“Your province is very suitable for cycling. In France the roads are much less accessible for cyclists,” said French cycling tourist Pascal from Orléans. Today is the last day of the European Cycling Week, in which nearly 1500 tourists from twelve European countries participate. Some like the cycling holiday so much that they extend their stay in Drenthe by another week.
The organizer of the European cycling week, Bart Kattenberg, is looking forward to the last tour: “Today we have another beautiful route, which leads us past Staphorst, Dedemsvaart and Balkbrug.” With almost 1000 participants, France is the main supplier of the cycling week: “The origin of this event lies in France. They started the European cycling week there about 15 years ago.”
Pascal, one of the participants from France, is very pleased with the cycling culture in the Netherlands. “Last week we wondered if we could easily park our bicycles at a train station. The Dutch people we asked started laughing and indicated that this is no problem. In France we should put our bicycles against a tree somewhere. “
In addition, the Frenchman has a nice compliment for the hunebeds in Drenthe: “The hunebeds are much better maintained than the boulders we have in France”.
Some of the tourists liked the cycling week in the Meppel area so much that they extended their stay in Drenthe by a week: “At the moment we have about 150 participants who will also be cycling the Drentse Fiets4Daagse next week”. says Kattenberg, who is also the organizer of this event. The Fiets4Daagse throughout Drenthe will take place from 19 to 22 July.