European travel planning ?

[FLV]

Morning.
Just for fun, for now...
I am looking at events such as the Tuscany trail etc. I also have friends and family in Switzerland to visit in the future.
No actual events to plan for really, just general.

Specifically I am looking at travel to and from such locations. Also, I am looking to avoid flying, for several reasons including c02, general hassle, faff factor of to and from airports, bike bags, people. Etc. Along with I just don't enjoy it as a way of travel.

Obviously there's the driving option. I've done plenty of motorcycle trips to have a handle on driving abroad, it's been no issue for me in the past.
My previous favoured method was to drive the UK leg in an evening, get an overnight ferry to get some shut eye and then onwards in the morning.

I'm pretty interested in trains. But have very limited experience of this, in fact the only trains in mainland Europe i have used in recent years are the between pisa and the start and finish of said Tuscany trail a couple of years ago. (Oh, and the Eurostar to Brussels for work)
I understand it has been possible to take bikes on the eurostar but not sure if that's still the case.

Anyone know anything about this ? Any favourite train websites etc?

Thanks

[pistonbroke]

Clearly not suitable for Italy or landlocked countries like Switzerland but the ferry to Nothern Spain is a relaxed and relatively quick way of getting to somewhere sunnier in about 24 hours from the UK, they take cycle tourists but you can't book online for some unknown reason. A 2 week trip that would work is ferry to Bilbao then a 9 day route to an airport such as Barcelona, Reus or Castellon then stuff the bike in a freely available box and back to the UK. Now if only someone had a suitable route

[lune ranger]

https://www.seat61.com/index-mobile.htm

This site is very comprehensive.

I pretty much only travel by train if it is at all possible. Using this site I’ve been to Italy, Barcelona, Black Forest, Croatia and Turkey.

Italy can be done easily enough. You live up north right? It’d be day trip to London, Eurostar to Paris, Thalis train overnight to Turin and then onward to your Italian destination. Tuscany would be a little more than 24hrs. We go to the Dolomites from Exeter and it takes 22hours 8 of which are spent sleeping in a bunk. My kids love it and it’s an integral part of the holiday - very far from the torture of flying.

Get booking ASAP or be prepared to spend a huge amount of cash. Trains can be ridiculously expensive compared to the artificially low prices of air travel.

[Verena]

I'll be really interested in this thread as well. Really want to stop flying. I go to Germany regularly to see my parents, but I must admit up until now this has been mostly by flying. When I did try going by train a couple of Christmasses ago, the whole thing got cancelled due to French rail strikes, that was a bit offputting.
I've never been brave enough to drive, but now I have a grown up daughter who drives, the plan is to try that this year, drive, ferry, then drive at least a bit into Belgium or Netherlands, leave the car somewhere and carry on by train.
The taking the bike on the trains is something I still need to work out. I have also used that website and found it really useful.
But the bike thing seems complicated, some do some don't take them, and I think you have to book each leg separately, and how you book bike spaces also seems different and a bit confusing.

Any info would be much appreciated, and I'll share anything I find out too...

I hired a mountain bike twice in Germany for the bikepacking event, but I really want to take my own this time.

[lune ranger]

The taking the bike on the trains is something I still need to work out. I have also used that website and found it really useful.
But the bike thing seems complicated, some do some don't take them, and I think you have to book each leg separately, and how you book bike spaces also seems different and a bit confusing.

I won’t pretend this isn’t true.
Booking can be fraught and exhausting as well as expensive - am I selling this .
Spend your time working out your options and timings then book it all at once so to reduce the chances of missing a section out.

[jameso]

I don't think they go to where you want to go FLV but for general interest on this thread, don't forget the European Bike Express coach for UK to a number of great locations in France and towards Spain or Italy. Think they cover the Rhine valley area also.
Best bit is no bike box/packaging stress. Pricey yes but worth it overall ime.

[PeterC]

Not used them but Flixbus started to put a bike rack on various services. Was thinking about them as an option in 2019 for the 2020 tour, which for one reason or another didn't go ahead.

Verena, back when I was a youngster I used to go to the alps, climbing, but always with a more seasoned/experienced co driver. That stopped when I was about thirty. About twenty years later I had to restart and am quite happy to drive from Dunkirk / Rotterdam / Amsterdam to well south of Budapest. Basically the whole route (over90%) is on motorway. I've never had any problems to speak of. Although, to be fair I never ever go anywhere near big cities If you are an experienced driver in the UK you'll be fine.

[gairym]

Dave,

The Alps is one of the destinations you're more likely to find an organised bike-bus thingy that'll suit your needs.

And then get a lift down to Tuscany with me!

Simples...

[FLV]

No sure what I want to do yetfrom a ride point of view. There's a few rides on bikepacking that look nice. Plus sections of Tuscany trail, Veneto trail.

I was considering just heading down and doing whatever I fancied when its open season again. I'd rather not be tied to a flight or airport.

I've seen seat61 before but not spent any time on there lately and had forgotten the name of it. So will check back there to start

[Alpinum]

Let me know should you be heading to Switzerland
Always welcome to stay Dave.

