London-Harwich-Hoek-Amsterdam by bicycle during blockade

[Via Bank]

I'm visiting Amsterdam for a conference in June, and am planning on going by train and ferry to avoid having to contend with Schiphol and the faff of flying.

This is during the blockade of the Hoek van Holland line - so the usual route is a replacement bus to Schiedam and pick up the train to Rotterdam, then to Amsterdam. However, as it'll be summer, and given that the Netherlands is a sensible country which sees a bicycle as a means of transport rather than a piece of sports equipment, I was planning on taking my bike with me, and then cycling to the nearest station to reach Amsterdam.

I think the closest (open) station to Hoek van Holland by road is in Den Haag - at which point I might as well just go to Den Haag Centraal and take a train to Amsterdam from there. It's about 21km, which should be easy enough (my commute to work every day is 10km.)

Does anyone have much experience with taking a bike on the Stena Line Harwich-Hoek sailings? Any horror stories?

And as for the train from Den Haag to Amsterdam: how reliable are the Intercity services via Leiden? In the return direction (on a Wednesday), I need to be at the Hoek terminal by 21:15 (when check-in closes.) The first off-peak departure from Amsterdam at 18:34 gets into Den Haag at 19:26, with a change at Leiden. This seems like it'd be a little tight. I can cycle quickly if needs be, but an hour and forty-nine minutes to go 21km could be cutting it fine - especially if a train gets cancelled or I get a puncture.

Any views on whether I should travel before the evening peak instead? What are the rules on taking a bike on the edge of the peak hours - does the journey have to be completed before 1600, or does it just have to start before 1600?

Thanks in advance for your opinions/expertise/derision!

 

[jopsuk]

I did the Hoek-Hawrwich ferry last year (only in that direction). There were lots of cyclists. The cycle park on board is a section of sturdy barriers with a number of lengths of rope for securing your bike.

The ferry staff are well used to hordes of cyclists, they know what they're doing as far as loading and unloading them goes.

Obviously, once you're off the ferry on the Hoek side, you're in paradise. Follow the red on white roadsigns for cycle routes; these are often shorter than car routes.

 

[radamfi]

I've done it a few times with a bike and it was fine. I've cycled to Amsterdam in a day from Hoek van Holland via Den Haag. You can follow the red cycle signs for the quickest route but there is a slightly longer but more scenic route via the coastal dunes by following the green signs.

Personally I don't like using the train to Harwich and prefer getting the train to Thorpe-le-Soken as it is less hassle with bikes.

 

[telstarbox]

You might also get good advice on the YACF forum - https://yacf.co.uk/forum/

 

[306024]

Personally I don't like using the train to Harwich and prefer getting the train to Thorpe-le-Soken as it is less hassle with bikes.

Manningtree now has lifts if you are changing there, but there are through trains from Liverpool St and intermediate stations to Harwich International that connect with the Stena sailings too. No hassle there.

 

[30907]

Looks to me using Google Translate (I searched fiets in trein) that you have to complete your journey by 1630 or start after 1800, but I would have thought even 1800 from Amsterdam a bit tight.

http://www.fietsen.123.nl/dossier/fiets-en-trein

 

[Groningen]

Hoek van Holland - Rijswijk is (according to Google Maps) about 17 kilometers. Cities you pass are Naaldwijk, Kwintsheul and Wateringen. Last month i did about Hoek van Holland to Den Haag 2 hours with shopping in Monster. With the wind in my back i reached the city limits of Den Haag in 1 hour.

 

[MisterT]

Bikes are not allowed during peak hours, so you have to complete your journey before 16:00h or after 18:30.

 

[Groningen]

It is all day on Saturday and Sunday + holidays + July and August!

 

[radamfi]

Is it worth taking the bike with you? Not only do you have peak restrictions to worry about, but you aren't able to take advantage of Dutch Flyer fares and have to pay separately for the train on both sides and the ferry. You can easily hire a bike in NL if necessary.

 

[Groningen]

A bike on the train in the Netherlands is 6,10 euro a day.

