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have you checked out Stena? they're doing reduced fares for foot passengers and bikes--
Indeed £58 as lowest fare with a bike is good value.
Single fare of course. Sadly limited routes:
Cairnryan – Belfast Economy foot fare: was £36, NOW £15
Liverpool – Belfast Economy foot fare: was £38, NOW £19
Holyhead – Dublin Economy foot fare: was £42, NOW £15
Fishguard – Rosslare Economy foot fare: was £38, NOW £15
Harwich – Hook of Holland Economy foot fare: was £79.30, NOW £15
(All plus bike at another £14 minimum each way)
have you checked out Stena? they're doing reduced fares for foot passengers and bikes--
Indeed £58 as lowest fare with a bike is good value.
Single fare of course. Sadly limited routes:
Cairnryan – Belfast Economy foot fare: was £36, NOW £15
Liverpool – Belfast Economy foot fare: was £38, NOW £19
Holyhead – Dublin Economy foot fare: was £42, NOW £15
Fishguard – Rosslare Economy foot fare: was £38, NOW £15
Harwich – Hook of Holland Economy foot fare: was £79.30, NOW £15
(All plus bike at another £14 minimum each way)
yes £54 return, with bike included:
Price Information
Outward
Foot Passenger Special Fare£11.50....................................
Bicycle£12.00...........................................................................
Fees and dues, adult£1.50....................................................
Environmental Fee Adult£2.00..............................................
Homeward
Adult£11.50...............................................................................
Bicycle£12.00...........................................................................
Fees and dues, adult£1.50....................................................
Environmental Fee Adult£2.00..............................................
Total Price£54.00
you fellas are fantastic.
ferry booked from Harwich for £116 return
cheers gents.
The DFDS offer (partnering with booking.com for an overnight stay in Amsterdam), may be quite handy if you decide to take the bike for a spin around the spring classics👍
Oh dear, I think my gamble of a late-April four day trip is going to backfire, it's been a bit crappy up here until now, every one of my preparatory rides (big climbing days basically used as an excuse to explore local dead end climbs etc) has been rained or winded off and I'm currently looking down the barrel of four days of northerlies and rain for the trip 😭
One on hand I'm thinking, sod this, I'm on my holidays, just sack it off and do one-day rides trying to chase the best of the weather elsewhere BUT I keep having to remind myself that the weather is NEVER as bad as the forecasts make out and once you're out in it it's never so bad.
Fingers crossed that the 10 day forecast is just a bit inaccurate and it makes a turnaround. As wife rightly observed, nothing makes me grumpier that watching forecasts before a big ride or trip 🙄
I had cheapo tickets for Jockland booked next week. Cheap enough to bin off - pivot to Wales!
watching forecasts before a big ride or trip
same here, I get a bit obsessive, as you say, it's often not as bad on the day, forecasts change, sometimes for the better, higher pressure is building over the next few days and into next week, and perhaps beyond, we'll see.
We cancel trips because the weather ? It changes what I pack sure.
*Recalls time we cycled the length Shetland /Orkney and back to Aberdeen in nothing but wind sheet torrential rain and thick fog. - but got nice evenings (except at thurso where we had to hunker down behind a wall with the tent as the campsites on a cliff too and The fear of it ****ing off in the wind was real. )
Aye, we're off on a 4 day King John's Way tandem powered club jaunt from next Thursday. 14 of us... I'd prefer dry but we're in hotels each night so at least we'll dry off.
We cancel trips because the weather ? It changes what I pack sure.
I think I had just let it get to my head, out on the road bike in the wind and rain and enjoyed myself, just wishing I hadn't over-committed on daily distances next week but needs musted as I only had four days free.
Yeah ove
Last Year we rode Vienna to Budapest, the year before we did the Loire Valley, Me my wife and my best mate and his wife 50 miles a day on average on our tandems.
This year it is the Belgian Ardennes first week of July so the weather will be good.
Over in Morroco,on day 3. Left bikes in Algericas storage unit after a 5 week Faro to Algericas trip going north and south along the boarder country in February/March.
Algericas to Tarifa along the GR 92 ( bikepacking sign for Cadiz as well ) for the fast ferry . 4 or 5 weeks and flight back to Edinburgh from Marrakech if all goes well and on to Glasgow .
Usual planning is find a hotel, riad etc night before and if stuck we can camp.
Well the time-honoured and mystical ritual of moping about the house complaining about the weather and annoying my wife has worked, looks like a half decent weekend coming up! 🤩
(compared to the very low bar of the last few weeks anyway)
It's often the way. Unless there's a hurricane forecast, ignore it. Even if it's not perfect, it's usually not as bad as you've convinced yourself it will be...
We're off for 4 days on Thursday; King John's Way. It almost goes past my front door so it'd be rude not to. 280 miles of tandem harmony...
As the weather is finally looking up bigly, I decided to bin off work for three days for a reverse Badger divide.
