Travelling to southern Europe without flying

[b1ke]

On my recent trip to Toulouse, the bikes didn't have to be dismantled/bagged on the way down. We paid about £6 extra per bike. That was with SNCF.

However, on the way back, the only cheap(ish) prices were with OUIGO Grand Vitesse, and we had to dismantle and bag them, in addition to paying a similar surcharge.

[st599_uk]

If you're not in a rush, I've found that a short-to-normal day's cycling each day, plus hopping on a local train whenever possible, works nicely - for example I got from the heel of Italy to the Channel, including a couple of Alpine passes, in a non-strenuous eight day ride.
I'm puzzled by your 'hop out of the EU to Morocco' idea – presumably after ninety days in the EU, you'd have to spend ninety days in Morocco before you can come back?

Incorrect by me, so removed.

[simonhill]

If you're not in a rush, I've found that a short-to-normal day's cycling each day, plus hopping on a local train whenever possible, works nicely - for example I got from the heel of Italy to the Channel, including a couple of Alpine passes, in a non-strenuous eight day ride.
I'm puzzled by your 'hop out of the EU to Morocco' idea – presumably after ninety days in the EU, you'd have to spend ninety days in Morocco before you can come back?

No, it's a rolling window. If you don't go to the EU for 90 days, then go and use your 90 days, after 7 days in Morocco, you'd have 7 more days in the EU.

Am I misunderstanding this debate? You can't count the time before you go.

It's 90 days from the start of the 180. The date of entry is the critical one. Do all your 90 in one go and you will have to wait another 90 till the180 from original date of entry has been reached before you can re- enter the Schengen area.

I had 7 weeks in Portugal starting mid October. Then 6 weeks Spain starting mid February.

I left Spain end of March exactly after a total of 90 days and was effectively banned from Europe until the 180 from my first entry had been reached (mid April).

Now reached that, so I can go again, but only for the length of my first trip. If I use all that, I will then have to wait till the beginning of the second trip has passed 180.

There are online calculators that may help.

[st599_uk]

If you're not in a rush, I've found that a short-to-normal day's cycling each day, plus hopping on a local train whenever possible, works nicely - for example I got from the heel of Italy to the Channel, including a couple of Alpine passes, in a non-strenuous eight day ride.
I'm puzzled by your 'hop out of the EU to Morocco' idea – presumably after ninety days in the EU, you'd have to spend ninety days in Morocco before you can come back?

No, it's a rolling window. If you don't go to the EU for 90 days, then go and use your 90 days, after 7 days in Morocco, you'd have 7 more days in the EU.

Am I misunderstanding this debate? You can't count the time before you go.

It's 90 days from the start of the 180. The date of entry is the critical one. Do all your 90 in one go and you will have to wait another 90 till the180 from original date of entry has been reached before you can re- enter the Schengen area.

I had 7 weeks in Portugal starting mid October. Then 6 weeks Spain starting mid February.

I left Spain end of March exactly after a total of 90 days and was effectively banned from Europe until the 180 from my first entry had been reached (mid April).

Now reached that, so I can go again, but only for the length of my first trip. If I use all that, I will then have to wait till the beginning of the second trip has passed 180.

There are online calculators that may help.

You are correct - I misread the rule so have removed my post.

[marmite]

The current entry about ferries is out of date in another way, as I discovered just now.

Brittany Ferries to Spain does not carry bikes 'at a small extra cost' - the additional cost of taking a bike aboard
on top of the passenger fare is £75 per leg, which is essentially the price for an additional passenger. This
isn't a question of payload - bikes carried on or in people's cars are free.
I only found this out when I met 2 people reassembling their bikes at Santander, who had put them in a bag as luggage
having taken them to bits. There is nothing in the website about putting bikes in bags. But it does seem a massive faff
when no-one can argue that there is no room on a massive ferry full of buses for 10kg of bike.
The Brittany Ferries website does not have any information about bicycles at all, and the only
means to contact customer service is a 0330 number to France.

The company seems to be an outlier in this respect. It would be good if Cycling UK were to have a word with Brittany
Ferries and update the information at Cycling UK website. But also suggest that the ferry company is being a bit un-green,
charging more for a bike one way than the airlines charge for a return passenger fare.

[Jdsk]

The current entry about ferries is out of date in another way, as I discovered just now.

Which site are you describing, please?

Jonathan

[beeb]

,.....presumably he wants to break up the 90 days.

As I think he means, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to use all your Schengen days as then you would have to wait a further 90 days - or fly.

I split my 90 days, but came home to Blighty for Christmas and NY. I'm not currently allowed into the EU. Long live Brexit - you b*st*rds.

Don't forget Cyprus is outside Schengen and has reasonable winter weather.

Cyprus can be pretty cold and nasty in Jan/Feb

[marmite]

The current entry about ferries is out of date in another way, as I discovered just now.

Which site are you describing, please?

Jonathan

Hi Jon
The CyclingUK website has a page
https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/guide ... bike-ferry
which includes 2022 timetables so it is not an old page.
Rosemary

(I have tried a few times to phone Brittany Ferries but it is unsurprisingly permanently engaged.)

[Jdsk]

Got it.

Thanks

Jonathan

[marmite]

Update re ferries. I got through on the phone eventually to Brittany Ferries. The man on the phone did not realise that a person+bike cost more than a person alone. But he asked and it does. But also if you can get the bike in a bag and carry it (heard that before in many places) you save the bike fare. Not really joined up and hard on people who don't have the resources or time to take bikes to bits in public and then carry the bag around.

[Jdsk]

Thanks for chasing that and sharing.

I've told Cycling UK.

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

And Cycling UK have updated their piece:
https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/guide ... bike-ferry

Brittany Ferries

Accepts bicycles with foot passenger bookings for a small additional fee charge on routes between Portsmouth and France (Caen, Saint Malo, Cherbourg and Le Havre), Portsmouth to Spain (£75 for cycle carriage between Santander and Bilbao) Poole to Cherbourg and Plymouth to Roscoff in France, or Plymouth to Santander in Spain. For the Portsmouth to Spain route, Cycling UK has heard some reports of people bagging their bikes and taking them on as luggage when booked as a foot passenger to avoid the £75 fee.

Jonathan

[glucas]

Not sure if it is mentioned elsewhere on your site and not relevant to this page but there is also NorthLink ferries (which I found excellent) to Orkney and the Shetland Islands. Bikes were free of charge and welcome.

[beeb]

The following response may be of some interest to anyone considering Rosslare to Santander. We are from the north of Scotland and we're wondering about a tour crossing to Northern Ireland, down to Rosslare to Santander, tour through Spain then head for Amsterdam and onwards to Newcastle. We'll need to wait and see the outcome. Think I'm just going to have to pluck up courage to try flying with my Thorn Raven tbh.


"Hello,



Thank you for your enquiry.

Unfortunately every passenger travelling from Rosslare to Bilbao must have a motorised vehicle.

This is a commercial decision.

However we will have a new ship operating this route starting after the 6th of November which might allow foot passengers.

This will be set up on our system around the 21/06 and we will then have more information regarding this.

Therefore if you would like to check our website on the 21/06 you should be able to book this then.

Kind Regards,

Mark,
Passenger Services, Cork."

[marmite]

Motorised vehicle?
How about an e-bike??
(everyone seems to think I must be riding an e-bike at my age despite there being no visible engine.)
Maybe write back to Mark at Rosslare?