs were less well maintained, and major routes were less common, to France where I've had trouble finding information about bike routes, and have done much more road biking (please prove me wrong and point me in the right direction), not entirely less pleasant, as I see more of the towns than I did throughout the Netherlands, but definitely more vehicle traffic intensive.
Another problem I came across was seasonal options for crossing bodies of water. I added a full day's biking as one of the ferries noted on my map turned out to be only operational June through September. This meant a quick shuffle to find a new campsite, and a day's biking further along the coast to catch a bus through a tunnel underneath the channel. However, when there were ferries, they were so easy and cheap to use. Lovely.
I'm sure there will be more challenges, but the problem solving and adaptation of plans is part of the fun. Plus, it's like one gigantic orienteering adventure, and as a geography geek, that can only be a good thing. I won't get into the possible theses I see branching out before me (undergrads, apply here for ideas) . . . but suffice to say, the mind boggles at how interesting it is to use my brain to get from A to B (to Z) through different environments and multiple countries using different modes of transport and different navigation aides.
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