Bicycles from Britain to Continent

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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robgul
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Re: Bicycles from Britain to Continent

Post by robgul »

Just back from a trip cycling in France, Luxembourg, Germany, Holland, Belgium - and a "veteran" of numerous other foreign sorties. We're a group ranging in age from about 56 - 72 ... but does age matter?

Summary (most mentioned already) of possibilities:

1 Eurotunnel Bike Service - Folkestone to Calais - <£20 for bike and passenger, each way
2 Eurostar to Paris, Brussels or Lille - bike is sent (just luggage off, not packed up) as freight on a specific train - about £30 each way for bike + passenger fare. Bikes need to be checked in about 2 hours before the passenger journey.
3 European Bike Express to/from a whole host of points in the UK and France/Spain (and I think Germany) - coach with a big bike trailer. Good value and CTC discount (the only one worth anything :twisted: )
4 Once you get to France more of the TGV trains are now carrying wheel on bikes (we used the Paris-Metz service last week) - see www.capitainetrain.com to book tickets WITH bike spaces (for Rail Europe/SNCF you have to phone up and then bookings are a bit flaky)

- after that there are ferries, although they seem to try and price out foot passengers, preferring cars - or aeroplanes with all the dismantling, packing and high damage risk issues.

We also hired a coach and trailer to take us from Calais to the Loire - although we did strike lucky as the operator was between trips and already in France so we got a bit of a deal.

Rob
E2E http://www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk
HoECC http://www.heartofenglandcyclingclub.org.uk
Cytech accredited mechanic . . . and woodworker
bainbridge
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Re: Bicycles from Britain to Continent

Post by bainbridge »

We simply cycled from home. Planning to transport the bikes seemed such a faff. 3 days riding from Bristol to Harwich, a nice little starter tour.
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bigjim
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Re: Bicycles from Britain to Continent

Post by bigjim »

I think £143 one way with a pick up near me in the Midlands all tho way to Roses in Spain including ferry crossing is pretty good

I can do E/Jet, Ryanair, Jet 2 etc return for that and I'm there in a couple of hours.
REHALL
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Re: Bicycles from Britain to Continent

Post by REHALL »

My wife and I are thinking of taking our bikes by train from London to Eupen (Belgium, near Aachen in Germany), via Eurostar to Brussels. We've done this a couple of times before but not for some years. The Eurostar website implied that even for the rather expensive Registered Luggage service, it is necessary to put bikes in a bike bag. I emailed Eurodispatch, who handle this service, and they confirmed that currently bikes are accepted fully assembled and do not have to be in a bike bag. I thanked them for this news and suggested that they got their website changed. Here is the reply that I received:-

Thank you for your feedback I will pass this on.

As far as I am aware they have changed the website in preparation for the new trains which will be unable to accommodate fully assembled bikes. These will be in operation towards the end of the year, the exact date is yet to be decided. All bookings made for travel before the 31st October will be able to accommodate fully assembled bikes. Bookings made for travel after this date will require the bikes to be bagged.

I hope this helps

Olivia Jamin | Eurodespatch Assistant
Eurodespatch
St Pancras International
Euston Road | London N1C 4QL
T- 0844 822 5 822
olivia.jamin@eurostar.com


I think this should be brought to the attention of the Campaigns Dept or Touring Dept at HQ, for possible action. In case it is not picked up from here I will send a separate email.

Richard
bohrsatom
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Re: Bicycles from Britain to Continent

Post by bohrsatom »

REHALL wrote:My wife and I are thinking of taking our bikes by train from London to Eupen (Belgium, near Aachen in Germany), via Eurostar to Brussels. We've done this a couple of times before but not for some years. The Eurostar website implied that even for the rather expensive Registered Luggage service, it is necessary to put bikes in a bike bag. I emailed Eurodispatch, who handle this service, and they confirmed that currently bikes are accepted fully assembled and do not have to be in a bike bag. I thanked them for this news and suggested that they got their website changed. Here is the reply that I received:-

Thank you for your feedback I will pass this on.

As far as I am aware they have changed the website in preparation for the new trains which will be unable to accommodate fully assembled bikes. These will be in operation towards the end of the year, the exact date is yet to be decided. All bookings made for travel before the 31st October will be able to accommodate fully assembled bikes. Bookings made for travel after this date will require the bikes to be bagged.

I hope this helps

Olivia Jamin | Eurodespatch Assistant
Eurodespatch
St Pancras International
Euston Road | London N1C 4QL
T- 0844 822 5 822
olivia.jamin@eurostar.com


I think this should be brought to the attention of the Campaigns Dept or Touring Dept at HQ, for possible action. In case it is not picked up from here I will send a separate email.

Richard


This is a huge step backwards. Bikes on Eurostar was perhaps expensive (considering the cost of the tickets) but safe and convenient. I'm very disappointed to read that this service is going to end :(.

http://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel-in ... e-eurostar - The eurostar site does indeed have no mention of bikes transported fully assembled.
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robgul
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Re: Bicycles from Britain to Continent

Post by robgul »

Indeed a retrograde step - BUT almost as good, depending on where you are going, is the Eurotunnel bike service - last time I looked it was only 16 quid each way for bike AND passenger.

