North Sea Coast Route (EV12)
| EuroVelo EV12 North Sea Coast Route |
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| overall length | 5,942 kilometers |
| location |
 United Kingdom Netherlands Germany Denmark Sweden Norway    
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| map | |
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| EuroVelo 12 | |
| Starting point | Shetland Islands |
| Target point | Bergen (Norway) |
| Places along the way | Lerwick , Inverness , Aberdeen , Edinburgh , Newcastle , Hull , Norwich , Harwich , The Hague , Noordwijk , Haarlem , Delfzijl , Emden , Wilhelmshaven , Bremerhaven , Cuxhaven , Stade , Hamburg , Esbjerg , Skagen , Grenaa , Varberg , Göteborg , Kristiansand , Stavanger , Mountains |
| Flooring | predominantly asphalt or water-bound surface |
| Traffic volume | low |
| Website URL | eurovelo.com |
The EuroVelo route 12 (North Sea Coast Route) , also known in Germany as the North Sea Cycle Route , internationally known as the North Sea Cycle Route , is a European long -distance cycle route . It runs over 5,942 kilometers through six states along the coast of the North Sea . The cycle route runs through Great Britain , the Netherlands , Germany , Denmark , Sweden and Norway . The route opened on May 5, 2001.
course
Scottish part (1242 kilometers)
The Scottish route begins in the Shetland Islands . The cycle path here consists of a largely identical return route from Sumburgh Airport in the very south of Mainland to the capital Lerwick and on over the island of Yell to Unst , where the North Sea Coast cycle path a few kilometers north of Baltasound is its northernmost point overall (if only not far north than Bergen in Norway). From here you usually drive back to Lerwick, from where you can take an eight hour ferry ride south to Kirkwall on Mainland (Orkney) . Here you either drive south from Kirkwall via South Ronaldsay to Burwick, where you can take a ferry to John o 'Groats . Alternatively, you cycle west from Kirkwall, once around Mainland, past the World Heritage site The Heart of Neolithic Orkney to Stromness , from where you cross the turbulent Pentland Firth to Scrabster near Thurso on the Scottish mainland.
The route runs near the rocky coast from Caithness to Sutherland . The section of the route to Lairg at the end of Loch Shin is one of the most remote in Scotland. From the heart of the Highlands , the route follows the Dornoch Firth along rivers and waterfalls to Tain .
From Tain, the summer route uses the historic ferry service from Nigg to Cromarty , which is part of an old main route connection to the north of Scotland. The winter route goes around the Cromarty Firth and through Dingwall . At Munlochy the routes come together again and continue over the Moray Firth and on to Inverness . The route continues through Aberdeenshire to Aberdeen .
From Aberdeen, the route runs via Stonehaven to Montrose and then along the coast to Arbroath and Dundee . After crossing the Firth of Tay, the route reaches the Kingdom of Fife and continues to the historic city of St Andrews . Continue via Falkland to Kinross , Loch Leven and Dunfermline . From North Queensferry the Forth Bridge leads to Lothian and Edinburgh . On a former railway line, it goes from here over the Moorfoot Hills through the Scottish Borders region to Coldstream and Berwick-upon-Tweed .
English part (1057 kilometers)
Dutch part (409 kilometers)
The route in the Netherlands consists of two well-known, already existing long-distance cycle paths: the Noordzeeroute ( LF 1 ) and the Waddenzeeroute ( LF 10 ), which are signposted in both directions. LF stands for " Landelijke Fietsroutes ". The tour leads from Hoek van Holland in the direction of Germany (i.e. in a north-easterly direction) because the west is the main wind direction in summer and the chance of a tail wind is greatest. Hoek van Holland is easy to get to by train. The route ends in Bad Nieuweschans on the German border. From here or from Leer you can then return by train. The route leads through the provinces of Noord - (140 km) and Zuid-Holland (70 km) on pure cycle paths, partly through wide dune areas. The provinces of Friesland and Groningen (each approx. 110 km) are driven through on secondary roads and pure cycle paths. On the way there are cities worth seeing such as The Hague, Leiden, Haarlem, Amsterdam, Alkmaar or Groningen. There is also a longer variant, which instead of over the dike leads over Den Helder and the islands of Texel and Vlieland (only accessible in summer).
German part (907 kilometers)
The route mainly leads through marshland past the Wadden Sea of the North Sea and is also signposted as D-Route 1.
In Germany, the North Sea Cycle Route extends from the Dutch border at Bunde via Weener and Leer to Emden , from there through the Krummhörn with the Sielort Greetsiel and the city of Norden in an easterly direction to Bensersiel , via Neuharlingersiel , Harlesiel , Ziallerns , Jever , Hooksiel , Wilhelmshaven , Neustadtgödens through the Zeteler March to Dangast and Varel . The cycle path continues via Seefeld , Butjadingen with Eckwarderhörne , Eckwarden , Tossens , Fedderwardersiel and Abbehausen over the Weser . In Bremerhaven it goes north to Cuxhaven , further east to Stade and Hamburg , via Wedel , Uetersen and Glückstadt along the Elbe , then on to Brunsbüttel . After crossing the Kiel Canal , the route follows the North Sea coast via Dithmarschen ( Meldorf ) and the Eider Barrage to Eiderstedt and Husum , then around the Nordstrand peninsula and on via Schlüttsiel , Dagebüll and Niebüll to the Danish border.
