Scenes from Groningen: City of Bicycles
City of Bicycles, their claim, not mine, but it’s probably a fair one… Groningen has the highest mode share of people cycling anywhere in the world. We arrive in Groningen for Kings Night so expect some people getting around on bicycles while wearing a lot of orange, expect some bicycle scrambles, some back streets, and a few fast bicycle routes to neighbouring towns…
The Day of Kings Night
Kings Day is a national holiday/party in the Netherlands. Kings Night is the night before Kings Day just to get things going. We hadn’t planned to arrive in Groningen on the day of Kings Night but it was a happy coincidence. After a few days of riding, we left the bikes at the apartment, and went for a wander. It was business as normal initially…
Groningen is famous for it’s car circulation plan with no way to drive directly through the city centre. However, I would note the centre is small and you can still drive around it and in to it. It just makes the bicycle more time competitive and therefore the logical choice for most trips. It’s quite remarkable to see so many people biking on what are mostly roads shared with all modes, but strength in numbers means these streets are more bicycle streets than car streets. You really wouldn’t choose to drive here unless you absolutely needed to…
The Forum hiding in the back… A pyramid like building that seems Tardis like when your inside providing a variety of community spaces and functions…
This very shallow water feature leads up to the forum… and is always fun for kids…
If you need anything orange for Kings Night or Kings Day… There’s a store for that…
Gold bike and great light…
More great light against the brick buildings…
As the shadows were getting longer, there weren’t too many signs of what Kings Night would be…
It started getting busier though as the night arrived…
Febo is a bit of an institution in the Netherlands… But in all three trips the desire to buy hot food from a shoebox in the wall has not matched my curiosity…
The main square in Groningen used to be a parking lot, but now it’s most often used for the market… The Vismarkt. On Tuesday’s, Friday’s and Saturday’s, the square is filled with stands selling various foods and goods. On Kings Night it was home to the main stage for the weekends events. It was about half full with people enjoying the concert… A pretty mellow night with everyone out enjoying themselves… Nothing too mad…
It was a fun evening… Heading back…
Let’s see what King’s Day would hold…
Kings Day
Spoiler… Kings Day in Groningen is nothing like that in Amsterdam. If you’ve seen all the boats congested on the canal… People falling in the canal… This is a more civil affair, albeit it did look like the drinking started pretty early for some… But it was also a family affair for others… A broken baguette is never a good way to start the day…
Definitely more people in orange today…
Might as well use that carrot costume you had lying around… Not sure if I’ve really mention the ‘no entry - uitgezonderd (bicycle symbol)’ sign, essentially ‘no entry - except bicycles’. We use it where we have modal filters, but the Dutch use it a lot on one-way usually residential streets. It’s so prevalent everywhere that It almost goes unnoticed, but it’s perhaps the unsung hero of all the bike infrastructure. Make the street one way, and you have more space for other things. You also… Generally speaking… Cut traffic in half… We don’t do this in North America, or at least it’s not common, and our one way streets often seem to be busy multi-lane roads through our downtowns. It could be an easy win on quieter residential streets if it works traffic circulation wise…
The streets were busy with people all day… A bit of orange here and there early on… Every time I see streets like this I imagine what Robson Street could be…
A flea market is a big part of Kings Day. This street was full of people trying to sell their old stuff… Not sure on the background to why this is a big part of it…
I kind feel like a lot of people were just checking out the spectacle of it all… I was hoping for a rare old camera for €5… But had no luck…
Anybody order a Dutch painting firm… Those overalls can carry a surprising number of beers in the front pocket it seems…
More people on bikes wearing orange… This is the protected bike lane on the south side of the centre. If you hadn’t noticed, there’s not a lot of red asphalt in the centre. You generally follow the yellow brick road… Or bike path…
Despite Groningen being perhaps best know for it’s car plan that prevents you from being able to drive though the centre, there are still elevated roadways leading into the centre. It might not be a true highway, and it might be largely to get this road up and over the railway tracks… But it has the same effect of blighting the urban landscape…
‘tegelijk groen’ or ‘green at the same time’… A bicycle scramble in other words… If it can work here, it can work anywhere… It’s pretty unnerving to ride through here as a tourist, and perhaps overthinking it, but I found there’s a technique to getting through… Get off the mark quickly to pass the nearside crossing, then slow down to let the far side people pass before you get there… I’ve said this before but I think it has potential for our quick build bike lanes to avoid the need for turn boxes. It reduces all vehicle conflicts when combined with No Right Turn on Red… Something we also need much more of…
Speaking of right-turns… When the bike path gets this busy, at this location at least,, people on bicycles turning right pass on the sidewalk which of course isn’t ideal. A little bit of paint to mark through and RT lanes, if not a little bit of widening of the bike lane, would help avoid this… Note the bike lanes are red again outside of the centre…
Just liked the view along here…
Feeding into that busy intersection above is this street. The lanes are protected further down, but revert back to painted lanes as the bridge crosses the railway tracks. Strength in numbers likely helping safety here… Over and above the generally greater respect that drivers have for people on bicycles…
We can’t complain about drivers parking in bike lanes if we’re going to clog the sidewalks with bikes… I guess there’s not much space elsewhere… Maybe behind those hedge rows, or maybe a few car parking spaces can be re-purposed for bike parking…
Heading back into the centre and a different all movements bicycle green… It’s kind of addictive watching this and seeing how people negotiate for space… Never saw a crash or even that close a call…
Heading to a Kings Day party… Don’t forget your wine…
Remember when we used to call The Netherlands Holland? Apparently that was the Governments doing… And it wasn’t that long ago that they decided to use their real name… Imagine everyone referring to Canada as Ontario…
The main square was the source of the concert and focal point you might say of the celebrations, but people were hanging out in all the bars around the centre…
Just people getting around after dark…
The crowd stretched back further today than the night before… It might look a mess, but you’ll see it gets cleaned up pretty quickly in later photos…
Night two concert…
In addition to Febo… Frites (fries) are also super popular… I know what you’re thinking… But they’re popular everywhere… But it’s different… Although this is just a food truck for the event, there are tons of takeaway fries places that are great for a simple snack. Why don’t we have them here?
