Santander to Athens and beyond

[Navrig]

I am formulating a plan for a post retirement tour. This will be in 4 years or so.

My initial plan is to train from Scotland to Plymouth and then ferry to northern Spain. Then I'll start a (credit card) cycle tour to Athens aiming to arrive in Athens around the end of June.

At the end of June my schoolteacher wife will fly to Athens and we will have an island hopping tour/holiday for 4-6 weeks returning to Athens to fly home.

I use my cycle ride time to think through the logistics of trips and this one is throwing up a few questions.

Santander - Athens is not really an issue other than getting the best value train ticket from Edinburgh to Plymouth. The route is heading east and south east so the prevailing wind will help. No issue with bike travel as I can cycle from the house to the train station. This will be my first tour in europe so I will need to plan the route and think about how far in advance I book accommodation. What do others generally do - I wont have a tent?

Athens and beyond - this is where the logistics become interesting.

My wife is not and will not be capable of preparing her bike for the flight to Athens. I can't do it before I go as she will need it whilst I am away. I could organise a friend of the LBS to do it but do we use the CTC poly bag or my proper bike bag. If the bike bag where do we store it whilst island hopping. She could hire a bike but if we do 6 weeks, depending on hire costs, she might as well buy a bike. Obviously if she brings a bike she can load her panniers and carry them as luggage (or pack in the bike bag). If she hires do we assume that we can get a compatible rack on a bike in Athens?

On return do I just use a CTC poly bag for flying home? Judging by other posts on this forum there seems to be some variability between airlines and their attitude to CTC poly bags.

Maybe I should just offer to cycle home getting back by Xmas

I am probably overthinking all this but that comes from just getting out on the road and forgetting about work.

Any thoughts? (no rush to answer, I have adequate time).

[simonhill]

For your wife, the best bet would be to get the LBS to pack into a cardboard box. In Asia, it is common for people to have their bikes packed. You will then have to reassemble when it arrives. I would suggest speaking to the LBS first to discuss how much disassembly is needed and or wanted.

As far as the other planning - good idea to have a route with the in and out options and your favoured option re packing. However, at this stage I don't think you can make any firm decisions. Four years is a long time and the airlines could well change their rules of bike carriage by then.

My advice is keep the route in mind and regularly check the airlines' rules.

At this stage, I think I would be more concerned about what you will need to do post Brexit when many travel rules will be changed.

[Navrig]

Cheers.

I have travelled with a bike a few times so know what to do and know what to ask the LBS. Re-assembly also not an issue.

Not overly worried about Brexit. Wife will have an Irish passport. I am sure plenty of people moved around Europe in the past.

I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my SM-G930F using hovercraft full of eels.

[borisface]

Why don't you buy the wife a new bike from decathlon, there is one on Athens? You can get something suitable for about 450 euros then you can sell it when you get back to UK or keep it.

[Navrig]

Why don't you buy the wife a new bike from decathlon, there is one on Athens? You can get something suitable for about 450 euros then you can sell it when you get back to UK or keep it.

I was thinking buy but didn't think of Decathlon. Cheers.

I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my SM-G930F using hovercraft full of eels.

[MrsHJ]

How will your wife be at the airport? If she would find it difficult to pack the bike is it lifting things that’s the issue or mechanical stuff? If its the lifting perhaps a relative or friend can go to check in and oversize luggage with her as just getting the bike from the car park to outsize luggage is pretty tough in my experience.

If she’s not a great mechanic is she ok with the LBS route? I think I would be in that position but also feminist pride might kick in and end up with me insisting that I learn how to do it.

[Navrig]

It would be the mechanical stuff. Getting the bike to the check in wouldn't be an issue.

I could probably get a cycling buddy to pack the bike.

I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my SM-G930F using hovercraft full of eels.

[Lottie]

Hi. We took our bikes to Greece last sept/Oct for 3 weeks. Flew to Athens with bikes in hard shell boxes, pre booked a large taxi from airport to city centre (as we landed late evening) and stayed in an Airbnb at start and end of trip where they were more than happy to store our bike boxes for 3 weeks while we toured. https://abnb.me/W45gMLJUBV
We then went on metro with bikes (no issues at all plenty of bikes on metro) to Piraeus, ferry to Kythira, ferry to Neapoli, along the coast up and over mountains to Leonidio, around to Napflion, over to Epidavros, down to sea, back over to Porto Heli, ferry to and from Spetses back to Porto Heli, along coast to Poros, ferry to Aegina, ferry back to Piraeus and Athens. We returned to the airport with the bike boxes on the metro.

[Navrig]

Great service from your AirBnB host. Sounds like a fantastic holiday.

I'll look into that. May also look for a local Hotshowers host with a shed!

I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my SM-G930F using hovercraft full of eels.

[yutkoxpo]

I am formulating a plan for a post retirement tour. This will be in 4 years or so.

My initial plan is to train from Scotland to Plymouth and then ferry to northern Spain. Then I'll start a (credit card) cycle tour to Athens aiming to arrive in Athens around the end of June.

At the end of June my schoolteacher wife will fly to Athens and we will have an island hopping tour/holiday for 4-6 weeks returning to Athens to fly home.