For the most part, the route leads over one of the two paths that lead directly outside and inside along the dike , whereby the other path is often also drivable. These paths have cattle gates at regular intervals . The signposted path also deviates up to several kilometers from the coast, including the detour to Marienhafe between Greetsiel and the north, and the detour to Jever , which skips the outermost tip of the coast of the municipality of Wangerland with Schillig . The coast around Friedrichskoog in the Dithmarschen district is also left out, here the cycle path leads directly from Brunsbüttel northwards towards Meldorf .
Danish part (801 kilometers)
The Danish section of the North Sea Cycle Route covers a distance of 801 km and follows national cycle route no.1 ( Vestkystruten ) from the border in Rudbøl to Denmark's northern tip ( Skagen ), and from here to Grenå the national cycle route no . 5 ( Østkystruten ).
The route runs along the west coast through Højer , Esbjerg , Hvide Sande , Thyborøn , Hanstholm to Skagen, from there through Frederikshavn , Sæby , Hals, then a little further inland to Hadsund and the last part back on the coast to Grenå.
The Danish section of the route in Sønderjylland is similar in landscape to the German section, but becomes more "typically Danish" towards the north, including an approximately 16 km long section directly on the sandy beach between Blokhus and Løkken . In particular, the section from Hanstholm to the east is sometimes quite lonely and at times even a bit more demanding due to the nature of the path.
Swedish part (396 kilometers)
The part of the cycle path in Sweden covers a length of 396 km from Varberg in the south to Svinesund on the Norwegian border in the north. The city of Varberg is the southernmost point of the North Sea Coast Cycle Route in Sweden. From here it stretches over Kungsbacka to Gothenburg . After Gothenburg it continues through the town of Kungälv , via Strömstad on to Svinesund on the "Idefjorden", the natural border between Sweden and Norway. South of Gothenburg the cycle path follows the signs of the national long-distance cycle route "Kattegatleden", north of Gothenburg to the Norwegian border the signs on the left for the 1982 "Cykelspåret". The condition of the signs on this section is poor.
Norwegian part (1130 kilometers)
The first part of the route leads along the Oslofjord. You can take the ferry across the fjord from Moss to Horten or cycle around the fjord through Norway's capital Oslo (120 additional kilometers). After Larvik it goes through hilly terrain over Tønsberg and Sandefjord. The route runs partly over roads that are no longer used or former railway lines and coincides with the national cycle route No. 1 . The route leads along the southern Norwegian archipelago and also along some fjords from the Oslofjord to Bergen to the Oslofjord. In the extreme northwest of the Norwegian section, the fjords are already very large and rugged. Other cities along the way are: Stavanger , Flekkefjord , Kristiansand and Moss . The island of Karmøy on the coast is no longer part of the route. The Norwegian part is very mountainous and contains steep and poorly paved sections.
After the opening of the Karmøy tunnel, the ferry from Skudneshavn to Mekjarvik was suspended in 2013, thus interrupting the current North Sea route. It is not yet known whether Norway will withdraw from the North Sea coast route, whether the route will be led through the tunnel or whether the North Sea coast route will be diverted to this area through the interior of the country. An acute-angled course with a longer boat trip from Stavanger to the east and then an east-west route to Haugesund is planned as the current interim solution. This route may also be omitted because the ferry connection from Stavanger to Tau used is to be replaced by several tunnels, which may have banned bicycles. According to current information, a ferry connection further south will also be canceled as soon as the tunnels are opened.
In 2009 the shipping company Smyril Line changed the route of the ferry Norröna , which until then had not only shuttled between Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Iceland , but also made a detour to Bergen in Norway on the voyage to Iceland and a detour via Lerwick on the Shetland on the way back -Islands drove. Both the cross-connection to Norway and the Shetland Islands were discontinued, so that since then a round trip, as the North Sea Cycle Route was originally planned, is no longer possible. The Faroe Islands are no longer part of the North Sea Cycle Route. In the meantime, the only way to complete the route roughly as a circular route is a flight from Bergen to Sumburgh Airport on the Shetland Islands; you can then take the regular ferry to Aberdeen , which also takes a dangling trip to Kirkwall on the Orkney Islands on every second trip .
Movies
- On the way on the North Sea Cycle Route , ten-part arte documentation in two seasons, 2013 and 2015
Web links
- Overview page in the bike travel wiki
- North Sea Cycle Route (German) and (English: Northsea Cycle Route)
- Route description at the Nordwest Reisemagazin
- Data on the German part (D-Route 1) of the North Sea Coast Cycle Route in the ADFC tour portal
- Private travel report: Hamburg - Oslo u. Hamburg - Amsterdam
- Travelogue complete route Lerwick - Bergen 2016
Individual evidence
- ↑ Svenska Cykelsällskapet: Information Cykelspåret Västkusten. Retrieved September 17, 2018 (Swedish).
- ↑ Nordsjøsykkelruta: (Stavanger) Nedstrand - Haugesund
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