Transporting a trailer?

ahardy66

We bought a Chariot Cougar 2 on eBay back in March with the intention of going on a cycling holiday in August and we're still arguing about how on earth we are going to get the trailer and our camping stuff and children to our destination.

We want to go to Northumberland and do the East Coast route via Lindisfarne but we live in London.

It seems we are not allowed to take the trailer on the train, unless we claim it is a buggy!

Even then with so many panniers to lug around it would all be a bit of a nightmare.

We don't have a car but we could rent one for a couple of weeks, which would add to the cost of the trip significantly and require parking somewhere too.

After doing a couple of trips out of London to the sea-side by car, I am not keen on the car option because of all the sitting in traffic jams on the motorway on the way back on Sunday afternoon with 2 unhappy kids in the back.

One alternative that occurred to us is to get a camper and then make day trips by bike instead of going the whole way by bike. After buying a Chariot Cougar, I figured I knew what expensive was, but then I saw the price of campers! Or are you meant to look at it as an investment :?

Or is it feasible to try sending it via courier or do you just spend the whole time worrying if it is going to be there when you arrive?

Thanks for any comments or advice!

nicklouse

ahardy66 wrote:

It seems we are not allowed to take the trailer on the train, unless we claim it is a buggy!

well it is if you flip the front wheels down.

where is the problem?

Beanyman

we're still arguing about how on earth we are going to get the trailer and our camping stuff and children to our destination.

Hire a car, I know you mention that it will be expensive, but it will be a far better/convienient journey.

2 adults, 2 children, 2 bikes, 1 chariot, camping equipment, clothing etc. on a train ? :shock:

- looked into one way car hires ? (one there, one back obviously)

- The bus ?

ahardy66

Thanks for the advice folks.

We did look into two one-way car hires but that is unbelievably expensive - at least what I found at Hertz, who are probably quite expensive to start with. We're looking at over £300 each way.

Buses in the UK might do it, I hadn't thought of that - just the idea of having a 1 year-old on my lap for a 5 hour journey doesn''t appeal much either. I found bike-express who will take us to France, so we might end up doing that.

We looked at buying a car but neither of us has no-claims-bonus and we live in London and it would be parked on the street which apparently is the most expensive car insurance you can get. Unless we were also under-21 which we're not sadly.

ahardy66

I think we have resolved the situation.

We are going to buy a Ford Mondeo estate with a towbar for a bike rack and a roofrack for the Chariot trailer.

The downside of course is that we'll be abandoning our green credentials. Our carbon footprint is set to double now and of course owning a car means we should use it to travel instead of the train even when we're not taking the trailer.

Also the diesel option is a bit of a U-turn after we've been complaining so much about air quality around North London! I think my excuse is that we won't be driving much around here except to get out of London and coming home. Most of our mileage will be on motorways.

Another radical cyclist broken on the rocks of modern life