The Fridays Tour 2012

[dellzeqq]

Stuart - yes. Gatwick and Heathrow scare the daylights out of me.

the options are

outbound

- fly from London City to Barcelona. The bike would go in a bag with pipe insulation around all the tubes and more insulation around the derailleur.
- fly from Bournemouth/East Midlands/Bristol to Girona. Starting from Girona is probably as good as starting from Barcelona
- train from London to Paris and then by regional trains to Barcelona/Girona
- European Bike Express to Rosas, which is not far from Girona

coming back

- fly from from Florence to London City
- regional trains from Genova, Pisa or Florence to Paris and then on to London

it might be possible to take bikes in bike bags on TGVs as far as Perpignan, and from Monte Carlo

the other option is to hire a van and driver for the entire trip. That would make camping easier.

 

[StuartG]

Pisa is a cute modern little airport only a mile from town. You can walk or take a bus too.

Hence there may be an option of dumping the cardboard/tube etc in Spain and, maybe, researching to find (via cycle club?) whether there is a LBS in Pisa that could provide cardboard padding etc for the return trip.

Alternatively half the ride could start in Pisa, the other half in Barcelona with a Friday pi**-up to end all pi**-ups halfway and collect each others packing at the other end

 

[dellzeqq]

Pisa airport is great, but it's all Ryanair, which makes getting bikes on a bit of a lottery. Pisa to Luton would be good if you could get tickets

 

[StuartG]

I guess another complication Dell is that the interested include a mix of 'full monty' campers and credit card tourers. Is it possible to accommodate both or are you going to have to structure it one way or the other?

 

[rb58]

Pisa airport is great, but it's all Ryanair, which makes getting bikes on a bit of a lottery. Pisa to Luton would be good if you could get tickets

I once spent a night sleeping on the floor at Pisa airport as a 'guest' of Ryanair. I swore then that I would never EVER fly with them again. And I won't. One day I'll tell you about it, so long as you can stand the sight of a grown man crying.....

 

[dellzeqq]

I'm with you on that. I spent so long waiting in Treviso airport for a Ryanair flight that we missed the last bus from Stansted. The taxi cost something like eighty quid.

 

[Becs]

I've been thinking . . . . and I'd really like to do LeJog next year, even if it is not an official Fridays trip (although obviously that would be better!). I'm going to try to raise some money for the Arthur Rank Hospice by doing it and I'll definitely be up for getting a small group together nearer the time if the official one doesn't go ahead. Not up for camping though!

 

[StuAff]

I've been thinking . . . . and I'd really like to do LeJog next year, even if it is not an official Fridays trip (although obviously that would be better!). I'm going to try to raise some money for the Arthur Rank Hospice by doing it and I'll definitely be up for getting a small group together nearer the time if the official one doesn't go ahead. Not up for camping though!

Same here. I need to finish (properly) what I started....

 

[dellzeqq]

another idea..........

skip LEJoG. LJoG. As in HPCJoG. Midnight start. 664 miles, starting Friday night, getting to (say) somewhere around Market Harborough by Saturday lunchtime, camp, B+B, hotel overnight, continue to (say) Gainsborogh Sunday, camp overnight, then on to York on Monday. Arrive JoG Saturday.

The disadvantages are
- you don't get a sticker saying 'LEJoG'.
- A508 Northampton to MH.

The advantages are
- no Cornwall and Devon, which means either no fast ride down the A30 or no very slow ride on all the alternatives
- a big start on Friday night makes support vehicle for the first (and possibly the second) night worthwhile, so camping is do-able
- weekend to weekend which means only a week of annual leave,
- better scenery
- those coming for the first weekend could train home from Gainsborough, Lincoln, Retford or Doncaster

 

[theclaud]

another idea..........

skip LEJoG. LJoG. As in HPCJoG. Midnight start. 664 miles, starting Friday night, getting to (say) somewhere around Market Harborough by Saturday lunchtime, camp, B+B, hotel overnight, continue to (say) Gainsborogh Sunday, camp overnight, then on to York on Monday. Arrive JoG Saturday.

The disadvantages are
- you don't get a sticker saying 'LEJoG'.
- A508 Northampton to MH.

The advantages are
- no Cornwall and Devon, which means either no fast ride down the A30 or no very slow ride on all the alternatives
- a big start on Friday night makes support vehicle for the first (and possibly the second) night worthwhile, so camping is do-able
- weekend to weekend which means only a week of annual leave,
- better scenery
- those coming for the first weekend could train home from Gainsborough, Lincoln, Retford or Doncaster

I like it. An appropriate twist for The Fridays.

 

[rich p]

One point that's bewildered me...assuming that it's going to be abroad for a moment, what's the plan for getting the bikes safely to and from the start/end points? If there's no support vehicles of any kind, that would mean either somehow stuffing (a small quantity) packing materials into bags/on racks, or..I have no idea. A CTC bike bag and a few bits of cardboard to protect any bike (let alone a carbon one!) doesn't sound like a good idea to me, baggage handlers aren't renowned for TLC. As I've noted, I'd want a proper bike box or bag..but not exactly possible to carry that on the bike.
It would be a very grim cycling holiday if a bike gets broken...

Stu, I got a cardboard bike box from an lbs in Toulouse last year for the return journey

 

[Becs]

another idea..........

skip LEJoG. LJoG. As in HPCJoG. Midnight start. 664 miles, starting Friday night, getting to (say) somewhere around Market Harborough by Saturday lunchtime, camp, B+B, hotel overnight, continue to (say) Gainsborogh Sunday, camp overnight, then on to York on Monday. Arrive JoG Saturday.

The disadvantages are
- you don't get a sticker saying 'LEJoG'.
- A508 Northampton to MH.

The advantages are
- no Cornwall and Devon, which means either no fast ride down the A30 or no very slow ride on all the alternatives
- a big start on Friday night makes support vehicle for the first (and possibly the second) night worthwhile, so camping is do-able
- weekend to weekend which means only a week of annual leave,
- better scenery
- those coming for the first weekend could train home from Gainsborough, Lincoln, Retford or Doncaster

Definitely keen, less time off work but still enough of a challenge to ask people to donate some cash to Mum's hospice (will be sorting this independently of course).

 

[StuAff]

Part of me says 'but I want to do the proper LeJOG'- after that travesty I did in May, I'm sure you can appreciate that, the rest of me says 'well, actually...'. I could always stick an extra ride or two with an extra 200 or so miles on to make up the distance..
Speaking of which...start in Pompey and you could still say you're doing coast to coast
Support vehicle all the way a very, very good idea. Makes life much easier.
And no camping...please......!

 

[dellzeqq]

Part of me says 'but I want to do the proper LeJOG'- after that travesty I did in May, I'm sure you can appreciate that, the rest of me says 'well, actually...'. I could always stick an extra ride or two with an extra 200 or so miles on to make up the distance..
Speaking of which...start in Pompey and you could still say you're doing coast to coast
Support vehicle all the way a very, very good idea. Makes life much easier.
And no camping...please......!

Stu - I'm not going to make you camp (although Catrike thinks it's only a matter of time). I'm aiming to give people the option. MH would allow some people to stay at The Angel http://www.theangel-hotel.co.uk/rooms and others to camp

 

[StuAff]

Stu - I'm not going to make you camp (although Catrike thinks it's only a matter of time). I'm aiming to give people the option. MH would allow some people to stay at The Angel http://www.theangel-hotel.co.uk/rooms and others to camp

Phew! Just the last time I camped was (a) a long time ago and (b) not pleasant.