Max time/expense/difficulty to get to the start of a European tour?

[mattsccm]

Any holiday starts when I get on the boat. A ferry trip is a bonus.=

[Jamesh]

Any holiday starts when I get on the boat. A ferry trip is a bonus.=

A tour starts 5pm Friday night!

I'd leave on the Friday from work rather than waiting till Saturday!!

[Ron]

How easy/ difficult is it to get from the Harwich ferry to central London? What are the steps?

It was easy, the Harwich station is an integral part of the ferry terminal and there are 12 trains a day, currently. Coming out from London Liverpool Street it was the case that on some services you had to change at Manningtree, I found it quite pleasant to get off at Manningtree and cycle on to Harwich. Going towards London it was more convenient for me to board at Harwich for a straight through service to London. It's a few years since I have used the ferry, but I don't think things will have changed a lot, but do check!.

[MrsHJ]

How easy/ difficult is it to get from the Harwich ferry to central London? What are the steps?

It was easy, the Harwich station is an integral part of the ferry terminal and there are 12 trains a day, currently. Coming out from London Liverpool Street it was the case that on some services you had to change at Manningtree, I found it quite pleasant to get off at Manningtree and cycle on to Harwich. Going towards London it was more convenient for me to board at Harwich for a straight through service to London. It's a few years since I have used the ferry, but I don't think things will have changed a lot, but do check!.

Thanks for the guide. You’ve given me my bearings. Sadly it looks like it’s got more difficult which seems to be the way of bikes on trains. Only one direct service at 7:15 now (which also implies a quick disembarkation) which arrives in London during commuter hours so no bikes. May be better to aim to arrive in a weekend.

The non direct seem to alternate between Colchester and Manningtree. Colchester is no bikes on the London leg. Both sections require reservations for Maningtree. And the first train is the 8:33. Hopefully no fun trips lugging bikes and luggage up and down stairs at the connection to add to the travelling joy! Also I’m relying on the information supplied on national rail enquiries little bike symbols being correct which in my experience isn’t always quite, right.

[st599_uk]

Going to Harwich, you don't want to arrive too early - the cyclists have to stand in the car queue, there's a sort of shack with a coffee machine, or a McDonalds on the horizon, but otherwise you're exposed to the elements.

Coming back in to London, bikes are only allowed on trains that arrive after 9:30 during the week.

The Harwich service is a favourite of mine, but also factor in the delays for passport and customs controls. Fine on the Dutch side as long as you haven't got any goods requiring a Carnet, badly thought out on the return.

[mjr]

Also I’m relying on the information supplied on national rail enquiries little bike symbols being correct which in my experience isn’t always quite, right.

No, it is wrong for most Greater Anglia services. Their own website has the accurate restrictions but presented in a confusing way, but the gist of it is you cannot take a bike unreserved arriving before 0945 between Shenfield and London, which includes the old boat trains, which leaves you two easy options:
1. Change at Manningtree, normally same or cross platform westbound, onto a Norwich-London service that you can and have booked your bike onto.
2. Wait and change at Manningtree onto an Ipswich-London service that does not require bike reservations.

Going to Harwich is easier with bikes permitted on the direct services at 1848 and 2102 (cutting it fine?), as long as you arrive early enough to bag a space. Otherwise, the change at Manningtree is more faff eastbound.

And yes, as st599_uk mentions, there is not even Dover's grim Costa/WHSmiths in the port, but you have to exit the port between station and checkin with a bike and following route 51 towards Harwich will pass an OK chain pub (The Mayflower, maybe) after crossing the A120 if you have a long wait. Cyclists stand in the motorbike queue lane, not the car queue, when I've done it.

[simonhill]

Manningtree has an excellent station buffet. Food and drink, plus a good selection of real ales.

If time to kill, maybe better there than the ferry port.

[Sweep]

Manningtree has an excellent station buffet. Food and drink, plus a good selection of real ales.