And feed you not just on local food and drinks but also route knowledge

[Alpinum]

Oh... and I have only limited experience travelling by train and with bike in Europe. France, Italy have been easy, mostly I get the info I need from the national train network pages.
Switzerland is a dream to use public transport with bikes. Weekends on some lines get crowded and for few, very specific lines you need a reservation, but just drop a question once you have a rough idea. To me it seems it's likely to be answered on here.

[robbie]

Let me know should you be heading to Switzerland
Always welcome to stay Dave.

And feed you not just on local food and drinks but also route knowledge

MMM Switzerland you say
Put my name down for the Hope1000 this year in the hope ha that I might get to the start. so might ask a few questions about travel as was looking at trains etc

[Verena]

I don't think they go to where you want to go FLV but for general interest on this thread, don't forget the European Bike Express coach for UK to a number of great locations in France and towards Spain or Italy. Think they cover the Rhine valley area also.
Best bit is no bike box/packaging stress. Pricey yes but worth it overall ime.

Thanks for this, never heard of them, I would be able to go to the stop before Nancy that I can't remember the name of at the moment, ride the 30km into Luxembourg and catch a train from there....

[Verena]

Not used them but Flixbus started to put a bike rack on various services. Was thinking about them as an option in 2019 for the 2020 tour, which for one reason or another didn't go ahead.

Verena, back when I was a youngster I used to go to the alps, climbing, but always with a more seasoned/experienced co driver. That stopped when I was about thirty. About twenty years later I had to restart and am quite happy to drive from Dunkirk / Rotterdam / Amsterdam to well south of Budapest. Basically the whole route (over90%) is on motorway. I've never had any problems to speak of. Although, to be fair I never ever go anywhere near big cities If you are an experienced driver in the UK you'll be fine.

Thank you for the flixbus info, also an option worth considering....

And for your confidence in my driving ability - although as I said before now with the added excitement of driving an electric car...

[Verena]

Let me know should you be heading to Switzerland
Always welcome to stay Dave.

And feed you not just on local food and drinks but also route knowledge

Local food ? I remember something called pizzokel or similar ??

[Alpinum]

Let me know should you be heading to Switzerland
Always welcome to stay Dave.

And feed you not just on local food and drinks but also route knowledge

MMM Switzerland you say
Put my name down for the Hope1000 this year in the hope ha that I might get to the start. so might ask a few questions about travel as was looking at trains etc

The Hope1000 shares some of my commute, I'll be waving

Local food ? I remember something called pizzokel or similar ??

Pizokels are typical for the Grisons, like Capuns. I live in the Emmental. We have the famous, huge and holey cheese only non locals like, and Röschti

[boxelder]

ferry to Nothern Spain is a relaxed and relatively quick way of getting to somewhere sunnier in about 24 hours from the UK, they take cycle tourists but you can't book online for some unknown reason. A 2 week trip that would work is ferry to Bilbao then a 9 day route to an airport such as Barcelona, Reus or Castellon then stuff the bike in a freely available box and back to the UK. Now if only someone had a suitable route

I've been looking at this recently, as I want to ride MV route. Was thinking of flying to Valencia/Reus, ditching/recycling bike box and pedalling to Teruel. Ride the MV, then head to a ferry via the C2C route, as catching an earlier/later ferry is presumably easier than getting a flight. The train back from Plym/Portsmouth will probably be the biggest pain/most expensive. Where's you B+B @pistonbroke? (p.s. I realised recently that I've ridden quite a number of Trailquests/Polaris events you also rode - the days of tyke punch cards pegged to washing lines ).

[BigdummySteve]

Depending on your green credentials I wouldn’t discount flying, I did the C2C in 2019 and flew home for £19 + bike, for me it was dead easy, train to Birmingham international, shuttle to airport and relax. Obviously post Covid the cheap flights might disappear and environmentally that’s probably for the best but it’s hard to argue with the price.
Apart from time and cost I’d quite like to do a trip with ferries and trains. After a while away travelling in my 20’s I returned to the UK on a ferry, seeing the lights of England appear out of the night was special, Eurostar or an aeroplane just wouldn’t have been the same.

[pistonbroke]

Boxelder, yes I was a Trailquest regular mid 90's to 2000's. We live 50km South West of Tarragona/Reus, I can help with logistics for the Montañasvacias. When 5 of us from on here did it in 2019, I picked Chew up from Reus and the rest from Castellon which is the closest airport to Teruel but the only service there is from Stanstead on a Saturday night. Flights are still very cheap, Steve Heading has booked Manchester-Reus and Bilbao-Manchester at the end of May for about €30 each way plus bike, but I agree that the ferry is a nice relaxing way to get to the UK. Feel free to PM me if you want more detailled info.

[boxelder]

Feel free to PM me if you want more detailled info.

I will, as involving others will make it more likely to happen. May was my other option, but I reckon Scotland might be a better option then. I'd message Steve, but I'm all too familiar with his knack for constantly cruising along at 5% above whatever I can manage comfortably........