Cycling UK Forum

From memory, the surface is Tarmac all the way, both the highway sections and the Rodwell Cycle Trail section. There is a steep and busy climb through Fortuneswell onto Portland Isle itself, so might be daunting for your friend if she isn't a regular cyclist. Portland is an unusual place, some local...

Take a look at the travel book "Fat Man in France" by ex-BBC radio presenter Tom Vernon, in which he describes is bike trip along that coastline from Collioure.
This was the book which got me into cycle touring many years ago.
Rob

[quote="simonhill" Did they give you the option to abandon your trip at Gatwick? If not, then this could be a point of contention. No bike, no cycling holiday.[/quote] Thanks for the advice. It was Belam at Gatwick that morning due to a total baggage system failure, headless chickens come ...

So sorry to hear this happened to you. I dread waiting in the arrivals hall for my bike to show up. Do you have travel insurance? I'd have thought you have reasonable grounds for a claim of the abandoned trip based on your luggage going missing. Thanks for the sympathy, we've done this type of trip...

Our plan was a flight to Toulouse and a tour through the Gorge du Tarn but we ended up stuck in Toulouse with no bikes or baggage, courtesy of a total baggage system failure at Gatwick Airport on the 3rd September. With no equipment or means of onward travel, we had to spend three days in Toulouse (...

We rode Gospel Pass north to south as part of Lôn Las this year, stunning views.

The lovely little country church at Capel-Y-Ffin on the decent is worth a visit too.

My impression is that the S to N climb is longer but more gradual.

Rob

I've just looked on the "OuiSNCF" website and it now shows that you can get from CF as far as Arvant then it's a bus onward to Aurillac.

pq wrote:
There's a train from Figeac to Toulouse which I think originates in Aurillac.

A couple of summers ago we caught a TER from Clermont Ferrand in order to start a tour from Aurillac, so the line existed then. French railways is going through it's "Beeching" period, though!

Have you considered the country line which runs from Gloucester via Bristol to Dorchester West ( no bike booking required ), cycle 200 yds to Dorchester South and then on the SW Train service to Southampton/Portsmouth ( six bike spaces per train, no booking required).

Rob

I did it 4 years ago and didn't notice the rubbish, were you following a major event? I don't think there had been an immediate earlier major event, the rubbish looked as though it was an accumulation over time. On a positive note, my wife teaches and a few days ago she looked out of a classroom wi...

Thoroughly enjoyed the trip, the quality of the scenery goes without saying and we were very impressed with the standard of accomodation and food. Weather was generally dry.
The remoteness of the top of Gospel Pass was one of the highlights, not too proud to admit to pushing for a while though!

It"s difficult to aportion the source of the rubbish, though some of it is plainly from cyclists (gels, innertubes, gas cylinders etc), most of the litter is drink or snack related. Much of the housing on the route seemed to be covered by recycling bin schemes so I don't think that forraging an...

Just completed the Lôn Las ride from north to south and then onward to home in Dorset. A truely magnificent trip with some great climbs and stunning scenery but Oh! the amount of roadside rubbish, such a shame. I've seen enough dumped gel packets and " Red Bull" cans to last me for a while...

Hello Simon,
The Café Gondrée of your story, an interesting museum in its own right.

I very recently returned from a pilgrimage to visit the landing site (Ranville) where my father covertly dropped with the "Pathfinders" (22nd Independent Parachute Company) on the eve of the D-Day landings. Their mission was to place radio beacons and landing lights to guide in the Airbour...