I needed to travel with five friends from Bristol (UK) to Cahors (France) in July 2008 (and go back again a couple of weeks later). Each of us needed to take a bike and some luggage (two panniers) with us.
Here’s some notes on our experiences, for anybody wanting to do something similar…
The possible options we considered were:
- Fly from Bristol to the nearest airport (Toulouse, which is about 60 miles from Cahors) and then take a train to Cahors.
- Drive from Bristol to a port (probably Portsmouth or Plymouth or Poole), take a ferry to France and then use trains to get to Cahors.
- Use trains all the way – from Bristol to the Channel Tunnel and then across France to Cahors.
Option 1 – planes and trains
Two of us took option 1, we boxed up our bikes, took them by taxi to Bristol Airport and flew with EasyJet to Toulouse (they charge £16 extra each way for each bike). From there we cycles to the station and took a train to Cahors. We booked everything (taxi, flight, trains) online, which was straight-forward except:
- The train booking site wasn’t all that clear about whether bikes had to be booked or paid for but it didn’t give us the option.
- Our flight bookings were part of a complex arrangement of multiple flights and we didn’t want to take bikes on all the flights; EasyJet will only let you book bikes on both parts of a return flight, not just one, so we ended up paying for more bike flights than we needed to use.
The bikes had tyres deflated, front wheels removed and put along-side the frame, saddles lowered, handle-bars turned to be parallel with the frame, pedals removed. They were then packed in cardboard boxes (boxes which are used to deliver new bikes, given to us by a local cycle shop) which were taped and tied closed. This was a bit tricky – bike boxes are quite small (I think they’re intended for bikes with both wheels, mudguards, saddles and handlebars removed).
When we arrived in Toulouse airport, the bikes eventually appeared on a conveyor; one was fine but the other bike box had been half-shredded. That bike had two punctures (one inner-tube had a pair of minute holes 10mm apart, no signs of what made them, the other had a rip where the valve meets the inner tube. Also the plastic front light bracket was broken, the front mud-guard bent and a hub nut was missing front the front wheel. We didn’t bother to complain because:
- The baggage handling staff had already been unhelpful (when the bikes didn’t appear at the same place as the baggage),
- EasyJet have disclaimers about not taking responsibility for damage done to bikes,
- The value of the damage was fairly small (although it was a major inconvenience),
- My previous experience is that when have problems with EasyJet at an airport, you’re told to phone their call-centre – a premium rate number in the UK which puts you on hold for ages and doesn’t help much anyway
I fixed the bike with various spares and we cycled to Toulouse station just in time for the train (next day the proper spares from a bike shop cost me 16 Euros). As in the UK, different types of trains and different train operators have different rules for bikes. We were lucky, this one allowed bikes for free with no reservation, subject to space (there was plenty). Two hours later we were in Cahors.
Later we took another train from Cahors to Limoges (about 2 hours trip). This train allowed bikes if they were booked (10 Euros per bike) but when we tried to book there were no bike spaces left. However, if the bike is in a bag (max size 90cm by 150cm, I think) then there’s no need to book and there’s charge – it counts as baggage. We were carrying bike bags for our return flight (big tough clear plastic bags bought online from the CTC shop) so we used them. Even with front wheels and pedals removed, handlebars turned, saddles lowered, our bagged bikes were over the size limit. Luckily nobody checked and as it turned out there were six bike places on the train (ceiling-level hooks to hand the bikes from their front wheel) and only one of these was occupied. Nobody checked our tickets or luggage the whole time, so we could have just wheeled our bikes on (without bike tickets) and hung them up.
Our final train journey was Limoges to Bordeaux – bikes carried free subject to space with no booking, there were four bike places (this was a small regional train, only two carriages). No problems here, although if there were more of us or if it had been critical that we got the train and the bike space had been full then it would have been an issue.
Finally we flew home from Bordeaux to Bristol. This time we took pedals off and turned handle-bars but left tyres inflated and wheels on. This makes it easy to roll the bikes into the bags and just tie up the end of the bag. Airports used to insist that tyres were deflated, in case the pop in the unpressurised baggage hold on the plane, but this isn’t necessary. I was slightly worried when Bordeaux airport insisted on putting bikes on conveyors from the check-in area (usually they have an oversized-baggage desk where things are handled manually) but everything was fine. I watched out of the plane window as the bikes were carefully loaded onto the plane, and I watched them being carefully handled behind the scenes at Bristol airport (possibly only because the baggage handlers noticed me watching them?). The bikes arrived unscathed.
Option 2 – ferry and trains
None of us tried using ferries, so nothing much to say here. Different ferry companies have different policies on bikes (some charge, some don’t), but it’s not always clear if you’re booking online.
Option 3 – trains all the way
Four of the group took trains all the way from Bristol to Cahors. The elapsed journey time was around 20 hours (including a sleeper-train) compared to around 9 hours for plane+train.
They had some trouble making bookings. There were several legs of the journey (Bristol to London, London to Paris, TGV and/or local train to get to Cahors). To get the best tickets (or to get bike tickets before they sell out), you need to book as early as possible. Unfortunately this would mean booking some legs of the journey before the tickets (or even the price-list or timetables) were available for other legs of the journey.
Some trains require you to dismantle bikes and pack them up (like on planes), others can take whole bikes, others don’t take bikes at all. Sometimes bikes are free (but they don’t guarentee a space), other times you have to buy a ticket. All this makes it quite hard to book and travel as a group.
I can’t tell the whole story of the train trip because I wasn’t there. Suffice to say that it worked out okay in the end but it wasn’t as easy as it could have been.
Conclusions
- Better to put you bike in a bag rather than a box. You don’t have to take it appart as much (but check with your airline, some may have maximum dimensions, EasyJet seem only to care about the width and weight, although I haven’t tried flying a tandem yet). The bag seems to be handles with more care, possibly because it’s obvious through the clear polythene that it’s a bike so they treat it like a bike rather then just another box marked ‘fragile’.
- We has no show-stopping problems with bikes on French trains, although we might have been unlucky of there was no space when the train arrived.
- It’s hard to reach a conclusion on cost because train, flight and ferry prices vary depending on how early you make the booking. When we looked there didn’t seem to be that much difference in the costs.
- Flying reduced the journey time, but the train journey time included a night’s sleep (not necessarily a good night’s sleep, it depends how well you sleep) so it didn’t really make much difference.
- Flying is an annoyance that you put up with to get to your destination. Going by train can be fun and it’s certainly part of the adventure.
- Your carbon footprint will be much lower if you go by train.