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Enjoy your trip next summer!

In Holland many elderly people go out on their bikes every day. There are no special rules or tips for this age group. There is one general rule that applies to everyone: the more experienced you are on your bike and cycling in traffic, the easier you'll find it to enjoy Holland by bike. All traffic is used to cyclists on the road, from young to old!

The LF routes are cycle-friendly, but never entirely segregated from cars. For example, the routes pass through towns and villages and here you will usually have to share the road with other traffic. 

The LF Coastal Route from IJmuiden to Den Helder mostly takes you through the dunes and along the coast with not a car in sight. In places where the dunes are narrow you follow a through road, but there is a separate cycle path. In IJmuiden, Den Helder and the villages along the route, the route won't be entirely segregated from cars, but it shouldn't be unsafe, even for inexperienced cyclists.

Should you be cycling with children and are you concerned about their safety, you might consider renting a family tandem or trailer bike. See: Cycling with Children.

You're absolutely right. The cycle paths are getting a lot busier and the speed is increasing. Luckily helmets are already compulsory for speed pedelecs and more and more children and cyclists on fast bikes (e-bike, mountain bike etc.) are wearing a helmet. That's a start.

But is making helmets compulsory really the solution? Wouldn't it be better to give cyclists more space and maybe even make separate lanes for fast and slow cyclists so there are no near misses? Shouldn't we try to make cycling so safe that helmets are not really necessary?