Eleven City Tour

The Classic Tour

The peace, the nature and the Race of Races (the Eleven Cities Tour) have made Friesland extremely popular with skaters but certainly also with cyclists. The Eleven Cities Tour owes its name to two men who decided in the winter of 1808 to skate past eleven towns in one day, a total of 230 kilometers. To prove they had done it, they obtained the signatures of the owners of cafés or hotels in every town. The first official Eleven City Tour was held in 1909.
The Frisian towns owe their rise to shipping and trade. Friesland enjoyed its hey-day between 1000 and 1500, when the settlements in southwest Friesland in particular profited. The route leads you through these towns with the green watery countryside in between, where farming usually determines the horizon.
Other important parts of the scenery consist of the numerous little bridges, that 'leap' the ditches and the sailing boats that cross the vast lakes like white swans.
Besides, attention is also paid to culture. The picturesque villages, historic towns and the original Frisian traditional costumes complete the image of the greenest province of the Netherlands.

SAT Stavoren, embarkation at 4 PM near station – biking to Makkum 30km
SUN Makkum – Franeker 45km
MON Franeker – Leeuwarden 50km
TUE Leeuwarden-Dokkum-Leeuwarden 50km
WED Leeuwarden – Sneek 42km
THU Sneek – Sloten 26km
FRI Sloten – Stavoren 35km
SAT Stavoren, debarkation
1 km = .62 miles

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