psmiffy wrote:As to the question “Is touring a thing of the past?”
No idea – Ive only been touring since I was 16 – In the UK I don’t really see any more or less tourers than I used to – In fact apart from catching a boat to the continent ive never really seen that many tourers in the UK – they must be about but not at a density that is really noticeable – be interesting to do a count at LE or JOG
Continental Europe is another matter – and to be more specific - on the cycling superhighways – the German Rivers – the Danube or the Elbe – or the Via Augusta – in season you can see hundreds if not thousands of Dutch and German cycle tourists (and a much younger demographic than the typical brit tourer) on a daily basis – all on trekking bikes, lots camping, others b&b or hostelling – a scattering of other nationalities generally on more exotic steeds thrown in – Brits included – I think someone mentioned the Chinese – not seen that many so far – but the Japanese are well represented – Outside of the main routes though you can cycle for thousands of kilometres without seeing another tourer until you maybe hit one of the pinch points when you will see a dribble for a day or two.
Touring has never really been mainstream and probably never will be but there will always be people who see it as an accessible adventure.
Well I think I live on the LEJOG route judging by the number of people you see of a summer day going up the A6. I often see them as I ride home (that is between 5pm and 5:30pm). They are often with panniers front and rear, but some with just rear panniers, something on top, a bar bag and sometimes a rucsack too. They are on a real mixture of bikes from old school tourers (some must be rather old - the riders and the bikes) through to modern hybrids or trekkers. I have to admit, with no science or polling theory to back this up, that the men tend to have either tourer/road bike with drop bars or they are on a mountain bike type of bike with rigid forks, but you do see women riding mostly hybrids I would say with butterfly bars being more common with women than men. You do get couples on tandems and even groups of tandems (all couples I'm guessing except I have seen a parent and child once). Occasionally you see the bike packer type with a full on MTB with bags like the Alpkit range tucked in under the seat and a roll type of bag under the handlebars (sometimes these people have rucksacks). The one thing I would say is about 80% perhaps more would be what I would say was of a retired age or getting that way. You do see younger riders, typically in their 30s but most would be towards the higher end of 50s with a smattering of 40s to 50s in there. The one thing I will say is touring is not dead if you live on a popular tourinng route. I think that backs up the earlier post from the guy who did the NW Vietnam tour the "wrong" way. I know people who did the C2C or the Roses way East to West and passed a lot. That was after they had done it the traditional West to East way when they saw a lot less people riding it.
BTW The Danube is one our list of tours to try as I understand it is easy enough for kids to do. Looking at the Austrian section which is more popular and tarmaced a lot of the way. not sure whether to hire bikes or if it is more expensive than taking the bike by train there. We also looked at riding from home to Heysham to try to get to Ireland but the ferries don't allow cyclists (with trailer) to go on the routes direct to Ireland from their. Shame as it is so close to home for us.
