Benelux Bicycle Tour July-2023

Bicycle tour of Benelux by Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 in July-2023. Garry’s 800-mile bike ride around the low countries. After Garry’s recent Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy (DCM) diagnosis, he has even more hospital appointments to attend than he had before. And only had a few weeks to spare between seeing different doctors. Garry had already been on a few short rides in England and cycled around Brittany in France a couple of months ago. Garry was running out of places to cycle within an easy distance from home.

One day while looking back through some old photos of his World tour, Garry realised that he didn’t have any photographs from Luxembourg. That was it; that’s where Garry could go, Luxembourg, to get some pictures. He could also include Belgium, another country Garry has visited in the past but again had few photos of. And to make it more of a ride, include the Netherlands and complete the Benelux region. Incidentally, the term Benelux is made up of the letters of each country. Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.

To reach Luxembourg, Garry cycled through France. And for a change, he caught the ferry to France from Newhaven, which made a little more sense for cycling to Luxembourg than the crossings from Portsmouth do. After arriving in France four hours after leaving the UK, Garry cycled as directly as he could to Luxembourg. He wasn’t expecting to cover his usual daily mileage (80 miles), as his DCM affects his cycling. Especially when it comes to hills, another reason for heading to the low countries, there are fewer hills. Or so Garry thought!

The mileage for this tour might not be that accurate. Garry’s trip computer packed up as soon as he left home, and he had to rely on Google. So, according to Google, the miles cycled on this tour were 813.

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