Bikepacking the Zuiderzee Route

Jan 25, 2025

In 2023 Ewan and I experienced a little of the famous Netherlands cycling culture and were determined to go back. So in 2024 we headed for the Zuiderzee — a sea that once dominated the heart of the Netherlands, shaping the history and the lives of those along its shores. Now a freshwater lake, IJsselmeer it is also the home of one the most popular Dutch long distance cycleroutes.

Our adventure took us on trains to London and out to Harwich, a ferry across to Hook of Holland, then over 400 miles cycling took us up to Amsterdam around the IJsselmeer and then back to Hook of Halland to return home, with a couple of parkruns thrown into the mix too.

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Our overall stats for the adventure

  • 439miles
  • 4040ft climbing
  • 12 days inc travel & rest days
  • 4 trains
  • 2 ferries

Details of our route and where we stayed

For each day I’ve written a short resume of our day, and then provided links to our route on Komoot, our campsite and information and stories about the places we visited.

Getting to the Netherlands

The first challenge, living in the centre of England is getting to the Netherlands with our two bikes as low carbon as possible. We used a combination of trains, a night’s camping in Harwich then we caught the ferry with our bikes to Hook of Holland to start our cycling adventure.

Day One – 14 miles – Hook of Holland to Delft

Our first day was a very light day of cycling after we left the ferry, just 14 miles from the ferry port to Delft, where we camped at the Delftse Hout campsite and ate at the nearby Ikea.

Day Two – 49 Miles – Delft to Amsterdam

Day Two happened to be a Saturday, and the reason for choosing Delft as our spot to camp was to be able to do the parkrun right by the campsite, we’d discovered it when we came over the year before and camped here, but that time we heading to Zuiderpark parkun in Den Haag. parkrun done, it was time to start cycling, our destination was a campsite in Amsterdam, ready to start the Zuiderzee route.

Day Three – 49 Miles – Amsterdam to Enkhuizen – Zuiderzee Route

Time to start the Zuiderzee route! Circumnavigating the Netherlands biggest freshwater lake, formerly part of the sea it is now separated by a dyke and has been changed from salt to freshwater.

The Netherlands may be flat, but they do have strong winds, we battled into one for the last 20+ miles today’s ride. The views were fabulous, towns and villages we passed through quaint. And we loved camping right by the lake shore listening to the sound of the waves lapping and watching the sun set.

Day Four – 43 miles – Enkhuizen to Workum – Zuiderzee Route

This was the day for crossing from the south to the north side of the Zuiderzee across the dyke. But instead of cycling, we ended up catching a bus as the dyke is currently closed to bicycles! That evening we enjoyed a swim in the lake just a short ride from our campsite, bliss!

Day Five – 73 miles – Workum to Marknesse – Zuiderzee Route

Day 5 of our Netherlands Cycle Tour and halfway through our overall distance. It was a BIG one for Ewan, who smashed his target of 100k in one day by riding 73 miles, his longest ever by about 20 miles. I’m massively proud and amazed by his achievement.

Our day started with a hunt the fountain. There are eleven fountains in the eleven Frisian cities, designed by eleven artists from eleven different countries, we visited three of the cities today and loved the different fountain designs and their connection to the city they are found in.

My Garmin route and the signed route disagreed toward the end, we followed the signs and ended up in some very rural areas, but in the middle of the fields was a lighthouse, a living testament to the sea from which the land has been reclaimed.

As we passed the 100k mark for the day’s cycling we were starting to worry about finding a campsite, but some googling found us one on the route another 6 miles on, and then we added another 4 miles by taking a trip to the nearby Jumbo for extra tea supplies.

The campsite is almost double the price of the others we’ve stayed at, but it’s certainly quirky with a UFO, a Jet and other weird and wonderful things scattered around the site and two beaches by the lake to enjoy, where I’m working right now as it’s all lit up with coloured lanterns at night making a really atmospheric place to chill out.

Day Six – 38 miles – Marknesse to Elburg – Zuiderzee Route

Back on the road, we continued exploring the Noordoostpolder an area of land reclaimed from the sea in 1942 and is now mostly farmland and large areas of nature reserve and wetlands. We cycled up onto Schokland, what would have been islands back before reclamation happened, strange to see the remains of a port and a lighthouse. At several points were statues of people who used to live on the Schokland islands, turning a wheel you could hear their story of displacement as the land changed but also the new story of creatures such as eels or otters whose lives are being improved by the rewilding and environmental work that’s being done to create a significant area of nature reserve. It was amazing to think that so much of what we were cycling through would once have all been covered by sea. Highlighted also by the occasional sign of a ship on a pole, marking the spot of a discovered wreck, now in. the middle of a field!

