Cycling Like the Dutch in France: The Doubs Region has Copied the Netherlands Cycling By Numbers

Cycling by numbers is great fun and great for exploring a region – once you get the hang of it. This system of recreational cycle routes is very popular in the Netherlands and in Belgium – and now, they are popping up in France. We tried out the brand new system in the Doubs region in eastern France and were very impressed. It would be great if we could see this all across Europe! In this video, we demonstrate how it works and how you can plan your own route!

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Links:
Doubs Travel: https://www.doubs.travel/pratiquer/activites-itinerance/pointsnoeuds/
Dutch route planner: https://en.routeplanner.fietsersbond.nl/

Timestamps:
0:00 A new system in France
3:05 How to plan a route
08:16 Having fun trying it out

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Hi, I’m Vera. And I’m Sady Spaghetti. And we were wondering, have you ever cycled in the Netherlands before? If you haven’t, you’re probably unaware that they have several bike path networks for different purposes that span the country. One for quick city to city commutes, for the snell feats pads, one for everyday use connecting towns and villages, and a further one for recreational cycling or what the Dutch call leer feats. This network doesn’t connect the fastest routes between two points, but follows leisurely routes all around zigzagging across the country, but rather cycling from place to place, you follow numbers. This is great fun when you get the hang of it, but it does have the drawback that A, if you’re unfamiliar with the system, you’ll probably get lost like we did on our first encounter, and B, that you can’t remember any of the places you saw, but can only list two-digit numbers in a seemingly random order. It’s like, yeah, I cycled us through the Netherlands from points 07 to 42 to 33 to 84 to 79, but don’t ask me where I went. And of course, the network is so large that numbers get used multiple times. Up to date, I hadn’t seen this concept applied anywhere else except for in northwest Germany, but it’s pretty unreliable due to poorly maintained signage and isn’t thought out properly. But the DU region in eastern France, where we are now, has adopted the Dutch approach and has begun setting up a numbering system, letting you explore the region far beyond the popular Eurov6 that passes through along the river of the same name. So this is precisely where we’re standing now as we’re recording this video. So much like in the Netherlands, you can now cycle the area by numbers. This attempt to promote cycling in the area goes handinhand with major investments in cycling infrastructure and especially greenways. So if you’re ever in the area or are planning your next cycling trip, you might want to take this into consideration. They’ve even issued a brochure with a pop out label you can attach to your handlebars. Let’s have a look at that pop out label. I have one here. Oh yeah, that’s already got popped out. And here you can put in the numbers you want to pass by, which is a sweet idea, even if it’s a bit impractical. The network is still work in progress, and the website gives a more detailed overview on the current status. At first glance, the website seemed more difficult to navigate than the network itself, which is a bit ironic, but I’m not all that computer savvy, and Vera was more successful at figuring it out. So, I’ll let her explain how it works. We are here on the do travel website. Unfortunately, it’s just in French, so I have to do some translating. You can see that there are two different options for planning a route. Option one is using the calculator which we see here. We will do that a bit later. You can also see that the entire network of cycle knots is still under development and not yet finished and they are asking for your understanding which of course we have. Then there’s option two the old-fashioned way using paper. You can download the map here as a PDF or you can get it for free at the tourist office. There are also videos available here and you can download the label here which we already have like the ones we’ve just shown you that you can attach to your handlebars. You will also find various suggestions and inspirations for discovering the do deto. Now let’s go to the root calculator. First we switch to full screen mode. Here we have a menu. I can create an account using Google so I can save my roots. Here you can generate an automatic route. You can enter different conditions and it will create a route for you. Here it gives me suggestions for routes I can take and they show up directly on the map when I click on them. But we want to create a new route. So I click here. Here is the legend. The cycle knots and points of interest. Here you can see the gradients 3 to 6%, 6 to 10% or 10 to 13%. Routes that are slightly dangerous and hazardous intersections. Just to clarify, it looks like a lot, but the French are being extremely cautious and the intersection really aren’t dangerous. You can also see whether the road is paved or unpaved. You can also filter for not that are still under development, the traver route, the Euro weather 6 or W greenways. You can also display restaurants, accommodations, bike rental locations, tourist offices and sites. Now I remove all the filters again. I only want to see the cycle knots. So now I want to create our route. We start here at not 89. What do we need to do? It says we have to select the starting point at the destination. We want the destination to be here at number 33. A route is automatically generated. Let me take a look at it and see if I like it. Hm. Here I’d like to move away from the D river and see what it looks like over there. Now I can drag point 20 to31 and it automatically creates an updated route for me. I like this pattern. Here I can see that this route is 15 kilome long. The lowest point is 268 m above sea level. The highest point 339 m. has sent 101 m decent 130 m. So, it’s relatively flat. Now, I can save this route if I have an account. I can share it via email or I can download the GPS data or print it out. I don’t have a printer here, but it creates a PDF. Let’s take a look at it. On the left, I can see the root details again. And on the right, there is a QR code. I can scan that and have the map on my phone. Here I see the map. Here I see the elevation profile. It looks much tougher than it really is. And here is the list of all the cycle notes. The distances between the points are listed. I could cut this out and take it with me so my phone can stay in my pocket. After all, we’ve got our label which we attach to the handlebars. As this is a pioneer region, the violet squiggling lines certainly stand out on the map, making this look like a tiny version of the Netherlands or Belgium, which you can see are densely covered in cycle roots. But hovering over this map, I then saw that this concept has also been adopted in parts of the Zom de Bamo. So maybe one day the whole of France will resemble the Netherlands and Belgium too. Looking at this make clear why the node system turns all suitable roads into cycle routes making the network much denser than the traditional routting systems. So I figured out how to attach the label to the handlebar and we chosen our numbers and are pretty excited to see how this works out. So, now we’re going to be leaving the Eurov6. Let’s see how well this numbering system works on the back roads. So, I’ve crossed off the last number on my list, and it worked out surprisingly well. So, we can only hope that the authorities keep this well-maintained because it really offers a great opportunity to explore the surrounding area. So, if you think this is a cool idea and you like the video, please smash that like button and subscribe if you want to see more videos on cool places to go cycling. So, we look forward to see you in the next one. Until then, thanks for watching and happy cycling. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.