 

[dutchflyer]

There are 2 types of bike-rental here in NL;
OV-fiets, in NS-style yellow+blue, cheap and on a long-time contract-ONLY, as so often, payable via Dutch banks-IDeal (=direct debit Dutch style), in fact if you hurry very much you can even get a free personal OV-chipcard with it-untill 1/5. Yearly cost for subscription is 1 cent. Pay for use, also after the month is finished via automatic debit.
Via commercial renters-there are loads and lots in AMSterdam, none @Schiphol, cost per hour is often more as that 6 €. We have learnt to avoid those poorly trained and not knowing the rules (yes, there are) tourists AMAP.
There is a very nice laid out, near complete separate bike-''road''/path from HvH to the outskirts of den Haag via the Sea-dunes. But then you face crossing city.
There is also for a little over half a ditto bikepath toward Rotterdam-mostly along the Waterweg-canal (with the big ships to R'dam port).
Also you may consider cycling to Delft (where I went to grammar school), via the Westland glasshouses where the tomatoes for export (as long as there is no real Brexit) for UK-Brekkies grow.
Distance for all 3 is nearly the same. den Haag is closest to AMS by train-4 per hour from both main stations.

 

[radamfi]

OV-Fiets is great, but not for tourists. I hired a bike at Dordrecht station 3 weeks ago for 12 euro a day.

 

[Groningen]

At Prins Hendrikstraat 205 in 3151 AH Hoek van Holland there is a bikerental. Price for a bike with 7 gears is 9 euro a day or 40 for 1 week.

http://www.petervanleeuwentweewielers.nl/fiets-verhuur-prijslijst/

 

[AlexNL]

Have you considered parking your bike at Den Haag Centraal instead of taking it along with you when you go to Amsterdam? This way, you don't have to worry too much about the peak restrictions for bike transport. It also saves you a few quid, storage is cheaper than having to buy two "Dagkaart Fiets".

 

[ge-gn]

On a loosely related matter, is the bus from Hoek van Holland Haven to Schiedam an official rail replacement? ie, are rail tickets acceptable for this journey or do I need to pay the driver a bus fare? Apologies for the hijack.

 

[radamfi]

On a loosely related matter, is the bus from Hoek van Holland Haven to Schiedam an official rail replacement? ie, are rail tickets acceptable for this journey or do I need to pay the driver a bus fare? Apologies for the hijack.

Nope, for ticketing purposes the line already comes under RET and so RET fares and not NS fares now apply on the replacement bus services. However, through fares between England and the Netherlands via Greater Anglia, Stena Line and NS continue to be offered as before, now including RET validity.

 

[MisterT]

An exception to this are Interrail tickets. They are actually valid on the RET between Schiedam and Hoek van Holland (an

 

[Groningen]

New news from the transition from train to light rail between Schiedam and Hoek van Holland. For this project there was 400 million euro available, but there is at least an overrun of 55 million and 35 million euro more. Opening will be over about 1 year. Problems: railsecuritysoftware, planning errors and bad co-operations between the builders. Each month costs 3,5 million extra.

 

[AlexNL]

Each month costs 3,5 million extra.

This figure is the missed ticketing revenue.

 

[stut]

The only really scary bit about taking your bike is riding it on the concrete flyover (over the railway line) at Harwich! Everything else is fine. There is actually a bike rack on board one of the vessels, but it frequently gets filled up. Doesn't matter, the crew will sort you out.

If you are a regular traveller and want access to iDEAL as a method of payment (e.g. to get access to OV-fiets or similar) this is now possible for foreigners using neobank services like bunq.nl (free, but you do have to pay for a Maestro card).

 

[Via Bank]

I did make the journey in the end - not when I’d expected, but it’s perfectly achievable and may be a good option for some people if they want to go to Den Haag or avoid the replacement bus.

It’s worth noting that the most direct (and most comfortable) route from Hoek to Den Haag is on the LF1 route, which is mostly fietspads - absolutely lovely and smooth to ride on, but as far as I could tell, unlit, so no good at night. On the way back from Den Haag I went via Wateringen and Naaldwijk, which was alright, but had a few closures and diversions on the way, and quite a few cycle tracks with uncomfortable tiled surfaces.

Aside from that, it was perfectly lovely and reasonably time-efficient. I was in Den Haag by 10. Had I not kept stopping to take photographs of the lovely scenery, I could’ve been there by 9.