As the miles of fields changed to urban and the sunny skies turned dark we arrived at Kruismaten an industrial area on the outskirts of Elburg, before heading over Elburg’s moat and into the old town. As we did so the heavens opened and in the couple of hundred meters it took to get to get to some tree cover, we were soaked! Braving the rain a little further, we made it into the town square, where we dived for cover in a lovely restaurant that was probably slightly surprised to see two bedraggled, wet cyclists taking a table but happily served us a nice warming coffee which we enjoyed by the candlelight! Elburg has a fascinating history, built from scratch in 1392 it has a square, grid format unlike most medieval towns round layout.

Some googling discovered a campsite less than a kilometre away. So, deciding not to continue with the inclement weather and after our long day yesterday, we headed there. We were given a very warm welcome by the receptionist and fortunately they had a “party tent” (a big canvas gazebo) which we were able to shelter in from the rain cook our tea and charge our gadgets.

Day Seven – 63 miles – Elburg to Amsterdam – Zuiderzee Route

The previous day and night’s rain had gone, but leaving damp clothes and tent which had to be packed carefully and clothes spread out over our panniers to dry as we were riding 😄

Passing back through Elburg gave us a chance to appreciate the beautiful old town without the torrential rain. Leaving the town behind we were back surrounded by open fields. As the day progressed the sky got bluer, the sun hotter and the winds stronger and, until the last few miles, the wind was a powerful force trying to stop us in our tracks or send us skittering sideways.

Just as I was about to have a mutiny on my hands due to a lack of lunch stops, an oasis appeared in the form of Strandhuys Nijkerk, where I was able to enjoy one of my fave Netherlands sandwiches, Brown bread with brie, honey and walnuts. Treated ourselves to an espresso and a hot choc for extra umpf to battle the headwinds.

As we started to turn down the south side of Gooimeer to head back towards Amsterdam, the headwind changed to an assist, yeah! Quite chuffed when one gentleman asked how we were moving so quickly with all our pannier weight and was quite surprised we didn’t have e-assist!

As we neared the campsite where we had started the Zuiderzeeroute from, Ewan realised he needed another mile to reach his target of cycling another 100k today. So a little extra out and back was needed before we checked in and pitched our tent.

Day Eight – 25 miles – Amsterdam to Alphen aan den Rijn

With our big Zuiderzee tour completed, today was a lazy start, waiting till the rain stopped before heading on a short 25mile ride to our next campsite by our parkrun destination for tomorrow, Zegerplas parkrun.

Our ride started by wending its way through the outskirts of Amsterdam and a fantastic park, Amsterdamse Bos with some beautiful woodland trails to cycle along. We popped out of the park by the airport and followed the waterway to Aalsmeer, where there’s an amazingly ornate water tower built in Art Deco style. It’s now open to the public, you can even have your wedding there!

More gentle cycling through fields brought us to our campsite, selected by Ewan, it was a bargain 20 euros for the night and just over a mile to tomorrow’s parkrun.

Day Nine – 35 miles – Alphen aan den Rijn to Delft

A Saturday, so that means . . . parkrun! I’d posted on the parkrun tourists group where we headed in the morning, Zegerplas parkrun, and it turned out that a family on the same campsite as us were also heading there. Even more incredibly, a couple from my home running club, Massey Runners, also had it as their morning destination, they were staying in hotel luxury though!

An early morning tent strike and pack, got us to parkrun in plenty of time. A beautiful course, running by the side of a lake was a great way to start the day, followed by parkrun faff, coffees with a side of liqueur and cream for Emma, Mark and I, giant trampoline shenanigans for Ewan, then delicious pancakes for brunch.

Finally, it was time to get on our bikes and start the day’s ride proper. We were heading to Den Hague to revisit the International Court of Justice and explore the city a little more after our visit here last year when we did Zuiderpark parkrun. Then on to DelftseHout campsite for our final couple of nights in the Netherlands. 35 miles ridden in total.

A definite joy when we got to the campsite was a cool swim in the pool, perfect way to relax and refresh after a warm day on our bikes, before heading to Ikea for tea (it’s 5 mins from campsite).

Finishing our tour and the return home

We spent the Sunday relaxing and exploring Delft a little more, including treating ourselves to a meal in the square watching the world go by, a step up from Aldi pasta!

Then, on the Monday, we retraced the short ride back to the ferry port to start our journey home.