A taste of the best. Part 2 Velsen

Velsen is one of the five nominees to become best Cycling City of the Netherlands in 2014. Chosen from a long-list of 19 municipalities, these five municipalities compete to take over the title of current best cycling city ʼs-Hertogenbosch, which was elected in 2011. I will make a small portrait of all five nominees and in reversed alphabetical order Velsen is second after Zwolle. The municipality of Velsen and its cycle routes. Even though the municipality consists of no less than 7 different boroughs, (Velsen-North, Velsen-South, IJmuiden*, Santpoort-North, Santpoort-South, Driehuis and Velserbroek) Velsen is the smallest municipality of the five nominees with a population of 67,180. Velsen is not really well-known for its cycling in the Netherlands and the town has a massive man-made barrier right through its heart: the North Sea Canal that links the port of Amsterdam with the North Sea. This year’s theme for Best Cycling City is “Cycling without barriers” so that seems to be a bit odd. But when I visited the town I experienced a good cycling climate that also seems to be improving. Read more in Bicycle Dutch.