Cycling without digital navigation, using the Dutch bicycle node network
This Saturday was a lovely sunny autumn day in the Netherlands. A perfect day to go for a small cycling trip and see the trees changing colours. We went to visit the Bomenmuseum Gimborn, which is a nice nature area that takes us roughly 1.5 hours to reach by bicycle (at a casual pace).
For cycling in the Netherlands, a great way to navigate is by using the fietsknooppunten (bicycle nodes) network:
These green signs can be found all over the country, usually showing 2-digit numbers. If you want to navigate somewhere, you can simply plan your route with one of several websites or apps and write down the node numbers you need to follow. Then when you're on your bike you just follow the numbers in order, without needing to use a smartphone or map! The nodes are also generally designed to guide you along nice bicycle paths and roads with low car traffic.
We always write down the node numbers on a piece of paper. Sometimes we keep this in our pocket, but this time we just taped it directly to one of our bikes! This made it super easy to see what way we had to go, without needing to stop and check at any time.
We had a good time cycling to and from the nature area, and spotting all the gnomes on the walk we did there!
If you want to learn more about cycling infrastructure in the Netherlands, I can recommend the BicycleDutch blog and YouTube channel! Another nice Youtube channel focused on Dutch infrastructure is Not Just Bikes.