Tour Plans for 2024

[Vorpal]

Littlest, who will soon be 15 wants to have a go at touring this year. He has outgrown my hybrid (yes, he's taller than me now), so we need to get something suitable for him, but then I think we will head south along the coast of the Oslofjord, as it is the flattest and has the best weather. It has the additional advantages of reasonably spaced campgrounds, and I know a fair amount of the route.

[nirakaro]

Not sure if I’m still up for long-distance solo touring. I can still manage back-to-back forty mile days (at least, I could last year!) but it’s that sense of “out on my own, thousand miles from home, don’t know where I’ll be sleeping tonight…” that I’ve loved ever since my teens, which at seventy-six starts to feel a bit too edgy. So I’ve got a five- or six-day London-to-Leeds ride set up for next month, I’ll see how it goes. And an autumn plan for France-to-Italy, with herself along to keep an eye on me.

[Paulc]

Sounds fabulous- enjpy. I envy the sound of a bit more time.

I agree about French d roads- generally lovely and peaceful. So many cycle routes are now being plotted over the French countryside I find myself falling over them all the time- and they quite often use the d roads although they do go round the houses a bit and I tend to straighten then out- I can find that I’ve switched off and am just mindlessly following a route and have been taken around several unnecessary loops of countryside.

In planning on doing the Allier route my first 5 days have fallen into line with the veloscenic, then a day off any route down to the Loire and then a couple of days in the Loire route until the Allier. After I finish the Allier route I do have a couple of days freeform to get to Nîmes ( which of course is closeish to Montpellier).

I don't know if the timetable has changed or if I didn't look properly but I thought I could head north from Montpellier towards Strasbourg by inOui with a bike, in the morning. Now there seems to only be a 2pm train arriving 8pm ish. Still feasible but not ideal How are you heading north from Nîmes? Area seems to be a bit of a bike/train black hole for long distance! Have to say the InOui TGV seats that bike passengers are allocated are a tad uncomfortable compared to rest of carriage.

[MrsHJ]

Sounds fabulous- enjpy. I envy the sound of a bit more time.

I agree about French d roads- generally lovely and peaceful. So many cycle routes are now being plotted over the French countryside I find myself falling over them all the time- and they quite often use the d roads although they do go round the houses a bit and I tend to straighten then out- I can find that I’ve switched off and am just mindlessly following a route and have been taken around several unnecessary loops of countryside.

In planning on doing the Allier route my first 5 days have fallen into line with the veloscenic, then a day off any route down to the Loire and then a couple of days in the Loire route until the Allier. After I finish the Allier route I do have a couple of days freeform to get to Nîmes ( which of course is closeish to Montpellier).

I don't know if the timetable has changed or if I didn't look properly but I thought I could head north from Montpellier towards Strasbourg by inOui with a bike, in the morning. Now there seems to only be a 2pm train arriving 8pm ish. Still feasible but not ideal How are you heading north from Nîmes? Area seems to be a bit of a bike/train black hole for long distance! Have to say the InOui TGV seats that bike passengers are allocated are a tad uncomfortable compared to rest of carriage.

I haven’t taken thé inouï service I don’t think, There are 2 options I found - I could also only find occasional trains to Lyon and then the Lyon to Paris TGV takes bikes. Of my preferred options one of them is undergoing repairs at the moment- it reopens at the end of May.

1. Nice but slow Nimes to Clermont Ferrand on thé Cévenol train- only a couple of trains a day. Then intercity to Paris Bercy (roughly hourly). The Cévenole is the one that’s currently undergoing repairs. I assume you can get from Montpellier to Nimes/Ales to get thé Cévenol. I’d break your journey down on the app by segment to find the train.

2. There are various odds and ends of nights trains but after research I decided that the faster route is to head west- probably as far as a Bordeaux. There’s an intercity train that runs across the south west several times a day and it needs to be booked but takes 6 bikes. Once in Bordeaux there are hourly TGV services to Paris with a couple of bike spaces on each. Both of these need to be prebooked.

The pre booking of TGVs and intercity has now been released for the summer. For thé cévenol service just look after May. All in all the cost isn’t terrible but it would be cheaper to fly or to ditch the bike! Overall the TGVs from the south west are better with the bike than some other regions.

The photo is thé cévenol train top and bottom of the 3. Looks pretty special though if you’re not in a hurry. For Strasbourg it des seem more logical to head up the rhone valley- good luck!

[Paulc]

I haven’t taken thé inouï service I don’t think, There are 2 options I found - I could also only find occasional trains to Lyon and then the Lyon to Paris TGV takes bikes. Of my preferred options one of them is undergoing repairs at the moment- it reopens at the end of May.

1. Nice but slow Nimes to Clermont Ferrand on thé Cévenol train- only a couple of trains a day. Then intercity to Paris Bercy (roughly hourly). The Cévenole is the one that’s currently undergoing repairs. I assume you can get from Montpellier to Nimes/Ales to get thé Cévenol. I’d break your journey down on the app by segment to find the train.

2. There are various odds and ends of nights trains but after research I decided that the faster route is to head west- probably as far as a Bordeaux. There’s an intercity train that runs across the south west several times a day and it needs to be booked but takes 6 bikes. Once in Bordeaux there are hourly TGV services to Paris with a couple of bike spaces on each. Both of these need to be prebooked.

The pre booking of TGVs and intercity has now been released for the summer. For thé cévenol service just look after May. All in all the cost isn’t terrible but it would be cheaper to fly or to ditch the bike! Overall the TGVs from the south west are better with the bike than some other regions.

The photo is thé cévenol train top and bottom of the 3. Looks pretty special though if you’re not in a hurry. For Strasbourg it des seem more logical to head up the rhone valley- good luck!
[/quote]

Yes I noticed the SW had better provision for bikes heading north. Useful to know that I haven't missed something fast from the Nîmes area. We can still get to Amsterdam via Lyon and the Rhine but likely has an extra leg than I initially anticipated. I will post our cycle route up here soonish no doubt. Lots of tasty options!

Thanks for Cévenol pic, I will look into that especially as I think we will be cycling in the hills slightly west of the Allier at that point.

The inOui is often also a TGV. A fast long distance train.