anyone with local knowledge of driving in Belgium/Holland?

[peterr96]

Driving out there Friday afternoon from the tunnel and heading up to Ouddorp on North see coast below Rotterdam.
Google seems determined to route to the west of Gent.
Bing suggests to the west of Bruges.
Both allegedly take the same time, Google is the longer route.
Any thoughts on which is best?

[George29]

Google > Bing.

[Tony V12V]

Alwin is your man Peter. He is from Holland. North I think

[Neil1300R]

Doesn't matter. The roads will be awful (even makes the UK look / feel good) and there will be some Belgium nutter so far up the arse of your car you will not be able to see their front grill - even at 120MPH+.
Belgium - lovely country - st roads and utter nutter drivers.

[-Pete-]

Neil1300R said:

Doesn't matter. The roads will be awful (even makes the UK look / feel good) and there will be some Belgium nutter so far up the arse of your car you will not be able to see their front grill - even at 120MPH+.
Belgium - lovely country - st roads and utter nutter drivers.

That's a perfect summary imo, look out for huge potholes on the motorways, apparently the police are very strict on speeding (and it's 120K not 130K as in France) and use of indicators appear to be illegal

[MaverickV12]

Neil1300R said:

Doesn't matter. The roads will be awful (even makes the UK look / feel good) and there will be some Belgium nutter so far up the arse of your car you will not be able to see their front grill - even at 120MPH+.
Belgium - lovely country - st roads and upper nutter drivers.

Agree

.... would also add, it looks like an Industrial Estate the size of England

Have used Google and Bing, but used TomTom (on my phone) and Google (on my phone), the Integral AM Volvo unit and the Garmin (stand alone unit), used last 4 in Belgium.

Garmin won by a mile , close second, (but a bit confusing at times) was the integral AM system, then the Telephone TomTom, Google just struggled. IMO.

Quicker you can get through Belgium the better, having said that The Netherlands is just the same ..........

[Far Eastender]

I live in Amsterdam and drive up regularly. Brugge is great and you can find secure parking. Motorways in Holland are good (better quality than Belgium), but there's not many places to go fast.

Amsterdam is a disaster to drive in (speed bumps, cycles, trams) and around Euro 50- 65 a day to park in. Rotterdam is easier, but a very basic city. If you are coming that far up, go to Delft.

[AMDBSNick]

Well that's cleared that up then

[Cockernee]

Broad as it is long Pete. The route via Goes and Zierekzee Bridge will be a nice run and both systems show this. I cant say that I am a local, but have driven over there a few times and I would enjoy the Bing route more as it is on N roads

[Neil1300R]

AMDBSNick said:

Well that's cleared that up then

Quite good for this forum - 7 + posts vaguely related to the topic!
Must be a record

[notsaV8V]

Having lived in Belgium for 3 years Niel's first reply hits it exactly on the head! It takes a bit of getting used to but it is a lovely country. That said the the driving and the roads are poor but given the state of our own roads, you should be fine. I used to comment on the constant lane swapping in traffic jams, the suicidal last minute dart across from the outside lane on motorway exits and the 1m gap between cars going like dingbats and look forward getting back to the UK for some sanity. Now, I realise I had excellent training for the way things are here these days!!

Whichever route you chose, and there is not much in it in my opinion, watch out for the police on the motorways. They tend to park up in the central reservation and are easy to miss.

Enjoy the trip and let us know how you get on.

Notsa

[pbe624]

As a Belgian, I wont comment on driving habits... there are clowns everywhere ;-)

Anyway, I think you can take a ferry in Breskens to go to Vlissingen or a bit further inland above Ghent take the tunnel at Terneuzen across the Schelde river.

Try to avoid the ring in Antwerp as it is congested 80% of the time.

Enjoy your trip !

Frank