France Small Tour

nicholld

Have been scouring websites and forums for answers but so far have not come up with any complete answer. This year my wife and I have decided that we will do some cycle touring in france after chatting to people doing similar whilst on holiday last year. Have collated quite a lot of information regarding bikes, luggage, etc so don't worry it's not the usual questioning

Our idea initially was to get to france by use of trains, ferry, etc without the need for the car so basically Stoke to Angers using public transport. From the reading I've done a lot of trains don't cater for bikes and the ones that do are few and far between. Has anyone done something similar or can advise on alternatives/solutions? I appreciate we could cycle within the UK but we only have 2 weeks and didn't really want to factor anything in from the UK.

Wooliferkins

I've not had a problem getting the bike on 125s as they have bike storage front and rear. Presuming train from Stoke to Portsmouth Hbr then on to St Malo or Cherbourg i would think you're OK check with the rail people. I don't think you can book the bike storage.

clanton

If you bag the bikes you can take them on all, or nearly all trains - leaves you with the bike bag to deal with though! Some people get a lightweight packable bag (such as the CTC plastic bags) and post them to their final destination.

Otherwise as above some trains take bikes as whole bikes, these usually need to be booked in advance. I have found it very hard to figure out which will and won't - partly because I don't speak any French.

Other option is European Bike Express - they can drop you off and pick you up at different places on their routes and look like quite a good option.

FInal, and to my mind best, option is the ferries. Potentially you could ferry into one port such as Caen/Cherbourg and out of another eg St Malo.

Depends really on where you want to go! Normandy etc -ferries. Alps, Med, I would give European BHike Express a ring, or look at the trains.

andymiller

nicholld wrote:

Have been scouring websites and forums for answers but so far have not come up with any complete answer. This year my wife and I have decided that we will do some cycle touring in france after chatting to people doing similar whilst on holiday last year. Have collated quite a lot of information regarding bikes, luggage, etc so don't worry it's not the usual questioning

Our idea initially was to get to france by use of trains, ferry, etc without the need for the car so basically Stoke to Angers using public transport. From the reading I've done a lot of trains don't cater for bikes and the ones that do are few and far between. Has anyone done something similar or can advise on alternatives/solutions? I appreciate we could cycle within the UK but we only have 2 weeks and didn't really want to factor anything in from the UK.

Hmm. I'm not sure what websites you've been looking at, but it's not as difficult as you think.

The general position for taking bikes on trains in France is that:

- you can take unbagged bikes on most if not all regional trains;
- you can take unbagged bikes on sleeper trains;
- newer TGV trains have bike carriage facilities - this means in practice a lot of trains on the TGV Est and the TGV Ouest. On the TGVs to the south my impression is that most services don't have bike carriage facilities. As these are the services most cyclists use, this may be why you have been given a misleading impression.

The good news is that a quick check on the SNCF website suggests that you have plenty of choices - checking a random date (28 February) there was a service every hour from Paris Montparnasse to Angers St Laud - all with bike carriage facilities. The journey takes between an hour and half and two hours.

The most straightforward alternative would be to go via Eurostar from London St Pancras (practically next door to Euston) and then bike across Paris to Montparnasse. Bear in mind that it costs (IIRC) £25 each way to take your bike on the Eurostar and 10€ on the TGV - so you might find that a bike bag pays for itself in one trip. Bear in mind also that the Virgin services from Stoke only have two (or is it three?) bike spaces. so make sure you reserve your spaces early.

nicholld

Many thanks for the responses

As with most research completed on the web you get varying views which quite often ends up confusing you even further...
Bike bags are a definite no as we have no where to store once we get there. The trains in France do seem more bike friendly however from what I had read the TGV trains have limited capacity. The UK leg of the journey seems to be the problem whereby the Virgin Trains do seem to have very limited space and I've read many people have been turned away even with bike reservations That would be a great start to a holiday and it would be good to do more and wider locations so I don't wish to put my wife off at the first hurdle.
There are alternative routes we can take, which all add to the time taken to get to our starting location and more importantly start to bump the cost up each way so at present our current thoughts are to take the car so far in the UK and then complete the remainder by public transport... easy option I know but as stated I don't want to cloud a potentially enjoyable experience...

andymiller

nicholld wrote:

Many thanks for the responses

As with most research completed on the web you get varying views which quite often ends up confusing you even further...
Bike bags are a definite no as we have no where to store once we get there. The trains in France do seem more bike friendly however from what I had read the TGV trains have limited capacity. The UK leg of the journey seems to be the problem whereby the Virgin Trains do seem to have very limited space and I've read many people have been turned away even with bike reservations That would be a great start to a holiday and it would be good to do more and wider locations so I don't wish to put my wife off at the first hurdle.
There are alternative routes we can take, which all add to the time taken to get to our starting location and more importantly start to bump the cost up each way so at present our current thoughts are to take the car so far in the UK and then complete the remainder by public transport... easy option I know but as stated I don't want to cloud a potentially enjoyable experience...

Sorry but there aren't any magic wands anyone can wave here. The only guaranteed risk-free option is to stay home.

With any form of transport something can go wrong, but lots of people use trains for taking bikes - the vast majority without any problem. If you make reservations and turn up with a bit of time to spare there's no reason why anything should go wrong. Bear in mind that the internet is likely to give you a distorted view of the risks - after all you only ever hear from the people who've had problems. I suspect that the reality is that a few people have had problems.

[EDIT: on reflection I can imagine that there might well be a real risk of problems on the services going to and from the Lakes during summer weekends. But if (say) you travelled on a Friday morning on a service coming from Liverpool and Manchester then the risks would be pretty limited].

It would be worth leaving some extra time so that if for any reason something should go wrong with one train then you can get the next.

If you are really concerned about limited bike carriage space on trains then your best option really is a take your bike in bag - and plan a circular tour arrange a tour starting and finishing at a hotel (obviously arrange with them to leave the bags when you make the reservations). Most hotels will be only too happy to store your bags.

Alternatively in areas like the Loire and Burgundy there are plenty of cycle tour operators who will hire bikes, book hotels and provide support - this might be the best option for a first touring holiday.

Or, as someone mentioned there's European Bike Express (although I don't know whether they have a pickup point within striking distance of Stoke).

Or you could choose to go somewhere like Brittany or Normandy which are easily accessible by ferry - however, I suspect that getting to Portsmouth from Stoke without using a Virgin train would be fairly complicated.

Oh and rather than relying on generalised and apparently contradictory advice on internet forums you can always check direct with the SNCF website or TGV-europe.co.uk. This will give you a definite answer for the specifc journeys you are planning to make. Or alternatively call TGV-Europe.co.uk (you have to pay to get them to book for you, but it may well be worth it to get expert authoritiative advice).

ralex

nicholld wrote:

Bike bags are a definite no as we have no where to store once we get there. .

Then get bags that you can carry with you, such as CTC plastic bag or Groundeffect Tardis or Body Bag, they pack down into small and light enough sizes to easily take with you on tour.

andymiller

ralex wrote:

nicholld wrote:

Bike bags are a definite no as we have no where to store once we get there. .

Then get bags that you can carry with you, such as CTC plastic bag or Groundeffect Tardis or Body Bag, they pack down into small and light enough sizes to easily take with you on tour.

I have Ground Effect Tardis and it works perfectly as it fits into train luggage racks.

It folds down to the size of a phone directory and you can then send it to yourself Poste Restante at a Poste Office (or to a hotel) at your final destination. (Keep an eye on the Poste Restante time limits if you are planning a longer trip).