From a recent trip back to the Benelux region, a fun day out using a vintage 1980’s Sparta bicycle, and ended up covering approx. 65km’s on a round trip from Eindhoven out towards the Belgian border at a place called Achel, then through a forest cycling route to Hamont, back over the border into Holland near a town called Budel, and then across the Leenderbos nature reserve on purpose built cycle paths all the way over to a village called Heeze without seeing a single vehicle!
Eventually reached a place called Someren, and then the last leg of the cycle back to Eindhoven was along quiet country roads, where they have made any vehicle a guest on all these connecting roads (see photo) – basically all these country roads have been turned into cycle lanes, where the vehicle space in the middle has the maximum width of just one vehicle, and then on each side plenty of room for cyclists to head in each direction. This way old and young can get out on their bikes and stay healthy!
This is of course something any local council or government could also implement here in Scotland.. just as long as when they did this they also got rid of all those potholes you see on the majority of UK roads that have been emerging since around the 1980’s onwards that nobody has really bothered to repair properly?!
EDIT October 2023: And as one can see, this has not just been applied to roads in the countryside.. neighbourhoods within cities also have a similar layout these days..
Photos; Sparta bike at NL/B border (main blog page photo), country road with cycle lanes situated between Someren and Heeze (Brabant region), and banner photo: green sparta in leenderbos national park
Additional photo by HBT from October 2023: the same road layout in cities like Eindhoven.. the bicycle has been given priority.
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A brief history of the Dutch bicycle brand Simplex (now Gazelle)..
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Here in Perthshire we have a wealth of historical sites to visit..
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None of the images used in this article are from locations in Scotland..
Pitlochry to Dunkeld Loop
Pitlochry, Dunkeld, Tay Forest, and the Blair Athol Distillery..
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How to book your Tour
There are no cash payments at the premises, so all tours must be booked in advance, or paid by debit or credit card (at the shop/hub) prior to the tour.
Please note that there are only a maximum of 4 places on any given tour.
To reserve your place on one of our tours you can either use the Fareharbor Booking system (via orange BOOK NOW link), send us an email to [email protected], or simply complete the Contact Us section. As there are only 4 slots on any of our tours we operate on a first-come first-served basis with all our bookings. Please also include the height of each person - We will then supply you with the correct frame size.
It is also worth mentioning that if the ‘private tour’ option has been booked in advance then there are no other places or bikes available on that day. For more info about the ‘private tour’ (from 1 up to a maximum of 3 people for the same fee) please see our Tours section, or simply contact us by email or via the website.
Highland Bike Tours (HBT) make use of Hybrid road E-Bikes with a classic Dutch design, so suitable to use while wearing casual clothing. You can view images of these e-bikes on the FAQs page (see above), or on our Instagram link (see below).
Solo travellers wishing to take part in a Bike Tour: Although there is the 'private tour' option (for 1 to 3 people), all of our shared tours require a minimum of two people, so if you would like to take part in one of our tours and are travelling alone, then feel free to contact us with your preferred travel date, and we will do our best to match you up with others in a similar position.
Guided E-Bike Tours also in the Dutch language. NL: Samen met een Nederlandssprekende tourgids ervaar je al het moois dat de Schotse Hooglanden te bieden heeft op een unieke manier. Voor meer info zie ook: highlandbiketours.nl (our Dutch language website)
