Mosel Cycle Hire

[carlislemike]

Ok got my usual nagging urge to travel this late spring. Also, I have my usual doubts about lugging my bike by plane or train across Europe. Is it possible to hire a reasonably decent ]bike from Thionville then cycle to Koblenz where I could leave it ie like a one way car hire? Thanks

[Audax67]

I can imagine the reaction in my LBS if I were to ask such a thing: "Quoi? T'es fou?"

That said, something like Decathlon might accommodate you...

[Cyril Haearn]

One-way vehicle hire is a thing, not sure about cycle hire

Does decathlon not have a very generous returns policy, if one finds one does not like the machine after a while?
Buy in France, return in Germany?

Or maybe decathlon bikes are so cheap that you could thoyle buying one just for the trip

[mjr]

One-way vehicle hire is a thing, not sure about cycle hire

It seemed common in the Loire area last summer. There is a small chain of hire shops where you can collect from one city, return to another. Alternatively, several single-shop rentals will deliver and collect in an area, for free up to a distance, then charged beyond that. So I suspect it is a case of searching for rentals in towns between the end points and asking if they deliver and/or collect. Maybe one in a city near the border like Trier is most likely to be willing to deliver across it?

The alternative would be to catch a train back from Koblenz to Thionville at the end of the trip, or the other way at the start. Takes about 3 hours on regional trains which should take bikes.

[carlislemike]

Thanks folks. Sadly Bike Express aren’t doing their Med rte which passed through Nancy; at least for this year.

[mongoose]

I don't know about bike hire starting from Thionville but a group of us did the Mosel from Trier to Koblenz last year and two of the group hired bikes and panniers from the hire place at the station in Trier - good bikes with 10 speed groupset and hydraulic disks.

There was no bike return service though. We cycled down the Rhine to Boppard then over the Hunsruck back to Trier - superb cycle route with a fair bit on tarmac rail trails and a good contrast to the flat land cycling along the Mosel.