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Sunday. High temperature gone, I have finally found enough strength to do some household chores and, of course, return to my highly beloved computer. Such a different Sunday compared to one week ago ..

Last Sunday, after a great buffet breakfast at a hotel in Holland, I set out in convoy with a friend who had deliberately co-incided his visit to the area with mine. We arrrived in Westenschouwen early enough to beat the locals, and thus with plenty of parking space. In 3 degrees Celsius I set up my bike: handlebars, chain, wheels. It took long enough for my fingers to turn white, and for my toes to go numb. It’s rare that I ride at these temperatures, but for several days we had not had much precipitation. I *had* to ride. My cold-sensitive rheumatism and sinuses were completely ignored.

I soon got warm on bumpy, winding SINGLETRACK HEAVEN interspersed with short steep climbs! Holland trails do it again! Beautiful!

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After my researching the province of North Holland, a new question popped up. Are there trails that I could comfortably explore on my way UP to or DOWN from North Holland?

Hill factor calculations below have all been done by running the gps files provided by www.mtbroutes.nl through utrack.

To start out, I would say Lage Vuursche with its 10.5 km (hf ±15.7) is a bit off for my intended plan. A double-back section of 12 km is provided as a liaison in the south, to reach the trail of Soest.

The trail map of Soest, however, indicates a veery short loop. Checking the gps file provided, it also takes in the trail of Lage Vuursche. People at www.mountainbike.nl helped clear up the confusion; Soest has no trail of its own, but provides only a double-back section to Lage Vuursche.

Eek! No double-back sections for me, please!

Too far off the intended plan, anyway.

Bunny-hopping the nearby E30/A28 highway you reach the 8.5-km-long loop of Zeist. Hmm … This might be an interesting pit stop if I ever drive up to Sweden again (making a note ..).

Imagine an upside geographical T, and we just hit the bottom. From here you would have to move a fairly long distance to the southeast, and cross the A12/E35 highway, to find the next three trails.

Please welcome to the national park of Utrechtse Heuvelrug.

First trail up is Leersum, providing two loops; one of 3 km and another one of 7 km. There is a double-back section in between them (combined, hf ±22.6). A *shorter* double-back section from the 7-km loop would be to hook up with the loop of Amerongen in the east (14.5 km, hf ±14.2). And if you fancy even more double-back sections, or have time for casual exploring, you have a possibly rideable distance to the trail of Veenendaal, which has the record-low distance of a loop of 1.2 km.

Really, if you are not obnoxiously fanatic (no names mentioned) about sticking to the official trails, to have something to report on this web site; this area looks pretty interesting for general trail exploring!

Still, again, none of the above is really on the way up to the province of North Holland.

But then, THEN there is Nieuwegein! Remember the upside T? Well, instead of going east from Zeist, go west. By the A2 highway you will find the trail of Nieuwegein; 3.3 km short, and RIGHT IN MY WAY going to/from the Amsterdam area! Wow, can it be true? A hill factor of 29.5? Now, THAT will be fun to try out! (read: me *walking*)

Nieuwegein it is! But for other future trips to the area, mental note to myself: Lage Vuursche and Zeist (leaving out Soest completely), and then Leersum, Amerongen and Veenendaal.

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A mountainbike trail (8 km) on an island. The island of Texel. How cool is that! I have to ride it!

And so started hours-long research.

Forgive my ignorance. At first I thought that surely I’d find no accommodation here? Oh, 39 hotels! Turns out Texel is a popular tourist destination, with its own national park as well as an international airport! www.texel.net. Wikipedia.

There is no bridge to the mainland. Only ferry. And only ONE ferry company.

Going only for the day, and not minding a longer, mixed biking distance? Park up for free in the Den Helder harbour; the ferry costs only 5 euro return with a bike. Explore Texel’s supposedly extensive biking network to the trail start (some 8.5 km from Texel harbour), return to Den Helder, stay the night in a hotel, and in the morning check out the mountain bike trail in Den Helder (5-10-13 km).

Looking for more? Drive 27 km east to Wieringerwerf (8.4 km loop).

Another 33 km south, and you hit the first of a quartet of trail locations. If pictured as a rectangle, Langedijk with its 8-km loop is located in the upper right corner.

From here, due to how the roads have been laid, and if you insist on visiting all four trails, you either go clockwards Langdijk-Heerhugowaard-Alkmaar-Schoorl or the other direction Langdijk-Schoorl-Alkmaar-Heerhugowaard. I prefer going west, then south ..

Some 12 km west of Langdijk, Schoorl offers a relatively long-distance loop of 15 km. The trail map reveals that the loop starts with a huuuge double back section. Personally, as I am not a fan of these, I might be heading somewhere south of Schoorl instead, to the area of Aagtdorp (crossing of Duinweg, Postweg and Waterleidingweg), to pick up on the loop. Aagtdorp is located some 10 km from Langdijk.

Some 10 km south of the Aagtdorp you find the Alkmaar trail providing a short-short distance of 2 km … it is apparantly a very technical route that is used for bike clinics, is NOT open 24/24 to the public, and is illuminated at night. Competitions are held every Thursday. Wow. Sounds so serious, I might opt to go to the the other side of the town of Alkmaar (6.5 km east) and ride the less busy, and a fraction longer, loop of Heerhugowaard (2.3 km). Heerhugowaard is located 9 km south of the Langedijk trail.

Even further south, there is lovely Spaarnwoude (3.5 km) which I would love to re-visit, and then of course the close-by Oostzaan (3.2 km) and Landsmeer (3.3 km) trails, just northeast of Amsterdam. Oostzaan and Landsmeer are only 3.5 km apart; maybe do some trail exploring in between?

Gps files available for all locations except for Alkmaar.

Hmm … ideas forming …

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Some info on the trail in Dutch Lage Vuursche has been added to the page of Holland. Many thanx to Alan for picking up the trail map on a visit to the area!

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