FNRttC The not the Fridays Tour 2016

[velovoice]

yes, 89 euros per night for a double. no river view though, and basic but clean rooms. but hold your horses until booking is confirmed. what did you book at whick rate?

Rhein-Hotel St. Martin at EUR205 / £145 for a double room, including breakfast (rated excellent) in on-site restaurant. Booking.com so no deposit and can cancel 24 hours beforehand. Rooms basic but spacious, reviews are good, rating high for cleanliness.

 

[redfalo]

When is the date going to be set? I haven't enquired about moving the leave (or more accurately, finding someone able let alone willing to swap), and reading between the lines of the rules it'll be far, far easier if the tour gets shifted....

moving the date back by one week is no option, I'm afraid. On Tuesday, Sept 20 the photokina trade show will kick off, and hotel prices in Cologne will go absolutely bananas.

 

[StuAff]

moving the date back by one week is no option, I'm afraid. On Tuesday, Sept 20 the photokina trade show will kick off, and hotel prices in Cologne will go absolutely bananas

Oh yes, nothing like a trade show to do that! Ho hum.

Early inquiries made. Three people I can swap with, two of them are back in Pompey for Christmas pressure so I won't see them until the new year.....

 

[StuartG]

Update: this IBIS is sold out on our dates, as far as booking.com is concerned. There may still be rooms via other agent sites but I know quite a few of use booking.com so thought I'd let you know.

No, its just they haven't yet been released to the brokers. You can book it directly from the IBIS site if you are flush. The rates are:
£143 Dom 0.25 km from centre
£96 Koeln Messe 1.84 km from centre
£41 Koeln Porz (budget) 6.70 km from centre

 

[redfalo]

I just tried to book two nights in the Cologne hostel and discovered a serious problem. There is a trade fair commencing on Sept 13, so the price for the second night for a double including breakfast would be 199 euros, rather than 89 euros Even if we bit the bullet (an average per night per person price of 72 euros is a bit borderline, but may be ok), people who decided come on the tour at a later point next year would face a serious problem, as prices are likely to creep up further. And or we would be scattered across the town, as centrally located rooms already come at a premium.

@Gordon P and I discussed several options, and suggest a slight change of schedule. Instead of having the rest day in Cologne, we could have it in Aachen. Aachen has earned its place in the history books thanks to this Charlemagne chappie and has a famous cathedral. But its most exciting tourist attraction is surely the Lindt chocolate factory sale, where you can spend all the dosh saved on accommodation in Cologne.

If you fell in love with Cologne and want to have a second look on the rest day, it's just a 53 minutes train journey back. For those interested in riding rather than resting, the beautiful Eifel low montain range is just around the corner.

For the time being, I have booked 10 double rooms (at 89 Euro incl. breakfast) and 2 singles (at 69 euros each) in the Cologne Hostel AG hotel for Monday night (Sept 12). As they won't allow bikes in the room, we also have to book a parking space in the hotel's underground carpark for storing the bikes securely (costs 15 Euros). The carpark is solely used by the hotel.

If we leave Venlo by 8am early on Sunday, and don't faff around too much, we should arrive in Cologne 4pm-ish (it's 85 km, 53 miles), if not earlier. This still leaves some time to explore Cologne and its brewhouses.

What do people think? (I'll be out of the country for two weeks starting tomorrow, so advance apologies for the coming radio silence. )

 

[frank9755]

Sounds sensible: Cologne is pleasant enough but it's not the end of the world not to have two days there.

 

[AKA Bob]

Thank you Olaf

 

[StuAff]

Oh yes, nothing like a trade show to do that! Ho hum.

Early inquiries made. Three people I can swap with, two of them are back in Pompey for Christmas pressure so I won't see them until the new year.....

And I asked the other bloke- he'll get back to me but didn't think there would be a problem. Checked with the line manager, though The Rules say swaps are only allowed between people in the same section and the same skills, in practice he at least is a bit more flexible (and the duty room gave me all those names, sure they know how it works). Fingers crossed.

