| |
Main
Date: 06 Apr 2007 18:35:20
From: DC1999
Subject: Bicycle Trip to Scotland, Ireland, or UK???
|
I'm trying to persuade my buddy to do a week or so bike trip in
Ireland, maybe Scotland or the UK, mainland Europe. One possible
route would be the coast of Scotland from Glasgow all the way
around. It would be quite a change of pace from our rides in Orange
County, CA.
I recall years ago reading a book on bike trips in France. Does
anyone know offhand of other books on the subject?
We'd try to persuade the wives to drive a sag wagon.
Any comments, suggestions, experiences group members would care to
share here? I'd love to hear from everyone.
BTW, we're both in our mid-60s. I ride maybe 100 miles a week, my
buddy does something less.
Dave
<dc1999 at earthlink dot net >
Dave Clark
http://home.earthlink.net/~dc1999/
http://web.mac.com/dave28c
http://www.clarklawfirm.com
|
|
| |
Date: 15 Apr 2007 17:38:45
From: Elisa Francesca Roselli
Subject: Re: Bicycle Trip to Scotland, Ireland, or UK???
|
DC1999 wrote:
> I'm trying to persuade my buddy to do a week or so bike trip in
> Ireland, maybe Scotland or the UK, mainland Europe.
Unfortunately, I find the British Isles one of the areas worst covered
by bike tour organizers. A pity, as I know there is glorious cycling there.
One company that does organize UK tours with sag wagons (preserve your
marriages) is Saddle Skedaddle:
http://www.skedaddle.co.uk/default.asp
I narrowly missed a Cotswolds weekend with them yesterday and today -
decided it was too much hassle - but still like the idea.
Hope that helps,
EFR
Ile de France
PS: some nice deals for Continental Europe here:
http://www.biketoursdirect.com/?location=tourdirectory
|
| |
Date: 08 Apr 2007 20:53:53
From: Jeremy Parker
Subject: Re: Bicycle Trip to Scotland, Ireland, or UK???
|
Tim Hughes, who used to edit the British Cyclists' Touring Club's
magazine, wrote a good book about cycling in France. I can't
remember its title. Presumably Amazon could unearth it. Another one
is by Susy Madrone(?) who runs the "Cycling for Softies" trips there.
Many of the French departments (like counties) have tourist depts
which have mapped their best routes.
I took an End-to-End trip with the CTC a few years back, which for
the Scottish leg ferry-hopped as it went up the west coast, using
Cal-Mac (Caledonian-McBraynes) ferries - "The earth is the Lord's,
and all it contains - except for the Islands; they are MacBrayne's".
That being a CTC trip, they took care of paying for the ferries, but
I gather there is some kind of ticket which lets you use them as you
like.
Scottish midges have a fearsome reputation, but that trip, in May,
was midge free.
The CTC is probably one of the best sources in the world for bike
touring info', and your trip would be on their home ground. Take a
look at their web site, www.ctc.org.uk
I hope this helps
Jeremy Parker
London
"DC1999" <dc1999@gmail.com > wrote in message
news:1175909720.427256.51650@e65g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
> I'm trying to persuade my buddy to do a week or so bike trip in
> Ireland, maybe Scotland or the UK, mainland Europe. One possible
> route would be the coast of Scotland from Glasgow all the way
> around. It would be quite a change of pace from our rides in
> Orange
> County, CA.
>
> I recall years ago reading a book on bike trips in France. Does
> anyone know offhand of other books on the subject?
>
> We'd try to persuade the wives to drive a sag wagon.
>
> Any comments, suggestions, experiences group members would care to
> share here? I'd love to hear from everyone.
>
> BTW, we're both in our mid-60s. I ride maybe 100 miles a week, my
> buddy does something less.
>
> Dave
> <dc1999 at earthlink dot net>
>
> Dave Clark
> http://home.earthlink.net/~dc1999/
> http://web.mac.com/dave28c
> http://www.clarklawfirm.com
>
|
| | |
Date: 09 Apr 2007 22:45:37
From: mark
Subject: Re: Bicycle Trip to Scotland, Ireland, or UK???
|
Jeremy Parker wrote:
> I took an End-to-End trip with the CTC a few years back, which for
> the Scottish leg ferry-hopped as it went up the west coast, using
> Cal-Mac (Caledonian-McBraynes) ferries - "The earth is the Lord's,
> and all it contains - except for the Islands; they are MacBrayne's".
> That being a CTC trip, they took care of paying for the ferries, but
> I gather there is some kind of ticket which lets you use them as you
> like.
>
The "Island Hopscotch" ticket is a ticket for a set itinerary, sold at a
slight discount. Cyclists using them do not pay the normal surcharge
levied on bicycles, which makes them an excellent value. The tickets are
for a particular series of ferry routes, but not for a particular
sailing time. There are enough different itineraries to cover just about
any imaginable route. I'd forgotten the quote, it's quite good. Ferries
and bicycles are an excellent way to travel, IMO, much better than
bicycles combined with any other form of transport.