Go to St Pancras - take the High Speed 1 (Javelin) to Folkestone West with your bike wheeled on - ride to the Holiday Inn Express up the road and the minibus and trailer takes you through the tunnel - TGV trains onwards (many now take assembled bikes) from Calais Ville or Frethun .... or ride on from Calais. We've used it 4 or 5 times - excellent service and value.

Rob
E2E http://www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk
HoECC http://www.heartofenglandcyclingclub.org.uk
Cytech accredited mechanic . . . and woodworker
JJF
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Re: Bicycles from Britain to Continent

Post by JJF »

Eurotunnel is £22 in July and Aug. Other times it is £18.
pal
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Re: Bicycles from Britain to Continent

Post by pal »

This is a huge step backwards. Bikes on Eurostar was perhaps expensive (considering the cost of the tickets) but safe and convenient. I'm very disappointed to read that this service is going to end :(.


Agreed, absolutely! I'm just back from a trip to Switzerland (via Eurostar and TGV), and had logged on to this thread to happily report how stress-free and efficient the Eurostar (and TGV, come to that) bike system was (and also how very popular it seemed to be: there were at least half a dozen other cyclists either dropping off or collecting bikes at the parcels office on each of my visits). It's good to know that the Eurotunnel alternative works well, but that does add a few more steps to any journey (and I suppose is even more fiddly if you're heading to Belgium?)
Barrenfluffit
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Re: Bicycles from Britain to Continent

Post by Barrenfluffit »

Also to report an hourly, bike suitable, train connection between Brussels and Amsterdam.

The train has a specific, generous area for bike carriage and doesn't require reservations. However the bike does require a single international bike ticket (which can be different from the rider's ticket) which covers both Belgian and Netherlands. It's possible to buy Eurostar tickets to countries beyond Belgium* but the bike tickets would have to be organised separately. The misleading bit is the time tables are incorrectly marked as Bike carriage not allowed and reservations required. Its a domestic InterCity service which crosses the border rather than a superfast Thalys. The train serves the same station as Eurostar but a different set of platforms.

It's 130 miles, about 3 hours, e40 (+ e12 for the bike) one way.

The relevance of this is that Amsterdam has good onwards, bike friendly, connections to Germany. In theory its possible to return from Berlin to St Pancras in a day but that's rather reliant on all the timings working out ok.
Last edited by Barrenfluffit on 9 Jul 2015, 8:49am, edited 1 time in total.
bohrsatom
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Re: Bicycles from Britain to Continent

Post by bohrsatom »

I e-mailed Eurostar about the changes and got this reply, which suggests there are no changes to the policy about bikes. Very confusing.

Thank you for your email.

Firstly, I apologise that we could not reply sooner; we have developed a high volume of contact, which has hindered our ability to respond as quickly as we would like.

Bicycles may be carried on Eurostar as part of your luggage providing they can be folded or dismantled to fit into a bicycle bag. The maximum length possible for the bag is 85cm at its longest length.

If the bag is larger or the bike cannot be dismantled, it will have to be transported as registered baggage. To register your bike, please call our EuroDespatch centre on 03448 225822 and have your six letter Eurostar reference to hand. They will then book your bike onto a specific train which you will collect on arrival at your destination.

There is a charge of £30.00 one way for this service. For more information please visit our website on the following link:

http://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/contact-u ... Cq0r2ddUhs
andymiller
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Re: Bicycles from Britain to Continent

Post by andymiller »

What the eurodispatch guys say is correct so far as I understand it. (If not then I risk being stranded in Paris on my way home next month!). My guess (hope?) is that this is an editorial slip by someone on the eurostar website editorial team who wasn't familiar with the rules.

eurostar policies have changed in that if you have a non-folding bike in a bag you have to use their registered baggage service. They haven't changed in relation to full-size bikes that aren't in a bag.

(If you're wondering 'what's the point of taking your bike in a bag?' if you have to pay: you might want to do this if say you wanted to change at Lille and take a TGV from there).

The rules are more complicated than they need to be, and they are more complicated than they used to be. I've written a guide to taking your bike on eurostar here:

http://italy-cycling-guide.info/getting ... -eurostar/

whether it's any more user-friendly than the eurostar official page I don't know.

If in doubt email or talk to the people at eurodispatch. (You have to sympathise with the eurodispatch people - presumably the reason they are getting so many enquiries is because the website has been ballsed up).

I've written to eurostar about this - I suggest other people do the same.
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robgul
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Re: Bicycles from Britain to Continent

Post by robgul »

At risk of confusing the Eurostar picture even further ... my understanding is that when the existing Eurostar rolling stock is replaced (I think that starts early in 2016) there may be different (or even no) facilities for transporting bikes (that is bikes that are not disassembled but just wheeled into the despatch office and shifted in one piece)

I am going to St Pancras to catch Eurostar on Saturday (sans velo) - if I get a chance I'll go the despatch office and ask.

Rob
E2E http://www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk
HoECC http://www.heartofenglandcyclingclub.org.uk
Cytech accredited mechanic . . . and woodworker
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