If time to kill, maybe better there than the ferry port.

happy to learn that it's still there and functioning - yes it's very good.

[ossie]

Going to Harwich, you don't want to arrive too early - the cyclists have to stand in the car queue, there's a sort of shack with a coffee machine, or a McDonalds on the horizon, but otherwise you're exposed to the elements.

I use the pub near that McDonalds ( attached to a Premier Inn) as a stop off before getting on the ferry. Free chilled water, wi fi and you can lock your bike up in the outside seating area with a view from tables inside, also a Lidl next door for supplies. Quite safe and very pro in there if you fancy a beer or cheap meal.

That said my tours start from home (as fortunate enough not to be time limited ) and Harwich is five days cycling away when I'm doing NL and Germany. Essex has some great cycling.

[brianleach]

I'm quite lucky as I live in Winchester. Consequently since 2007 I have only to cycle to the station to get a train to Portsmouth. No booking, don't even have to remove the panniers. A short ride to the ferry port then next stop Ouistreham, Cherbourg or Santander.

However the trips up north have not been so easy so I can see where the original poster is coming from.

Have never felt that the hassle of flying was worth it although my youngest son did once which really put me off the idea. Also my French or Spanish is not good enough to negotiate trains so my tours have always been overseas ferry port to overseas ferry port.

I've always tried to be as low carbon as possible so have never tried the car idea. Don't like driving much anyway having passed my test when England won the World Cup!!

I was thinking of using the bus to extend my horizons but Brexit and the pandemic ruled that out.

[Jdsk]

Good to know- I thought I’d have to get TER services Paris to Basel via Mulhouse when I eventually do the Rhine route from the Oberalpass.

We dropped the rented car at Mulhouse in order to avoid the rather large extra cost of a one-way drop-off in Switzerland.

It's a nice ride by the canals from Mulhouse to Basel. With added muskrats.

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

How easy/ difficult is it to get from the Harwich ferry to central London? What are the steps?

It's tricky, countermeasures as helpfully described above.

We had one of our greatest ever logistical miscalculations in hiring a car from Thrifty. Not Recommended.

Jonathan

[MrsHJ]

How easy/ difficult is it to get from the Harwich ferry to central London? What are the steps?

It's tricky, countermeasures as helpfully described above.

We had one of our greatest ever logistical miscalculations in hiring a car from Thrifty. Not Recommended.

Jonathan

I read it, my sympathies. I have done car hire a couple of times with bikes and it’s worked ok. This thread reminds me why I liked flying Exeter to Amsterdam (on the sadly now defunct Flybe) rather than dealing with train & ferry logistics.

[st599_uk]

Good to know- I thought I’d have to get TER services Paris to Basel via Mulhouse when I eventually do the Rhine route from the Oberalpass.

We dropped the rented car at Mulhouse in order to avoid the rather large extra cost of a one-way drop-off in Switzerland.

As the one way fee was to do with the paperwork for temporary importation from one customs area in to another, that may happen on a cross-channel trip now too.

To answer the question on trains, getting to Harwich is not too hard, you can leave after work if you're in London, or travel in during the day, ride across to Liverpool street then jump on the train. Direct service is easy, stopping service has one change across platform (or if you leave early and ride from Manningtree, it's quite pretty - Constable's Haywain is near there).

Getting back is also not too hard - there's normally a direct train waiting as the ferry arrives or you'll change at Manningtree (with a lift).

The main gripe is that there is a rail and sail ticket which includes the London to Harwich and Hoek Van Holland to anywhere in Netherlands - but you can't add a bike to it.

[PH]

This thread reminds me why I liked flying Exeter to Amsterdam (on the sadly now defunct Flybe) rather than dealing with train & ferry logistics.

Flybe are due to restart operations sometime this year, having been bought out of administration by one of the shareholders.
Routes and timetables haven't yet been released, though they will now be based at Birmingham.