I use my cycle ride time to think through the logistics of trips and this one is throwing up a few questions.

Santander - Athens is not really an issue other than getting the best value train ticket from Edinburgh to Plymouth. The route is heading east and south east so the prevailing wind will help. No issue with bike travel as I can cycle from the house to the train station. This will be my first tour in europe so I will need to plan the route and think about how far in advance I book accommodation. What do others generally do - I wont have a tent?

Athens and beyond - this is where the logistics become interesting.

My wife is not and will not be capable of preparing her bike for the flight to Athens. I can't do it before I go as she will need it whilst I am away. I could organise a friend of the LBS to do it but do we use the CTC poly bag or my proper bike bag. If the bike bag where do we store it whilst island hopping. She could hire a bike but if we do 6 weeks, depending on hire costs, she might as well buy a bike. Obviously if she brings a bike she can load her panniers and carry them as luggage (or pack in the bike bag). If she hires do we assume that we can get a compatible rack on a bike in Athens?

On return do I just use a CTC poly bag for flying home? Judging by other posts on this forum there seems to be some variability between airlines and their attitude to CTC poly bags.

Maybe I should just offer to cycle home getting back by Xmas

I am probably overthinking all this but that comes from just getting out on the road and forgetting about work.

Any thoughts? (no rush to answer, I have adequate time).

Greece is on my hitlist too, but I have no real info for you.
CrazyGuy Journals mentioning Greece https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/loc ... pe=journal
EV8 The Med route to Athens https://www.biroto.eu/en/cycle-route/eu ... rt00000415
I've followed my nose along the Northern Spanish coast and enjoyed every second. Fantastic place for cycling.

My first thoughts are that July could be very hot for cycling.
My second thought is transporting bikes if island hopping - I'm assuming you'd be doing this by boat? Planes might get expensive.
(There are tour companies offering bike & boat tours of the Greek islands - saves the hassle of organising the good lady's bike)

As regards accommodation, it really depends on yourself. Some people need the security of knowing where they will be on any given night. Personally, I prefer the freedom of making it up as I go along - but then again, I mostly camp. A lot of people use something like Booking.com to book their hotel on the day, or the day before. If following the EV8 route that might be a bit harder, especially at weekends given the popularity of the area.

And as for going home..... Ferry to Italy, up through Italy, cross the Alps head for the Rhine and follow it (almost) to Amsterdam, ferry to Newcastle and home!

Good luck!

[Navrig]

Greece is on my hitlist too, but I have no real info for you.
CrazyGuy Journals mentioning Greece https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/loc ... pe=journal
EV8 The Med route to Athens https://www.biroto.eu/en/cycle-route/eu ... rt00000415
I've followed my nose along the Northern Spanish coast and enjoyed every second. Fantastic place for cycling.

My first thoughts are that July could be very hot for cycling.
My second thought is transporting bikes if island hopping - I'm assuming you'd be doing this by boat? Planes might get expensive.
(There are tour companies offering bike & boat tours of the Greek islands - saves the hassle of organising the good lady's bike)

As regards accommodation, it really depends on yourself. Some people need the security of knowing where they will be on any given night. Personally, I prefer the freedom of making it up as I go along - but then again, I mostly camp. A lot of people use something like Booking.com to book their hotel on the day, or the day before. If following the EV8 route that might be a bit harder, especially at weekends given the popularity of the area.

And as for going home..... Ferry to Italy, up through Italy, cross the Alps head for the Rhine and follow it (almost) to Amsterdam, ferry to Newcastle and home!

Good luck!

I agree that July will be hot. It will be a very relaxed pace with relatively short distances between accommodation and with regular 2 night stops. I will have had 4000+km of touring by then and my wife is not a 80+km per day, every day cyclist.

Island hopping will be via ferry, that's the beauty of Greek holidays. I've visited 6 or so islands previously although some were a while a go I guess will have changed.

Thanks for the link to EV8. That was the route I wanted to take rather than going down thru' Italy and crossing from Brindisi. Hopefully by avoiding the school holidays I'll avoid the busiest times on the EV8.

As for going home..... my wife is very forgiving, so perhaps that's not such a bad idea....

[Navrig]

This is still worming its way into my planning. Not this year given that I am "stuck" in Vietnam but 2022 is still a possibility.

I now have a rough route Across north-east Spain and southern France and northern Italy. However as I plan to start in April it means I will hit the Pyrenees before the end of the ski season. From my experience cycling the Rhone Alpes I know it's possible that certain passes don't open until, at least, certain dates. For example Col du Petit St Bernard officially opens in 1 June.

Does anyone know if the same approach is taken in the Pyrenees?

At the moment I am looking at Col du Somport but I can't find anything which suggests it is officially closed.

Webcams are showing that the road/pass is clear at the moment (22 April). I am sure it will still be very cold up top. It's showing 4 degrees at the moment.

https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/we ... in_3108717

[brianleach]

Can't help on the bike side of things but in 2014 youngest son and I did a tour from Santander to the Rioja region and back via Bilbao to Santander.

Using Booking.com I booked the first night from home and then each night booked the next night depending on where we fancied going and how tired I felt. Not cheap but it worked well, Have done this for shorter trips in France but not beyond.