Cycling Thread 3.0

also makes sense as we don’t have to faff with trains or (god forbid) a flight on the way back

Yeah I guess if you compare travel to two different places it’s a fair bit cheaper! I meant in comparison to flying to Spain or thereabouts, even with budget flights I imagine it’s pretty comparable when you factor in taking bikes on the plane and getting them to the airport, innit.

might do this myself. been wanting back to bilbao for far too long

Yeah totally get you here, no worries. Suppose I’m used to looking at things through different eyes as we haven’t been away in so long. It’s easily the best way to get to the continent, and the cheapest. The ferries to Spain take ages, so that’s where the cost comes in.

I was amazed how easy it was to get across to Europe when we did London - Paris 11yrs ago. Ride all day, jump on a ferry, have a beer, crash at the hotel. Easy

Yeah, it’s ridiculously easy/cheap isn’t it.

The Eurotunnel bike ticket was £20pp including bike which is great value too.

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The only shit bit is the disorientation and lack of facilities when arriving at the port. Dover, Newhaven and Dunkirk are shit imho for arriving cyclists. For our 6am Dover departure last week we were made to stand outside in the rain as the food outlets in the terminal weren’t open yet, and there is absolutely fuck all in Dunkirk while you’re waiting to go back, just a vend. Always feel like I’m in the wrong lane when riding to the check-in people as well.

Obvs it’s 200000% better than flying, and even Eurostar, though.

All this #ferrychat has inspired me. I’m going to Morocco tomorrow!

TINTFT

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:smiley::smiley::smiley::smiley::smiley:

This is now the finger thread?

I certainly is :grinning:

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i have a question for @dots about flying with yr bike: i’ve only ever done it with a hard case, which was a massive PITA. how did you fly to faro with your bike and how are you planning to fly back with it? those ctc plastic bags?

My cousin did a ferry to Copenhagen (I think) then toured back to calais. Sounded pretty good

I think we’ll be in Copenhagen in mid July :wave:

Only done it the once - got an e-bike cardboard box from Cycle Republic. Wheels/mudguards/seatpost off, bars turned and dropped. Got lots of bits to protect fork and dropouts and lots of bubble wrap to go in, plus a section of reinforced cardboard box from a vegetable box to go either side of RD to protect that.

Tent, 1 pannier, sleeping bag and tools and everything else in the box around the bike, then the other pannier full of clothes I took on as hand luggage.

easyJet have a 32kg weight limit and don’t mind that there is more than the bike in the box, Ryanair apparently have 20kg limit and I’ve read reports that they insist it is just the bike in the box and anything else must be checked and paid for.

It’s a bit of a faff and a bit worrying on the way out in case it’s damaged but it was absolutely fine. There was a special section for oversize luggage and it was wheeled through by one person carefully and then there was a bike stand to reassemble which was incredibly useful.

I would suggest taking a spare rear hanger in case of a disaster, that seems like the hardest thing to replace. Although with Decathlon bikes you’ll be fine in Europe! My Arkose would have been difficult to source.

In Malaga I’m gonna find a bike shop and I imagine they will have a service which involves paying a small fee to have it repacked into one of their boxes.

The clear bags sound really tempting but lack the extra storage capacity of the bike box. Might be okay if you’re bikepacking though.

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Was this recently, do you know? Any idea of which company they used? Seems to be an absolute dearth of ferry crossings from UK to Scandinavia.

There aren’t any :slightly_frowning_face:

Was quite a while ago, 7 years maybe. Think he might have got the ferry over there from Hull

E-bike box as they’re slightly larger, like

thanks - kind of cemented in my mind that i don’t really want to fly with a bike unless we absolutely have to. it’s not the boxing up i particularly mind, it’s getting to the bloody airport with a massive box :confused:

Good old Cycle Republic. GBOL :wink: