Ideas for a short tour in France / Netherlands / Belgium ?

[nammynake]

I'm planning a short (circa 3 days) tour around Northern Europe this summer and looking for ideas. We will most likely ride to Dover, catch the ferry over and start our tour from there. The route will need to finish back in Calais (so 3 days in France / Belgium etc).

We'll be travelling with relatively light setups (i.e. saddle / frame bags) therefore will need to stay in B&Bs / Hotels rather than camping. I'd like this to be relatively relaxing tour, with time for lunch and a few beers each evening, so probably 150 miles max per day.

Ghent/Bruge seem like obvious targets, but any other recommendations? I've cycled in Northern France before when we rode from Blackpool to Paris and I seem to recall miles and miles of nothing other than farmland - I'd like some interesting town/sights each day, though don't mind some boring sections if it gets us to interesting places.

Thanks.

[dcb]

nammynake said:

Ghent/Bruge seem like obvious targets, but any other recommendations?

All the guidebooks will send you to Brugge, but it is in my view
a tourist industry with a town attached.

Ghent is better - it's a proper town with some tourists.

How about the Belgian Coast ? Coastal tram makes it easy to get to the next
town if you get tired. Ok Zeebrugge can be worth avoiding, but Veurne, Middelkirke,
Blankenberge, De Haan and Ostend are very pleasant and cater for the day tripper
and foreign tourist very well.

They all speak English so there no nonsense about speaking French / Dutch / German to them.
Just watch out for any political chats. The Belgians think we are mad to leave the EU club.

Oh and the beer is world class. The food is reasonably edible too.