Feniks Charter

When you think of champagne you can hear the sparkling. But did you know it is a beautiful and easy cycling trip from Paris to Reims? You cycle through rural countryside via the region of Meaux famous for its Brie cheese, into the vineyards of the Champagne Region. At Epernay you cross the centre of the Champagne industry. You will end in Reims, with its cathedral where almost all kings and emperors were crowned until 1825.

This one week tour along the Marne leads to (or from) Epernay and Reims while crossing the steeper slopes that suit the moderate to experienced biker. Daily average of the whole tour 45 Km or 4 hrs by bike.

In Wallonia the bike paths are named RAVELS (Reseau Autonome des Voies Lentes). Old towing paths along canals and former railway tracks are conversed into a network of easy bike paths through the hilly countryside of Wallonia.

The tour starts in Halle (little town south of Brussels) following the Canal Bruxelles-Charleroi until Seneffe. After the Sloping Lock of Ronquières we bike to Feluy and enter the RAVEL to Seneffe (castle).

If the barge takes the old Canal du Centre with 4 hydraulic elevators there will be a stopover between Ronquières and the boat lift at Strépy-Thieu.

Until the end of the Sixties this was a mining region and the boat lifts are part of the industrial heritage and still in use.

From Seneffe the bike path follows the RAVEL Canal du Centre and then the RAVEL Ancien Canal du Centre.

From there we follow de RAVEL Nimy – Blaton – Péronne (not the famous French town!) to Mons.

From here we take the following itinerary:

Mons – Tournai – Ghent – Bruges, roughly following the river Scheldt.

The Ardennes is hilly country, not high, but occasionally pretty steep. Differences in height are never more than 70 mtr.

When leaving the Ardennes the hilly countryside changes into gently sloping easy riding in very small scale farming countryside. Between Kortrijk and Bruges, the countryside turns into flatlands.

In Amsterdam you start form the home port of the Feniks. In Spring you visit the tulip and other flower bulb fields. You will cross the Dutch Estuary with its Deltaworks, take the barge to cross the Westerschelde and after a visit to Ghent you arrive in Bruges. You visit this famous city while enjoying the Belgian chocolate, beers and lace.

If you do the tour in Autumn at the end of the season we head back to our home port. Time to take bikers aboard who like to see the Low Lands of Belgium and Holland and go all the way to Amsterdam. Autumn is falling so the weather can be nice and sunny, but an occasional shower and wind has to be counted in. For the real bikers!

The countryside is flat as far as the eye can see. Polders, water and old villages and cities. Daily average of 45 Km or 4 to max. 5 hrs. by bike.

The most famous of our tours! From the Middle Ages of Bruges to the City of Light in two weeks. You can also do hafl the trip in one week, either from Bruges to Péronne or from Péronne to Paris. Or in reverse, from Paris to Bruges, via Péronne!

Most of our guests from Australia, Canada and New Zealand experience this tour as a journey of their own history because of the memories of the Great War. In Péronne, where ANZAC day is commemorated each year, the Feniks halts for a day to offer you the possibility to make a guided tour along the War Memorials of the First World War, like Villers-Bretonneux, the Victoria School and the 4th Division Memorial of the Australian Army Corps in Bellenglise.

From there you will continue along Compiègne, the castle of Chantilly, to Auvers sur Oise (where Vincent van Gogh lived and painted the last months of his life). The last day you will sail along La Défense, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the Notre Dame while ending your tour in the midst of Paris.

The tour is most of the time in slightly sloping countryside with occasionally some steeper hills. Daily average distance of 40 - 45 Km, sometimes 50 Km, or 4 to max. 5 hrs. by bike.

This is a two week tour, of which you can join the Feniks for one week from Bruges to Péronne and then go further to Paris by train. The airport Charles de Gaulle is less than one hour by TGV from railway station Haute Picardie (appr. 12 Km from Péronne).

Three countries, medieval and mondern history with the Great War of 1914-'18 and the culture of beer brewing. Starting in Bruges you will go to Nieuwpoort, and then to Diksmuide. This town is well known for the "Trenches of Death" and the Yser-tower, reminding us of the Belgian resistance against German occupation. Then a bike ride to Ypres, the very center of the trench war. The memory of the war is kept alive in Ypres by the impressive "Last Post" ceremony which is carried out every day at 8 PM.

The "South-west Corner" is also the region where the hop is farmed and the best Belgian beers are brewed. You will visit the St. Sixtus brewery, where the Trappist monks make the Westvleteren trappist beer. Of course you will enjoy a glass of this beer, by many considered to be the best in the world.

Last but not least you will visit the French harbor Dunkirk in the most northern part of France and the medieval town Sluis, in the most southern part of the Netherlands.

Character of the tour

This one week tour is easy to do: no hills, flat or slightly waving lands as far as the eye can see.

In this week the daffodils and hyacinths are at the peak of their blooming, turning the fields in yellow, purple and blue. You will bike in the sweet scent of the hyacinths, adding a special sensation to the experience of this tour. Highlight is the visit of the Keukenhof (included in this trip).

This tour is suited for everyone and people of all ages. On flat terrain, with daily distances of 40 - 50 kms. About 4 hours by bike.