Belgium

[twazzock]

Are there any good roads in (Northern) Belgium?

I know it's pretty flat and dull-sounding, but if there's any way to make the route a bit more lively and less motorway I'd take it.


Will be doing Calais - Brugge - Gent - Calais over the course of a few days.


Any ideas appreciated, ta.

[twazzock]

I have looked at Google Maps and it all looks rather bland. I shall resign myself to an economical bimble along the motorways.

If anyone has any tips for general driving in Belgium then I'm all ears.

[dcb]

twazzock said:

I have looked at Google Maps and it all looks rather bland. I shall resign myself to an economical bimble along the motorways.

If anyone has any tips for general driving in Belgium then I'm all ears.

If you have plenty of spare time, set the Sat Nav to shortest
route and meander through the B roads and the little towns.

It's always worthwhile stocking up with a few crates of "Cultural Supplies". Little breweries you've never heard of, in a mixed crate all different sounds optimal.

Driving in Belgium is pretty straightforward. They do drive a bit faster - 150 kmh on the motorway isn't unusual and lane discipline is more strict than the UK.

Brussels can be busy at rush hour times and the Belgians like a long lunch, so watch out for inattentive drivers around 3pm or so.

Some of the prettier towns have cobbled roads, which makes them slippery when wet, so take extra care in towns.

[TheLurker]

I'm going to be making the exact same route in the next month or two. Any ideas of time and nice places to stop off at en route?

[davemac250]

dcb said:

twazzock said:

I have looked at Google Maps and it all looks rather bland. I shall resign myself to an economical bimble along the motorways.

If anyone has any tips for general driving in Belgium then I'm all ears.

[quote]If you have plenty of spare time, set the Sat Nav to shortest
route and meander through the B roads and the little towns.

As someone who lives on the Belgium border, if you do these be prepared for a long meander - most scenic B roads have been hit by 70/80kph restriction in recent years.

[quote]It's always worthwhile stocking up with a few crates of "Cultural Supplies". Little breweries you've never heard of, in a mixed crate all different sounds optimal.

Total agreement.

[quote]Driving in Belgium is pretty straightforward. They do drive a bit faster - 150 kmh on the motorway isn't unusual and lane discipline is more strict than the UK.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHhahahahahahahaHAHAHAHA.

Oh come on. One or two may go faster - they'll have French Plates or UK ones. The Belgians are installing a large network of speed cameras and find themselves in a perpetual state of mind numbing driving panic at the thought of little grey boxes.

Lane discipline is non-existent and 'The Belgians' are annually awarded 'Crappest Drivers in Europe', they were second last to introduce driving tests and view in town speed limits as arbitrary, the same goes for give way lines, red lights and parking rules.

There might be one or two exceptions. But only one or two.

Christ, they even had to ban cruise control as their populous couldn't cope with it.

[quote]Brussels can be busy at rush hour times and the Belgians like a long lunch, so watch out for inattentive drivers around 3pm or so.

It would be fairer to say:- The Brussels ring road is worse than the M25 - it is never without jams and if you can avoid it, even if this means driving through Germany do so. It really is that bad, I don't know a local who would disagree, or take a different route is possible.

[quote]Some of the prettier towns have cobbled roads, which makes them slippery when wet, so take extra care in towns.

Yep. And you'll still be tailgated.

The final thought would be.

Which country holds the record for the highest number of Kilometres of motorway to be at a standstill?

Either by percentage or in total KM's, either way the answer is the same.

I'd go by the quickest route possible and spend more time on foot/drinking etc.

[dcb]

davemac250 said:

Lane discipline is non-existent and 'The Belgians' are annually awarded 'Crappest Drivers in Europe',

Nah - I'd say the Belgians were about average
for Europe.

I've only been driving across Belgium
for more than 20 years, but I've always found
their lane discipline to be pretty good. Not to German
or French standards obviously, but no where near
as bad as the hopeless Brits.

davemac250 said:

It would be fairer to say:- The Brussels ring road is worse than the M25 - it is never without jams and if you can avoid it, even if this means driving through Germany do so.

Now you really are going too far.

I've only ever been in a jam on the BRR a couple of times.

Most of the time it is busy but moving, which
is pretty good for a capital city.

davemac250 said:

Which country holds the record for the highest number of Kilometres of motorway to be at a standstill?

France. Down near Baune - over 100kms.

[davemac250]

dcb said:

davemac250 said:

Lane discipline is non-existent and 'The Belgians' are annually awarded 'Crappest Drivers in Europe',

Nah - I'd say the Belgians were about average
for Europe.

