From Bergen to the Shetland Islands: the North Sea tour
Eurovelo 12 is nearly 6,000 km long and touches Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Great Britain.
Bergen
Being a circuit can be started from any city crossed by the route, Bergen is a excellent option. It has a very picturesque old town with colored houses typical of the northern Europe. Exiting the town you always ride near the coast by often encountering fishing towns and villages.
The Norwegian coast is very indented and in some points you can not avoid taking a ferry.
Fjords and narrow inlets are also along the Swedish coast, and the landscape does not change until the city of Gothenburg, the second most populous city in the country. Another 50 km and the route leads to Varberg from where you board to reach Denmark.
In this country the bicycle is really widespread and the trails on which you are pedaling very well equipped. The Danish landscape still offers small settlements but instead of the northern hills dominate the plain and vast cultivated fields. Near the German border, the territory becomes a bit more jagged with ponds and coastal islands.
The first province of Germany that you cross it is Schleswig-Holstein, where you always drive along the jagged coast of the north, but settlements are bigger and more organized until you arrive in Hamburg, an important commercial meeting point of the country. After passing the city, you keep the sea on the right and cross the towns of Buxtehude, Cuxhaven and Bremerhaven. At this point there are only a few miles to Holland.
Unfortunately, Eurovelo 12 is always along the coast bypassing the major cities of the country such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Aja, but if you have never had a chance to visit them, we recommend a short detour, you will not regret it.
Continuing west you cross the border with Belgium. The Eurovelo 12 section in this country is very short, only 72 km, but of the highest quality. In the West Flanders, you cross Bruges, a small town of the World Heritage Site due to the beautiful old town with artificial canals and palaces dating to the Middle Ages.
The French section is even shorter: you only arrive to Calais before reaching England with a ferry. Once you land in Dover, start the most interesting stretch of the route. Going back to the country, the landscape gradually changes back to resembling the Nordic landscapes we left in Norway and Sweden. Initially, you pedal in the Kent countryside, where you can find Canterbury, also famous for its abbey, and then heading for London. Cycling in the capital is very developed and there will be no problems crossing it.
Shetland Islands
Then you enter in the Essex, overtaking Colchester, Scarborough and Berwick-upon-Tweed and entering Scotland. At this point, Eurovelo 12 moves away a bit from the coast to visit Edinburgh before going back to the countryside. The more you go north, the smaller you become the human settlements but arrived at the northern tip of Scotland you can take a ferry to the Orkney Islands and from there to the Shetland Islands.
Please note: Not all route sections have been completed yet, we recommend to you to chec
k the Eurovelo official website for more information.