After a selection of green, quiet and hard-surfaced routes, we’ve mapped out loop-like, interconnecting cycle routes. The routes that have been coloured green, red, purple, brown or yellow meet for 90% the standard “green, quiet and hard-surfaced”. For 10% of the routes we had to look for alternatives in certain regions. All routes are linked with orange-coloured routes that for 80% meet the standard “hard-surfaced, quiet and green”. All these routes build up an easy-reference cycle route network that makes it possible; depending on weather conditions, time, fitness or the presence of small children, to expand or adapt every cycle route easily by switching from one route to another. In other words: if you follow the same colour, you’re fine. These coloured cycle routes can easily be followed, thanks to the many streets names, quite a lot of symbols and the use of a large scale, namely 1: 50 000 (1 cm on the route-map=500 meters on the ground). 

This series of maps is unique in the colouring of the contour lines. In this way, the landscape can be better visualised. We start from green progressing to yellow, orange and red. If you want to trace out a manageable cycle route, avoid the red zones! If the colours are close together, you can expect a steep incline. If you stay within a dark orange zone, you may expect a manageable route of rolling hill tops with magnificent views. Cyclists who buy a double series of the maps and lay the maps upon each other, will get a unique survey of the valleys and the hills. At the same time, they will se that flood-areas can be avoided, if relief is taken into account at the planning stage. 

To calculate the number of kilometres of your cycling route, we advise you to make a handy card (8cm x 4cm), that can fit nearly between your bankcards in your wallet. While planning, you can slide this card along the lines of your cycling route and this way you can estimate how many kilometres you still have to go (1cm= 500m). 

If you have never learned (in a youth club or during military service) how to read a map, and if you don’t succeed in finding your way with the help of street names, use the cycling axes. These axes are cycling paths and roads along dikes, rivers, canals and former railway tracks. Moreover, cycling axes build up the skeleton of these maps and many cycling routes have return trips via a cycling axis. 

This cycling routes network fulfils the wish of cyclists to: 
  Cycle with one map from Gistel to de Panne or Het Zwin. Till now, you had to stick together 4-5 maps; 
  Take your bike on the train to Antwerp, and then from Antwerp via the Schelde, the Ghent-Bruges canal, the Bruges-Ostend canal and the Oudenburg-Nieuwpoort canal, cycle to the Yzer mouth; 
  Get into shape by cycling along the prettiest routes to the hills of French Flanders, West Flanders, the Flemish Ardennes or the little known Pays de Collines; 
  Put your bike on the car and drive to Sint Amands where you can cycle along the Schelde dikes, well known from the TV serial Still waters; 
  Cycle with the wind, from Knokke to De Panne, via the canals along Knokke Sluis Damme Bruges Jabbeke Oudenburg Gistel Nieuwpoort -Veurne- De Panne. Return with your bike on the tram to Knokke; 
  Cycle from Terneuzen in Zealand (stimulated by the Euro and the Schengen Treaty) via the historical towns of Flanders to Saint Omer, at the foot of the Boulonnais. 
 
Cycling arrangements 

The large scale of 1: 50 000 and the indication of forests, dunes and domains that are accessible to the public, make this map at the same time, an excellent walking guide. This provides the walker with an alternative when the weather discourages cycling. 

With these maps you can find the easiest way between two points you’ve indicated. This may not seem difficult in flat terrain, but with a rolling landscape, you have to look out where you’re going. The many street names help you quickly find out whether you’re following the right direction. To find your way quickly and easily is a satisfaction similar to winning a quiz or filling in a crossword puzzle quickly. Sometime in the future we plan to organise recreational orienteering competitions, with start and finish between two tearooms or pubs, through our website. 

This series of maps can be used during classes of physical education or sports days or school-trips fitting in the subjects of biology, geography, languages, history,.. With the use of this map, teachers of history can organise a safe trip by bike to Ypres to illustrate the theme of World War I. 

On our website you’ll find a list of playgrounds and child-friendly farms. This way, parents can combine their cycling trip with a visit to a playground or child-friendly farm. As a consequence children will enjoy cycling with their parents even more. 

Every month our website will be adapted and completed.

Action for cycle bridges or cycle tunnels 

While working on this series of maps, we have often been frustrated to see how motorways and expressways, railways and canals were built without taking into account the needs of cyclists. Everywhere, small, quiet roads were interrupted. As a consequence, cyclists often have to follow long roundabout routes and attractive, quiet roads are lost. That’s why we’d like to start the action for bike-bridges and tunnels, together with the distribution of this map. You can cooperate by giving us the places where you find a bridge or tunnel for cyclists necessary. Send an e-mail and your proposal will be put on our website. Maldegem, Eeklo and Stekene, where new bridges and tunnels above or under E 34-N49 have recently been built, show us the solution. To be more aware of a good cycle route policy, well linked to a good urban and rural development, we have purposely included Zeeuws-Vlaanderen (Zealand) in our network: Long cycling routes start in Belgian towns and lead through Zealand to the Westerschelde.