> Scottish midges have a fearsome reputation, but that trip, in May,
> was midge free.
>
My trip in May '04 was not warm enough to bring out the midges, either.
mark
|
| |
Date: 08 Apr 2007 08:24:07
From: John Kane
Subject: Re: Bicycle Trip to Scotland, Ireland, or UK???
|
On Apr 6, 11:05 pm, frkry...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Apr 6, 9:35 pm, "DC1999" <dc1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> But I'd avoid the Ring of Kerry, which John mentioned in another
> post. We were told by every source that it's beautiful, but so famous
> and popular that it's lousy biking. In fact, we have friends that
Good point Frank. I was there in June before a lot of tourists. It
probablly gets pretty crowded later.
John Kane, Kingston ON Canada
|
| |
Date: 08 Apr 2007 01:21:27
From: Bill
Subject: Re: Bicycle Trip to Scotland, Ireland, or UK???
|
"DC1999" <dc1999@gmail.com > wrote in message
news:1175909720.427256.51650@e65g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
> I'm trying to persuade my buddy to do a week or so bike trip in
> Ireland, maybe Scotland or the UK, mainland Europe. One possible
> route would be the coast of Scotland from Glasgow all the way
> around. It would be quite a change of pace from our rides in Orange
> County, CA.
>
> I recall years ago reading a book on bike trips in France. Does
> anyone know offhand of other books on the subject?
>
> We'd try to persuade the wives to drive a sag wagon.
>
> Any comments, suggestions, experiences group members would care to
> share here? I'd love to hear from everyone.
>
> BTW, we're both in our mid-60s. I ride maybe 100 miles a week, my
> buddy does something less.
>
> Dave
> <dc1999 at earthlink dot net>
>
> Dave Clark
> http://home.earthlink.net/~dc1999/
> http://web.mac.com/dave28c
> http://www.clarklawfirm.com
>
Check out http://www.thenationalbyway.org/
The National Biway. Cycling routes throughout Great Britan.
Bill
|
| |
Date: 07 Apr 2007 13:42:32
From: mark
Subject: Re: Bicycle Trip to Scotland, Ireland, or UK???
|
DC1999 wrote:
> I'm trying to persuade my buddy to do a week or so bike trip in
> Ireland, maybe Scotland or the UK, mainland Europe. One possible
> route would be the coast of Scotland from Glasgow all the way
> around. It would be quite a change of pace from our rides in Orange
> County, CA.
>
> I recall years ago reading a book on bike trips in France. Does
> anyone know offhand of other books on the subject?
>
> We'd try to persuade the wives to drive a sag wagon.
>
> Any comments, suggestions, experiences group members would care to
> share here? I'd love to hear from everyone.
>
> BTW, we're both in our mid-60s. I ride maybe 100 miles a week, my
> buddy does something less.
>
> Dave
> <dc1999 at earthlink dot net>
>
> Dave Clark
> http://home.earthlink.net/~dc1999/
> http://web.mac.com/dave28c
> http://www.clarklawfirm.com
>
>
I spent four weeks cycling around Scotland a few years ago, the west
coast north of Glasgow is a great place for cycle touring. Forget the
sag wagon, carry small panniers or seatbags with enough to get you from
one hostel/B&B to the next, and meet your wives once a week or so. They
can go shopping, sightseeing, or whatever and you can compare notes when
you meet up. You can buy cheap "pay as you go" cell phones in the UK to
talk to each other.
Lonely Planet published cycling guides to France, Italy, the UK and a
few other countries years ago, don't know which are still in print. I
recall the French guide being good and the UK guide having some
excellent routes in Scotland. Truthfully, you don't need a cycling
specific guidebook, just get a good travel guide and a good, detailed
map of thecountry, and pick out the spots you want to see.
I did my Scotland trip in May 2004, that was a good month to be there
because there were no mosquitoes (midges) and the tourist crowds hadn't
arrived in full force. Try to spend more than a week (2 or 3 if you can).
|
| |
Date: 06 Apr 2007 20:05:37
From:
Subject: Re: Bicycle Trip to Scotland, Ireland, or UK???
|
On Apr 6, 9:35 pm, "DC1999" <dc1...@gmail.com > wrote:
> I'm trying to persuade my buddy to do a week or so bike trip in
> Ireland, maybe Scotland or the UK, mainland Europe. One possible
> route would be the coast of Scotland from Glasgow all the way
> around. It would be quite a change of pace from our rides in Orange
> County, CA.
>
> I recall years ago reading a book on bike trips in France. Does
> anyone know offhand of other books on the subject?
I've got a little spiral-bound book titled _Cycling in France_ by
Carole Saint-Laurent, Ulysses Travel Publications, 1994, ISBN
2-89464-008-0
It has about 20 suggested tours, with lots of detail, practical tips,
sights to see, etc etc. It seems designed to go along for the ride.
