Bike-and-train touring

[nirakaro]

An altercation with a dog - needing stitches and antibiotics - on my last tour made me want to get home briskly from the heel of Italy. I carried on riding my usual fifty or so miles a day, but most days managed to jump on a local train for a few hours, and made it from Puglia to the Channel in nine days. I found it a very satisfying combination of cycle-touring and covering a lot of ground, and would do it again somewhere else. Anyone done anything similar?

[whoof]

We once went Pisa and rode through Tuscany via Florence and Siena. We rode down to Piombino and got the ferry to Elba and the plan was to spend a couple of days riding around and then a few days riding back towards Pisa. We got to a campsite about 10 km from the ferry and it was so nice we stayed for about 5 days and then got the train back to Pisa.

[foxyrider]

I've often used trains to cover some 'dead' ground on tours - sometimes just a few km, other times a couple of hundred. A useful supplement to riding!

[gbnz]

I've often used trains to cover some 'dead' ground :

+ 1. Typical example would be heading back North after a couple of weeks in France. Landed at Poole cycled the decent bits through southern England and scenic / historic areas to the west of the Midlands. Then jumped on a train to avoid the North West Industrial conurbation, getting off at Penrith (NB. To have an evenings cycling across the Pennines to get back home)

[robgul]

Yep - done that - using trains with a bike in Europe is for the most part a breeze.

I hopped the train a couple of days in Holland/Belgium in 2015 on our club tour when I was still recovering from major illness and had probably bitten of more than I should have tried to chew. No problem whatsoever - ticket machines with English screens made it simpler.

Rob

[Sweep]

I've often used trains to cover some 'dead' ground :

+ 1. Typical example would be heading back North after a couple of weeks in France. Landed at Poole cycled the decent bits through southern England and scenic / historic areas to the west of the Midlands. Then jumped on a train to avoid the North West Industrial conurbation, getting off at Penrith (NB. To have an evenings cycling across the Pennines to get back home)

Not disputing the idea of train bike travelling but you skipped some fine scenery and cycling in the north west which you seem curiously dismissive of. A lot of the industry you bemoan has long gone though it does make the scenery particularly interesting - few areas of the country where industry and rural were so curiously woven together. The other reason for cycling those north western points is that it frees you from the abomination of northern rail's managers.

[ConRAD]

... few areas of the country where industry and rural were so curiously woven together ...

... perfect synthesis, it helps me a lot to build up a possible itinerary!

[simonhill]

I've often used trains to get in or out of big cities. Mainline or metro type.

I've also used trains to get over no cycling barriers, like bridges.

Knowing how easy it is to put a bike on a local train in France is a useful fall back in case of sickness or bad weather.

My longest cop out was The Nullarbor. A mere 42 hours on the train.

[Sweep]

Thanks for the post simon.
In my ignorance had never heard of it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullarbor_Plain
The transline road mentioned there sounds kinda interesting if anyone wanted to get away from it.

[50sbiker]

I've often used trains to cover some 'dead' ground :

+ 1. Typical example would be heading back North after a couple of weeks in France. Landed at Poole cycled the decent bits through southern England and scenic / historic areas to the west of the Midlands. Then jumped on a train to avoid the North West Industrial conurbation, getting off at Penrith (NB. To have an evenings cycling across the Pennines to get back home)

Not disputing the idea of train bike travelling but you skipped some fine scenery and cycling in the north west which you seem curiously dismissive of. A lot of the industry you bemoan has long gone though it does make the scenery particularly interesting - few areas of the country where industry and rural were so curiously woven together. The other reason for cycling those north western points is that it frees you from the abomination of northern rail's managers.

That particular person does have an issue with""post industrial conurbations""..Frequently they refers to parts of the North east as such..best to be avoided..The poster has no idea of the north east and presumably still thinks of the lake district as covered with mines and pit heaps from the 18th century too!..

[Sweep]

ok - thanks for the tip.

At the risk of thread drift two very recent pics from the industrial hellhole - may be of interest to Conrad as well.

Background info including a film which gbnz will be pleased to note includes, at the beginning, flat caps and weaving equipment.

https://www.clarionhouse.org.uk/about

On topic I did arrive in these parts by train - but no thanks to northern rail.

[Cunobelin]

Have “City toured” with a Brompton

Train to a base, explore local area with train and Brompton, return home by train

Enables lightweight days out and opens up whole new areas for exploration

[gbnz]

That particular person does have an issue with""post industrial conurbations""..Frequently they refers to parts of the North east as such..best to be avoided..The poster has no idea of the north east and presumably still thinks of the lake district as covered with mines and pit heaps from the 18th century too!..

It's true! I do have an issue with post industrial conurbations and significant parts of the population they contain. Probably due to a large part of my career having been spent in the North East, dealing with the issues such post industrial populations produce (NB. I can smell the fag smoke now )

[Cowsham]

An altercation with a dog - needing stitches and antibiotics - on my last tour made me want to get home briskly from the heel of Italy. I carried on riding my usual fifty or so miles a day, but most days managed to jump on a local train for a few hours, and made it from Puglia to the Channel in nine days. I found it a very satisfying combination of cycle-touring and covering a lot of ground, and would do it again somewhere else. Anyone done anything similar?

50 miles a day loaded up is some going there.

[Vorpal]

I can recommend Norway for combining train, bus, ferry, & bike touring. Most trains and buses take bikes (there is a fee on most routes) without reservation. Long distance (regional trains) can be booked in advance, but except for a few popular routes. they aren't generally required. Ferries take bikes--usually for free, though foot ferries often charge a small fee--generally without reservation. Though it's a good idea to book groups, especially on small ferries. It has become my preferred way to travel, and I have sometimes done something like... Take a train to the starting point, ride my bike a day or two, take a train part way back, ride my bike for a few days and do some touristy things, bus home. Or train to starting point, ride my bike for a couple of days, ferry, ride my bike home. Some areas, for example the scenic west coast, it is necessary to use ferry or bus at some points.