holidays

morleyman200

right, well looking at real low budget bike holidays, me and my brother (16 and 13) like single tracks, downhilling, cross country and free ride type of stuff, looking at the uk. we wont have a car to get from a to b, and was looking at getting the train to where ever, so have any of you had a go at this?

be interested to hear what you have done

also low budget abroad holidays, ie camping, like i read in the mountain bike mag, the camping and biking holidays in whistler canada.

any thing like the above would be good to listen to


tom

JamesBrckmn

If your looking at realy low budget stuff, then cross whictler off your list. it's seriously expensive for uplifts and stuff. what about going to scotland, and doing the seven stanes?

Atz

Whistler isn't "seriously expensive" to ride there, it's just expensive to get there and stay there. Once you've got that sorted out, the lift pass is actually quite reasonable.

delcol

i think low budget and whistler or low budget and canada don't go in the same sentance..

you looking at £450-£500 for a flight to vancouver,(for an adult) not sure what it would be for a child, then you have to get up to whistler 2 hour drive. don't know how much it is on train or greyhound, so say £60 then accoms which in whistler peak season aint cheap.. i never seen any camp sites in whistler, but i aint looked for one..
lift tickets are around $45-$50 a day it's cheaper to buy a 7 day or a 12 day pass.
i got a season pass in sept for $225 it was cheaper than getting a 3 week ticket..

best bet would be 7 staines in scotland. or a trip to north wales, or south wales.

Old Pedaller

[quote="delcol"
best bet would be 7 staines in scotland. or a trip to north wales, or south wales.[/quote]

Speaking as a Scot I would say that "Staines" implies that the trails are much more frightening than they are!

Cycling between the Stanes would severly cut the trail time and I think you can discount public transport for short interval transport in that area. Otherwise it might be worth trying the bike bus service http://go-where.co.uk/ (there are others) but I don't know the costs.

biff55

cay on you even fly on your own at 16 whilst being responsible for a minor ( your bro ) ?
check with airlines first maybe ?

Northwind

morleyman200 wrote:

right, well looking at real low budget bike holidays, me and my brother (16 and 13) like single tracks, downhilling, cross country and free ride type of stuff, looking at the uk. we wont have a car to get from a to b, and was looking at getting the train to where ever, so have any of you had a go at this?

Fort William, during uplift season. You can get the train there easily- it's a mainline, of sorts, the caledonian sleeper runs straight there from London, and Nevis range is an easy ride away. And you've got a bigger range of riding than anywhere else I can think of in the UK, from the full on world cup DH to the freemincey nevis red and then the world cup XC route. Plus "natural" XC of course, and the cow hill route. It's not super-cheap, unless you can book well ahead but the accomodation is, fort william's basically a failing tourist town so there's 10 million B&Bs. And it's stunning riding.

Old Pedaller wrote:

[quote="delcol"
best bet would be 7 staines in scotland. or a trip to north wales, or south wales.

[/quote]

Can't speak for Wales but the Stanes are terrible for public transport. Bikes are specifically banned from the local buses around Glentress and Innerleithen :? The rest are merely difficult. It drives me nuts tbh. There's a company that does shuttles from Edinburgh but I don't think it's cheap.

clwydian_rider92

Youd have to spend a lot on a good hard bike case for plane bare that in mind.

delcol

clwydian_rider92 wrote:

Youd have to spend a lot on a good hard bike case for plane bare that in mind.

whats wrong with a cardboard box,, free from nearly all bike shops...

if packed right a cardboard box is fine...

tsenior

sleeper to fort bill is nice, stagger back from the bar to your compartment, wake up in the highlands.

Only time i went up there we were walking not biking; we jumped off the sleeper at courrour estate (the station in trainspotting) went clay pigeon/target shooting, lunch at the station caffe then back up to FW, stayed in a backpackers hostel, did CMD arrete next day.

EDIT, just seen the OPs ages: leave out the bars and firearms, obviosly.

RichMTB

Gotta agree with Fort William, its probably the only riding area in scotland that is easily accessible by public transport. Not sure is Wales offers any alternatives for someone without their own transport.

homers_double

Why not get the euro star train over to france and hook up a bus/ train trip to any of the alpine resorts? Camping is pretty cheap and you'll have a better time.

Northwind

Oh, hang on, I think you'd need parental consent for the uplift at FW, there's a participation statement you need to sign off. Better check that out...

cee

I would have thought that as a 16 year old and a 13 year old companion....you would really want to have a guardian with you for any holiday....

or is this the point...do you want cheap options to persuade your parental units to take you?

Northwind

I just assumed they were going to run away from home and have adventures, helped by a dog or kangaroo. More likely a dog, but you never know.

GHill

delcol wrote:

you have to get up to whistler 2 hour drive. don't know how much it is on train or greyhound, so say £60 then accoms which in whistler peak season aint cheap.. i never seen any camp sites in whistler, but i aint looked for one..

Whistler doesn't sound realistic in this case, but what the heck.

Booked in advance you can get the Greyhound from Vancouver to Whistler for $22 (CND). I think a bike was extra, but I didn't take one. Add another $10 for the Canada line to get you from the airport to the bus station.

There is a pretty big campground. Just be careful of the bears. Seriously.

morleyman200

erm no just me and my bro,

well i was looking at scotland and my brother loves the look of it, i know you can get the east coast to Edninborough, then probs have to change. well the plan was to get away while mum was at work, she's fine by it. and could i not print off the form for the lift and get my mum to sign in with like a letter or something?

Been to fort william, love the place, what about avimore? or how ever you spell it? :P

yea looking at it, canada maybe saved for a few more years. and you can go abroad if your under 18, but you have to have a written note from parents.

the main thing would be transport, if it is easy to get from camp site to nevis it is really looking good. if i can't get the lift pass can you not bike up?

many thanks tom

morleyman200

well actually, that idea is now out the window as just looked a trains.

it is a 10 hour train journey and costs a good part of £200 with 4 changes