Other tips: the concrete flyover at Harwich is indeed scary (although scarier than it looks - a vehicle following you has less reason to tailgate and try to overtake than on the public highway, since you’re on the same ferry.) The Saturday evening trains out of Amsterdam towards Den Haag are also positively rammed - there was space for me and my bike, but it was a tight squeeze and you may end up letting a few trains go (they’re every 15 minutes or so, though, so not a huge problem.) I did notice the bike racks on one of the ferries (I think Stena Hollandica), but ended up lashing my bike to one of the moveable barriers.

Stut that’s a good shout, I wouldn’t have thought to set up a challenger-bank account in NL. It’s a shame NS don’t seem to have any way to use OV-fiets casually, but this may be the next best thing if you’re a regular visitor.

 

[stut]

The lack of opening up of OV-fiets to visitors may be deliberate (as with BiciBike in Barcelona). The Netherlands, and Amsterdam in particular, see such an overwhelming volume of tourists, there's a risk that the scheme (which is much more of a nationwide keep-the-bike-for-a-few-hours scheme than a half-hour city scheme) would simply become unusable by residents for 6+ months of the year. This way, tourists still have access to local rental companies, and locals (and those who can make the effort as regular visitors) get to use the scheme as it was intended.

Is the LF1 route the one via Monster (I love that name - even moreso that it's Dutch for 'sample') and Kijkduin? It's pretty good. You can do it at night if your lights are good enough (I'm used to cycling on unlit country lanes, though, so my comparison may be different). It gets a bit tricky to follow once you hit the western harbour at Scheveningen, but I quite like that area, so it's a good point to break the journey, find a nice bit of fish for lunch (or some kipsaté met frites) and head into the city.

If you really visit the region a lot and want to go all out on challenger bank accounts, N26 are offering a free account with a free Maestro card and Mastercard if you can register with a German address (or neighbouring country - doesn't have to be yours, they're more than happy for it to be a c/o address as long as you can verify your identity). So, you can have Bunq for iDEAL, N26 for Maestro (which works fine for all your 'pinnen' transactions in NL), something like Transferwise or Revolut to get the currency transferred fairly cheaply, and free SEPA transfers between the two. The Mastercard gives you free transactions (cash/card) throughout the Eurozone. Amex will let you register a Dutch-based Euro card against a Bunq account too (good to keep a Flying Blue account alive) which NS have just started to accept - but it's iDEAL you really need for the Blokker/Bakker Bart train day ticket offers.

Other challenger banks are available I'm just preparing for whatever happens in the next year or so...

 

[AlexNL]

You'll also need iDeal to make the mandatory € 0,01 payment to open an OV-fiets account, as NS will automatically deduct the rental fees from your bank account.

 

[Groningen]

There are talks not to extent the line to the sea; saving 50 million Euro. Also there comes a inquiry and that is discussed in February in the city councel of Rotterdam.

 

[Via Bank]

Is the LF1 route the one via Monster (I love that name - even moreso that it's Dutch for 'sample') and Kijkduin? It's pretty good. You can do it at night if your lights are good enough (I'm used to cycling on unlit country lanes, though, so my comparison may be different). It gets a bit tricky to follow once you hit the western harbour at Scheveningen, but I quite like that area, so it's a good point to break the journey, find a nice bit of fish for lunch (or some kipsaté met frites) and head into the city.

Yes. I turned right at Monster though and headed straight into Den Haag via Loosduinen. Next time I visit (which I expect will be early 2018, around May) I'll stick to the coast for a bit longer and go via Kijkduin and Scheveningen.

There are talks not to extent the line to the sea; saving 50 million Euro. Also there comes a inquiry and that is discussed in February in the city councel of Rotterdam.

Good grief - so where would the line terminate? I can't imagine Stena Line being too happy if this means a permanent replacement bus between Hoek van Holland Haven and the nearest metro station...

 

[radamfi]

Good grief - so where would the line terminate? I can't imagine Stena Line being too happy if this means a permanent replacement bus between Hoek van Holland Haven and the nearest metro station...

The old line terminated at Hoek van Holland Strand, further west than Hoek van Holland Haven. It is proposed to move Hoek van Holland Strand nearer to the beach. The Stena Line terminal at Hoek van Holland Haven will be served regardless.