£1 a day tour completed

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
User avatar
smith4188
Posts: 146
Joined: 19 Feb 2009, 5:08pm
Location: Somewhere in Europe

£1 a day tour completed

Post by smith4188 »

On Thursday three of us reached Gibraltar on the Ride and Seek 2015 £1 a day tour. We had a fair bit of negativity about the trip but that was good because it was the negativity that spurred on one of our cyclists to come along. At least now I know that, whatever the state of my finances, I'll always be able to tour, because touring can be cheaper than staying at home. Thanks to everyone who followed us on Facebook!
rualexander
Posts: 2639
Joined: 2 Jul 2007, 9:47pm
Contact:

Re: £1 a day tour completed

Post by rualexander »

Good stuff! I find that touring is always cheaper than staying at home, never got it down to £1 a day though.
khain
Posts: 245
Joined: 5 Feb 2014, 5:42pm

Re: £1 a day tour completed

Post by khain »

Well done on finishing!

Is there going to be a book coming out, or even an online diary? I don't use Facebook.

What was the negativity about the trip?
User avatar
smith4188
Posts: 146
Joined: 19 Feb 2009, 5:08pm
Location: Somewhere in Europe

Re: £1 a day tour completed

Post by smith4188 »

khain wrote:Well done on finishing!

Is there going to be a book coming out, or even an online diary? I don't use Facebook.

What was the negativity about the trip?


Some people thought it ill-conceived. Some even said it might kill my co-riders. It wasn't and it didn't. And yes, there'll be a book. I just need to cycle the 1600 miles back to the Isle of Man before I can start to write it ;-)
Des49
Posts: 799
Joined: 2 Dec 2014, 11:45am

Re: £1 a day tour completed

Post by Des49 »

Congratulations!

Not on FB either and am really intrigued on how this was accomplished, so look forward to learning more on what must be a great story. You must have some good lessons to pass on.

Well done again.
User avatar
simonineaston
Posts: 8003
Joined: 9 May 2007, 1:06pm
Location: ...at a cricket ground

Re: £1 a day tour completed

Post by simonineaston »

Well Done You!
Please pass on such tips as you think might be useful for me to live here at home for £1-a-day! :wink:
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
mercalia
Posts: 14630
Joined: 22 Sep 2013, 10:03pm
Location: london South

Re: £1 a day tour completed

Post by mercalia »

smith4188 wrote:On Thursday three of us reached Gibraltar on the Ride and Seek 2015 £1 a day tour. We had a fair bit of negativity about the trip but that was good because it was the negativity that spurred on one of our cyclists to come along. At least now I know that, whatever the state of my finances, I'll always be able to tour, because touring can be cheaper than staying at home. Thanks to everyone who followed us on Facebook!


shame you didnt post here as I dont use Facebook
greyingbeard
Posts: 851
Joined: 24 Mar 2015, 10:41pm

Re: £1 a day tour completed

Post by greyingbeard »

How did you feed yourselves on £1 a day ?
Freeganism ?
User avatar
Sweep
Posts: 8444
Joined: 20 Oct 2011, 4:57pm
Location: London

Re: £1 a day tour completed

Post by Sweep »

Congratulations. Look forward to hearing more.
Sweep
Ben@Forest
Posts: 3647
Joined: 28 Jan 2013, 5:58pm

Re: £1 a day tour completed

Post by Ben@Forest »

I found the website here:

http://www.rideandseek2015.com/index.php

Interesting stuff but from what I can see the £100.00 they had to play with didn't include their ferry trip from Pompey - St Malo. And though according to their Rules it would have to be included there doesn't appear to have been any bike-related problems which would have cost a bundle (that's looking at facebook).

I was interested to read this because though they weren't depending 'on the goodness of strangers' such trips often seek to demonstrate you can get from A to B with no money. And usually people do it, thanks to free camping, food and showers. But I always wonder if the 'lovely farmer's wife who made us all hotpot and washed our jerseys' would do it 10 times a month if loads of people tried to 'no money' challenge.
User avatar
smith4188
Posts: 146
Joined: 19 Feb 2009, 5:08pm
Location: Somewhere in Europe

Re: £1 a day tour completed

Post by smith4188 »

You're right. It didn't include the ferry. Unless you own a yacht, or know someone who does, you aren't crossing the channel for free. And yes we camped in a few farmer's fields but there were no showers or free laundry, and the few times we were gifted a meal we factored into our expenses what our own meal would have cost. The idea was to do it as authentically as possible, not by freeloading. (Not sure why you put that bit in italics as though you'd lifted it from our site.)
Ben@Forest
Posts: 3647
Joined: 28 Jan 2013, 5:58pm

Re: £1 a day tour completed

Post by Ben@Forest »

smith4188 wrote:You're right. It didn't include the ferry. Unless you own a yacht, or know someone who does, you aren't crossing the channel for free. And yes we camped in a few farmer's fields but there were no showers or free laundry, and the few times we were gifted a meal we factored into our expenses what our own meal would have cost. The idea was to do it as authentically as possible, not by freeloading. (Not sure why you put that bit in italics as though you'd lifted it from our site.)


Sorry I didn't mean to create that impression, I was trying to paraphrase a typical comment from a 'we did it for free' charity event. And as said I noted you weren't trying to depend on the 'goodness of strangers'. As an approach yours was different - and a lot more hardcore.
User avatar
horizon
Posts: 11275
Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Cornwall

Re: £1 a day tour completed

Post by horizon »

In my younger days I found three ways to cross the channel for free and managed it twice. The first was by hovercraft (remember them?): the driver could take up to five (?) passengers free. I found a car with just the driver and made a polite request. On the second occasion I had hitch-hiked a lorry from France and came over as his "mate" - the second driver always went free. The third nearly happened but didn't quite. I went to Lydd Airport and asked if anyone was crossing the Channel - I was told that one person would definitely have given me a lift in his plane but he had just taken off. I sighed and solaced myself with the fact that the journey to the airport had been in a Mercedes Benz 600.

Nowdays it's all changed: it's the underside of a lorry or the roof of a train. Although there are other ways: my daughter and friend crossed for free recently on the back of a free ticket for a previous Eurostar delay. And what about air miles?

My brother crossed to Norway from Shetland by asking the crew of a fishing boat.

I'm sure there are ways.
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
User avatar
horizon
Posts: 11275
Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Cornwall

Re: £1 a day tour completed

Post by horizon »

And Tom Allen did his whole trip starting with nothing:

http://tomsbiketrip.com/how-to-go-cycle ... ks-part-1/
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
Ben@Forest
Posts: 3647
Joined: 28 Jan 2013, 5:58pm

Re: £1 a day tour completed

Post by Ben@Forest »

horizon wrote:And Tom Allen did his whole trip starting with nothing:

http://tomsbiketrip.com/how-to-go-cycle ... ks-part-1/



And really, having just looked at some of the story, that's what I mean. He is personable and unusual enough to have traded some small services for food or accommodation on his LEJOG. And people will offer such once or twice because it's unusual. They wouldn't be keen if it was happening three times a week. That is not to denigrate what he has done or the way he is doing it - simply that it wouldn't work on a larger scale.

As a for instance I live pretty much on the route of the (walking) Coast to Coast. A couple of years ago I met a couple who were having problems and I offered not only to run them into a local town by car but also to use our lawn to camp on if they wanted it (eventually they turned down both). I was happy to try and help but I wouldn't do it three times a week. That's my point.
Post Reply