Cycling UK Forum

If you get one of Dublin to Cork trains that have the separate engine they carry the bikes in the engine and have more room in the cab.

Thanks HarryD for reminding me of real risk as against perceived risk!

Well I am 72 now and have had bicycles since I was 9 and completed a lot tours and never had one stolen or damaged that I couldn't repair myself so I guess the risk is pretty low. I have also for the last 15 years been going for at least week each summer with companies such as Eurobike, Radweg Reisen, Bikecycling (nothing to do with birds anymore - Poland and eastern europe and really good value) etc and never had any problems with theft or damage!

I terms of insurance I only have the replies to the questions I sent to the rental companies and tour companies in Sweden who all said that they expected the hirer to have their own insurance. Eurobike do offer insurance but all their holidays stop at the end of August.

I am now thinking of just taking the risk myself as I don't want the hassle of taking my own bike.

Thanks for your replies.

I am going to Sweden in September and planning to cycle some of the Kattegat route. I wasn't going to take my own bike as I have to fly and instead rent one or take an organised trip. i have found that the companies expect you to have your own insurance to cover theft or damage to the bike as they expect this to be covered on your own travel or house insurance. However in Ireland these only cover your own bike. so my question is has anyone identified an insurance company that covers a short cycle rental. I had thought of going with Eurobike (they offer the insurance) but all the holidays in Denmark or Sweden end at the end of August.

many thanks Gordon Young, Limerick , Ireland.

I have always used Viewranger along with the Open Cycle Map for my cycle touring. Not just for Europe but Australia and Canada as well. Viewranger has now told their user base to move to Outdoor Active as they have been bought out. The Outdoor active open street map with a cycling overlay is nowhere near as good. I wrote to them and they replied:

"I've fed this back to Outdooractive's cartography team, but at present you are seeing all they offer. They have been clear to us that Open Cycle Map will not be added, and they are working to make their cycling activity layer better."

I also bought a new Android phone and it has version 11 which seems to be giving problems with both Viewranger and Outdoor active (I think because the way an App uses Location has changed).

I am now in the situation where Viewranger is not working properly and they won't be updating their app as they are discontinuing it; paid my annual subscription for Outdoor Active and they don't have the Irish OS maps nor a decent open cycle map!

It is real shame as Viewranger was very good. Had all the data for my recent trip on the Velo Danejec! (Poland)

I suggest that anyone using Viewranger writes to them to say how important the Open Cycle Map is for touring.

we flew to Memmingen ( a lovely small walled town) and got the train from there to Landau to do the Lake Constance cycle route . Was lovely. Also have cycled the River Main cycle from Frankfurt to Bamberg - excellent route and Bamberg is lovely and really really good beer!

In terms of paperwork because I was travelling from one EU country to another ( I live in Ireland) I had my vaccine pass on my phone, a passenger locator form for Poland for the way in and an Irish one for coming home. I also had a Polish health form but they didn't look at that on the way in. Took over 30 mins going in through Krakow customs as they were looking at all the vaccine passes from everyone. Once in Poland I didn't have to show my vaccine pass again. Eating in restaurants didn't require any pass as we do here in Ireland. Had the mask on when using the train. Traveled in Slovakia no problem - no border controls. You cross in Slovakia on the Velo Dunajec.

Hi Used Bird.PL; all the arrangements were excellent, hotels very nice and nice price. A lot cheaper than using a UK based company. Have a look at their website www.bird.pl - we did the 10 day Velo Dunajec tour. I will be putting up photos on Flickr shorly. if you want any more info message me.

Just completed a 10 day cycle touring trip along the Dunajec river in Poland. Staying at hotels and luggage moved on for us each day. This was a really great trip with perfect arrangements with the company we used. The cycle path is excellent with an excellent surface away from any car noise. Poland is very good value. There were a few short sections which are not completed yet but we found the traffic very considerate. A would recommend the trip.

The Government has now published the new travel advice and it is on the Department of Foreign Affairs website. GB is not on the list of countries that you can travel to of from. When coming to Ireland from GB you have to restrict your movement for 14 days

' restrict their movements for 14 days, and this includes citizens and residents returning to Ireland. Restricting your movements means staying indoors in one location and avoiding contact with other people and social situations as much as possible. To ensure that this is being observed all passengers arriving to Ireland from overseas are obliged to complete a mandatory Public Health Passenger Locator Form and to submit it to the relevant authority at their port of entry. For further details please see the Irish Government Advice Page.'

Firstly best not to call Republic of Ireland (Ireland) Eire when talking or writing in English - it will offend some people (not going into the political nuances as to why on this forum!).
The situation here in Ireland is still unclear. The Government is supposed to come out on the 9th July and set out where you can travel to without having to quarantine on return. There is all sorts of speculation but with a recent change of Government we just don't know yet what they will say. At present you can move freely between the North of Ireland and the Republic but only hotels seem to be open. Not clear yet about B&B nor camp sites. You can go to GB ( I use this as the correct political term for the bit of the UK that excludes NI) without quarantine but on return you have to fill in a form to say where you will quarantine for 14 days. There are concerns here about the level of the virus in GB and it could mean that you have to quarantine on returning from traveling to GB but not to Greece and other low cases EU countries.

So not clear until after the 9th July.

Gordon

I agree . Everytime I see that bike I think it would have had rod brakes. I restored one of these vintage bikes to take part in a local rally tht was taking place. I didn't find the rod brake's worked very well so perhaps that is why they don't use them. Here in Co. Limerick we have a bicycle business called the High Nelly who specialises in building these old bikes for people (those sit up and beg bicycles have the nickname of a High Nelly here) who could supply such bikes to film companies. (www.highnelly.ie)

Great both sound good. Gordon

If I use two three speed shifters I assume that I should use two sturmey archer 3 speed shifters, Can I use the traditional click shifters I would have had on my old Triumph Palm Beach bike back in the 1960s?

thanks