Loaded up for the early bus to Glesga tomorrow 🙂
Also, a weeks meandering around Connemara. planned for early June
A couple of you are interesed in ViaRhona. I did the Aigues Mortes to Valence Section a few weeks back on my way from Pau to Bourg Saint Maurice. Not my favourite vélo route but it was OK, riding into the Mistral no doubt coloured my view. An alternative to the upper part is Bella Via from Valence to Albertville and beyond:
https://www.francevelotourisme.com/itineraire/la-belle-via
it's pretty well signed on a mix of specific paths and quiet shared roads - spectacular views and pleasant riding. Beyond Albertville you can head into (or start from) either the Beaufortain or Tarentaise. There's the https://www.coeurdetarentaise-tourisme.com/fiches/boucle-cyclo-la-vallee-olympique/ until just before Moutiers then a not very nice bike route to Aime (6km on a bande cyclable on the N90) then a bike path from Aime to BSM from which there's the Cormet de Roseland, Les Chapelles and various ski resort climbs.
As for my own plans for this year I think we'll be staying local so Alps and Pyrénees. Though riding some cols in Spain over the last couple of days have reminded me how considerate Spanish drivers are and what a great place it is to travel around.
we did a big section of the ViaRhona a couple of years ago.
from Lyon down to La Voulte Sur Rhone. we then turned right and rode uphill very slowly for 2 whole days to the source of the Loire at Mont Gerbier De Jonc. we then followed the Loire all the way to the sea at Saint Nazaire.
a super 3 week tour.
would love to extend a tour into Germany soon as well, maybe north edge of the alps area.
Can anyone recommend a sunny route in Europe that's "my first cycle tour" style? Ideally with lots of swimming opportunities, about 7 days / 50km a day average?
Königssee-Bodensee bike path.
Nice rolling alpine landscape. Touring or gravel bike is fine. Lots of very seductive Biergärten, villages and beaches. Plenty of campsites or b&b, too.
There's a more traily /alpine single track/ enduro route.
Train to Munich from London can be done for <£90 and under ten hours from London if you're not up to flying.
Though riding some cols in Spain over the last couple of days have reminded me how considerate Spanish drivers are
And I thought the French drivers were really considerate!
from Lyon down to La Voulte Sur Rhone. we then turned right and rode uphill very slowly for 2 whole days to the source of the Loire at Mont Gerbier De Jonc. we then followed the Loire all the way to the sea at Saint Nazaire.
Sounds awesome.
MrsEpic has out of nowhere suggested a 3-4 day jaunt in early June. Thinking Newhaven-Dieppe and some gentle loops or out and backs from near there. Anyone have any experience nearby?
It's been a while since she was on a bike, so thinking shorter days, lazy moule frite lunches and credit cards rather than tents
I'm hoping to do my first ever mini-tour in July. 3-4 days to do the Hadrian's cycle route from Ravenglass to South Shields. Apparently, the bit from Ravenglass to Whitehaven is problematic from what I've read. Combination of cycle path being closed due to erosion (road alternative being horrible it seems) + trains not running and the bus replacement service with no facility for bikes.
Has anyone done this route recently and can confirm this? I'm happy to go from Whitehaven if necessary.
It's been a while since she was on a bike, so thinking shorter days, lazy moule frite lunches and credit cards rather than tents
May I suggest a tandem as an excellent way of enjoying quality cycle time together? A tandem is a relationship accelerator- wherever your relationship is going, a tandem will get it there faster. Mrs NBT and I do the vast majority of our riding by tandem these days, including touring, and it means I can do more work while she gets to enjoy the ride
Also, in a completely unrelated happenstance, I have two tandems for sale - see the classifieds.
A tandem is a relationship accelerator- wherever your relationship is going, a tandem will get it there faster.
This, definitely. We only ride together on a tandem and any relationship cracks are horribly revealed very quickly. The upside is, when away, any friction has to be resolved quickly as you really are dependant on each other. Ongoing squabbles are not an option. We rode with a couple on a rental once and they gave it back after 10 mins as she (Stoker) couldn't cede control to the Captain who was, AFAICS, doing OK.
May I suggest a tandem as an excellent way of enjoying quality cycle time together?
Well that's a bit left field......but......that's got me looking in the classifieds.....
When i did s fair bit of cross-channel touring in a previous life there was always at least one tandem on the ferry, and they seemed to get up a head of steam on the flat out of port.
In this life we hired a tandem w dodgy brakes for an afternoon in Lucca. I was able to take control from the stokers seat by just pedalling through the brakes and leaning into turns - it was a lot of fun and we were still talking to each other afterwards
Well that's a coincidence. It was in Luca that my chums fell out and took theirs back. They were crappy tandems but good enough for a tour of the walls.
re the tandem thing. we owned a tandem for a year about 20 years ago. it was for me and the daughter, she loved it as she did not put much effort into forward movement.
my wife on the other hand hated it. my wife is 5ft. i am 6ft 4'' tall and 4ft wide. she said it made her feel dizzy and sick, has all she could see was things constantly flashing by in her side vision. it was sold rapidly after our few rides together on it.