I've only been driving across Belgium
for more than 20 years, but I've always found
their lane discipline to be pretty good. Not to German
or French standards obviously, but no where near
as bad as the hopeless Brits.

davemac250 said:

It would be fairer to say:- The Brussels ring road is worse than the M25 - it is never without jams and if you can avoid it, even if this means driving through Germany do so.

Now you really are going too far.

I've only ever been in a jam on the BRR a couple of times.

Most of the time it is busy but moving, which
is pretty good for a capital city.

davemac250 said:

Which country holds the record for the highest number of Kilometres of motorway to be at a standstill?

France. Down near Baune - over 100kms.

I drive the BRR twice a week. Takes me an hour and half to get there (200km) then the next 20km including 12 on the BRR is an hour and a half. Doesn't matter what time of day unless I get there before 6am...

On, the record was last week. 957km of jams. Yep, 957!

The whole country came to a stop.

[HereBeMonsters]

The slip roads on their motorways are mental, and they appear not to have worked out how to drain a road surface properly.

[V-spec]

I take the Brussels ring every day and although some of the comments are true, I don't think it's all that bad. My morning run (2 junctions) at 08.30 is always clear. In the evening it's always gridlocked and I take back roads. However, the OP said he was only going as far as Gent, so discussing the Ring isn't that useful.

I'm not that familiar with roads in the north of Belgium so can't help too much with that, but watch out for cameras, you are in Flanders and they are draconian in their tolerances and their fines.
Not really worth the risk IMHO, although if it's a fixed camera I'm not sure they would follow up on a uk registered car.

I agree with the other comments on Belgian driving standards from Davemac250 - especially the "perpetual state of panic about speeding" - I'm guilty of that as well after being caught a few too many times and stick to the limits religiously now

[Chris71]

I'd second the comment about avoiding the Brussels ring road. And from my geographically-limited but frequent experience of driving through Belgium that's about as exciting as it gets. I'm sure there are some nice B-roads somewhere, but I've yet to find them, even getting so lost on one occasion that I found myself in Holland.

Oh, and watch out for the local constabulary. I got picked up going visibly slower than most of the Belgian-registered traffic on the E40 a few years back and half the registrations scribbled down on his pad were from the UK.

[twazzock]

Thanks for all the replies - much appreciated.



Fortunately I won't have to suffer the Brussels ring road, and my experience with the M25 will be brief and painless. We'll be travelling early/late so it should be fairly clear which makes 'good progress' very tempting indeed; 'draconian' speed enforcement somewhat spoils that though. What exactly are the consequences of speeding? How heavily are the mways policed/covered in cameras?

Oh, and I shall most definitely be stocking up on culture by the crate

[davemac250]

There are many speed cameras, but they cannot come back to you on that.

There is an urban myth circulating that registrations are kept on record for old fines to be handed out if you are stopped, but I cannot see that happening - no proof who was in/owned the car etc.

I see a fair few cars parked up in the central reservation (yep) lay-bys who are a mobile speed traps, but they tend to be during 'office hours'.

Got pinged at 155kph in a 130 and cost me €80.

Got a stern warning when on my bike, but she was so cute I couldn't help but grin through the whole procedure - they only caught me as I peeled in to a services for a piss stop and where stood by the bike as I came out.

Getting stopped and fined can be painful, it is a sliding scale and gets very big very quickly.

Personally have never seen a speed trap in hours of darkness.

[sunbeam_alpine]

I live just outside Gent, and spend most of my working days traveling on country roads in the area between the French border and Gent.

What are you looking for? There are several meandering routes you could take from the French border, but it depends a bit what sort of a route you're looking for. I could sketch you out anything from a 4-5 hour meander through beautiful countryside to a route that would only take maybe a half hour longer than the motorway.

You could always pm me if you like.

[twazzock]

Interesting stuff re speeding. I think I shall be taking it fairly easy, don't really fancy having my wallet raped and break ruined!

Most of the time we'll be driving it should be dark, so the beautiful countryside may be a tad lost on us. The slightly-longer-than-motorway option sounds ideal. Don't mind you posting here obviously but if you want to keep the route private then PM me

[twazzock]

I didn't really take it easy. The roads were wonderfully clear and the lane discipline pretty excellent, so I went for it... Set off a speed camera somewhere in France, and a Belgian police car flashed his lightbar at me as I passed (with quite a speed differential) but otherwise all was smooth and quick sailing.

Thanks for all the tips.