 

[StuAff]

Possible option for Cologne accommodation- http://www.meininger-hotels.com/en/hotels/cologne/ Sprang to mind as I stayed in the sister hotel in Brussels, which was both excellent and reasonably priced (the slightly odd concept is part hostel, part business/weekend hotel- so dorm rooms, small group rooms, and singles & doubles). Cologne one's a bit older than Brussels, somewhat mixed reviews (but then so were those for Brussels), pretty central, and cheap.

 

[StuAff]

I just tried to book two nights in the Cologne hostel and discovered a serious problem. There is a trade fair commencing on Sept 13, so the price for the second night for a double including breakfast would be 199 euros, rather than 89 euros Even if we bit the bullet (an average per night per person price of 72 euros is a bit borderline, but may be ok), people who decided come on the tour at a later point next year would face a serious problem, as prices are likely to creep up further. And or we would be scattered across the town, as centrally located rooms already come at a premium.

@Gordon P and I discussed several options, and suggest a slight change of schedule. Instead of having the rest day in Cologne, we could have it in Aachen. Aachen has earned its place in the history books thanks to this Charlemagne chappie and has a famous cathedral. But its most exciting tourist attraction is surely the Lindt chocolate factory sale, where you can spend all the dosh saved on accommodation in Cologne.

If you fell in love with Cologne and want to have a second look on the rest day, it's just a 53 minutes train journey back. For those interested in riding rather than resting, the beautiful Eifel low montain range is just around the corner.

For the time being, I have booked 10 double rooms (at 89 Euro incl. breakfast) and 2 singles (at 69 euros each) in the Cologne Hostel AG hotel for Monday night (Sept 12). As they won't allow bikes in the room, we also have to book a parking space in the hotel's underground carpark for storing the bikes securely (costs 15 Euros). The carpark is solely used by the hotel.

If we leave Venlo by 8am early on Sunday, and don't faff around too much, we should arrive in Cologne 4pm-ish (it's 85 km, 53 miles), if not earlier. This still leaves some time to explore Cologne and its brewhouses.

What do people think? (I'll be out of the country for two weeks starting tomorrow, so advance apologies for the coming radio silence. )

Mention of the Eifel mountains immediately brought to mind a certain race circuit- 220km round trip from Aachen though! Plenty of less arduous and interesting possible destinations around there however.

 

[ianmac62]

Cologne parhaps offers some leeway, as we could stay further out and ride/train in for sightseeing on the rest day.

In the same way as we did for Utrecht.

I think you mean the opportunity for a hundred-mile-ride to the east.

Aachen has earned its place in the history books thanks to this Charlemagne chappie and has a famous cathedral. But its most exciting tourist attraction is surely the Lindt chocolate factory sale, where you can spend all the dosh saved on accommodation in Cologne.

I think you mean the most exciting tourist attraction is surely the Spa which has nude bathing / saunas on the two upper floors.

If we have two nights in Aachen, the Eifel is a great place for a bike ride on the rest day. Aachen to Monschau follows a disused railway line converted into a first-class bike path. With this added attraction: the railway line was technically Belgian territory. So the bike path is technically Belgian territory. So ... being not-a-tour ... if you fall off the Belgian bike path and roll down the embankment into Germany (on either side) you can have great fun filling in the insurance claim forms!

 

[Gordon P]

a slight change of schedule

I have amended the opening post of this thread - the one with the schedule

 

[velovoice]

I have amended the opening post of this thread - the one with the schedule

And I have amended the website accordingly.

 

[mmmmartin]

nude bathing / saunas

Er, to what extent could this be described as a "tackle out" tour? (Asking for a friend, you understand.)

 

[srw]

Any progress on a date for the FEAR yet? Can I make a suggestion - that the weekend including the 31st July is best avoided, because that's when the Ride London shindigs are happening.