Walking back to the apartment… Many people heading elsewhere by bicycle…
Then the rain started… Is it time to pull out the “You’re not made of sugar” quote?
Appropriate rain cape for the day…
Other Bits Around the Centre
Bike parking below the forum…
Bike parking at the Grote Market… I like the little brushes on the ramp, not sure if that’s to clean the wheels or control the speed of the bike descending the ramp… Maybe both…
Another yellow brick road… As I said before… Cars allowed, but it’s definitely not a street for cars…
This was a neat cargo bike… If you can even call it a bike. Light electric vehicle maybe… Not sure if it’s just delivering goods to the cafe, or a mobile cafe itself… Interestingly we’ve stayed in the DE apartments in Utrecht a couple of times which I think are converted offices across from their factory there…
What did we just step into here… Soviet bus stops - with real time information - and weird buildings…
Exploring the back streets just north of the centre there are a bunch of Woonerfy streets… Narrow, one way except bicycles with continuous sidewalks at the entry and speed humps along the way…
Some chicanes too…
Chicanes in the bicycle streets too…
Another bicycle street with parking up on the curb keeps it feeling narrow…
A park just to the north of the centre. Last time we were here in 2022, it was possibly the heaviest rain we’ve encountered in The Netherlands… It was better today…
Again… Love these pockets of light…
And the contrast between light and shadow…
Classic Dutch canal homes…
More back streets…
Light starting to fade on another evening…
The night after the party, the main square returns to normal…
Another street just off the main square. Note the time restrictions for loading… Not sure if this sign is indicating no cars or bicycles, i.e., it’s a pedestrian street… But it’s late and pretty empty…
Southern Loop
Always fun to watch this view from the apartment when a boat comes through and holds everyone up…
We wandered about the centre for a bit first. Stage being dismantled after Kings Day…
Woonerf… Pedestrian zone… Either way… comfortable for most…
We’d head south of the City to see something different today… A flurry of people after a different bridge had opened…
This is needed at that previous intersection where people were turning right on the sidewalk… Interestingly bicycles are going on other approaches, but this one is red despite having the green at the same time sign. Some efficiency things going on with the timings maybe as no one is detected… No stop bar for right turning cyclists…
Continuing south through a park…
And the edge of nature along narrow little bike paths…
Before coming back into the centre on proper bike paths… Interestingly, no curbs between the bike path and the landscaping strip… Plenty of space to ride side by side or pass… If people aren’t riding side by side…
Another green at the same time signal, but this bike lane transitions to a frontage road on the far side, a pretty common design choice all over The Netherlands…
And then back in the centre… Barrier curb on either side isn’t ideal I’d say… But it’s pretty wide…
Back in the main square…
Bike parking in front of the rail station which has the oddest plaza… For want of a better word… Grades everywhere… Should have taken a better photo of this as a whole… The bike parking isn’t as secure like say Utrecht… I feel like this whole area could use a makeover…
Amazing light as we get home…
Eastern Loop
The next day, we headed east searching out a new F route…
F360 to Ten Boer pretty much starts out on some local roads initially. Fast Bike Routes, often and perhaps mistakenly called bicycle highways, are not always high quality separate facilities. They often make use of what’s available…
But for the most part, they are high quality separate routes… This bike path intersection interestingly has those odd reverse speed humps to slow down the approach that has priority… the “intersection” even has median islands…
Elsewhere the route takes some turns… These little way finding stencils help keep you on the right route…
Then as we leave Groningen proper, this amazing bike path through the fields basically takes us all the way to Ten Boer…
It even gets priority when it crosses these rural roadways…
Here’s the next one and what it looks like from the drivers perspective… 30 km/h posted speed, narrowing and speed hump on approach to the crossing… And a yield sign and sharks teeth at the crossing… Drempels are bumps…
Ten Boer centre seems new, but maintaining that traditional building style… But all that parking along the frontage…
This is also normally parking to the left of the photo above, but today it made way for the market…
From Ten Boer we head North West towards Bedum where we’d take a different F route back to Groningen… On comfortable bike paths of course…
After some frites in Bedum, heading south back to Groningen… These trees are a common sight in the Netherlands, i’m not sure of the point other than not overhanging the bike path or road, but i’ve seen these in people’s gardens too…
Hitting the start of F994 from Bedum…
Not always red…
And back in Groningen on our final night… You’ve seen this shot before, but can’t help taking photos when the light is good…
The other square… Or Grote Market as it’s actually called…
As the light drops… So does my shutter speed creating these nice blurred riding shots…
This seems like a good shot to end the Groningen leg of the trip… I never get tired of watching the different ways you can carry a passenger on a bicycle…
We’re nearly at the end of the trip now, with the next blog post covering our final few days in Utrecht, our favourite city in The Netherlands and the one we keep returning too…