I've browsed it many times, but so far not used it. That will come.
Although I prefer to find my own way, rather than follow other's
suggested tours.
We've traveled England, Scotland and Ireland by bike, on two different
trips. We traveled vagabond style; with the exception of our arrival
in Dublin, we never had reservations for sleeping. We always found
something suitable. Towns are reasonably close, B&Bs are pretty easy
to find.
We picked the British Isles partly to avoid the language barrier, but
I've been told 1000 times since it's no barrier at all. I wouldn't
hesitate to tour France or other places in Europe. In fact, I'll
probably report back later this year. ;-)
Ireland was beautiful, but WET when we went in August. Spring is
supposedly much better. Check that out. When we went, even the Irish
were complaining about the rain.
I'm told the country has changed a lot in the last 10 years. It's
gone from mono-cultural to many-cultural, and gotten a lot more
prosperous. I don't know how that's affected the cycling, but there
are so many, many quiet back roads I can't imagine it could be bad.
But I'd avoid the Ring of Kerry, which John mentioned in another
post. We were told by every source that it's beautiful, but so famous
and popular that it's lousy biking. In fact, we have friends that
started to tour it by bike, but abandoned and fled because they
thought it far too crowded with buses and tourist cars.
For cyclists, the nearby Dingle Peninsula is great. I can vouch for
it's beauty, and it's a very peaceful scene. It's the alternative
that was recommended to us, and we had a great time with it. Visit
Great Blasket Island, hike the hills, visit the prehistoric huts,
sleep in the youth hostel, bring your tin whistle and make lifelong
friends. It worked for us!
Go! Have fun!
- Frank Krygowski
|
| |
Date: 06 Apr 2007 19:28:24
From: John Kane
Subject: Re: Bicycle Trip to Scotland, Ireland, or UK???
|
On Apr 6, 9:35 pm, "DC1999" <dc1...@gmail.com > wrote:
> I'm trying to persuade my buddy to do a week or so bike trip in
> Ireland, maybe Scotland or the UK, mainland Europe. One possible
> route would be the coast of Scotland from Glasgow all the way
> around. It would be quite a change of pace from our rides in Orange
> County, CA.
>
> I recall years ago reading a book on bike trips in France. Does
> anyone know offhand of other books on the subject?
>
> We'd try to persuade the wives to drive a sag wagon.
>
> Any comments, suggestions, experiences group members would care to
> share here? I'd love to hear from everyone.
>
> BTW, we're both in our mid-60s. I ride maybe 100 miles a week, my
> buddy does something less.
>
> Dave
> <dc1999 at earthlink dot net>
>
> Dave Clarkhttp://home.earthlink.net/~dc1999/http://web.mac.com/dave28chttp://www.clarklawfirm.com
Forget the sag wagon! France is fairly densely populated. If you
really need la ift you can all the local taxi.
If your wives aren't cyclists they are more likely to enjoy the sight
seeing/ shopping/history etc. Just pick up a European cell phone and
call in once a day, or meet at the hotels if they are willing to
follow your route. If you're feeling rich http://www.relaischateaux.com/page.php3?lang=en
is a good way to go.
I'd suggest something I did: A nice easy ride from Boulogne-sur-mer to
Paris. Easy stages, nice, fairly easy riding, and good food. Easily
done in 7-10 days with a bit of time for sight- seeing. It is a good
introduction to touring but not overly demanding. The landscape is
nice though not spectacular but then you're not climbing 1000 m hills
either. :).
If you're a cyclist in good condition but not used to long-term
commuting I'd suggest planning on 60-80 km/per day. My own experience
suggests that 80 km/day is okay but 100 km/day begins to be tiring.
Besides, 4-5 hours in the saddle is more than enough especially if you
need two hours for lunch and an early stop to have an aperatif before
dinner. :)
France has an amazing number of minor regional (D) roads that let you
ride with almost no traffic. I'd go for hours without encountering
a motor vehicle on some roads.
For more exciting scenery the Auvergne looks good but I have only
driven, not bicycled there. http://www.cr-auvergne.fr/uk/index.asp
I've cycled in France but I don't think I've ever read a book about
cycling there. (T de F books excluded) Some of the British cycling
magazines have very useful articles.
Another option might be the Ring of Kerry in western Ireland.
http://www.pilotguides.com/destination_guide/europe/ireland/cycling_the_ring_of_kerry.php
Again I've only done it by car but it is reported to be a major cycle
route as well. When I did it there seemed to be a lot of mtn bikes
around although the climbs and high quality of the roads would have
made a road bike a lot more appropriate.
John Kane, Kingston ON Canada
|
| | |
Date: 07 Apr 2007 08:46:29
From: peter-potato
Subject: Re: Bicycle Trip to Scotland, Ireland, or UK???
|
"John Kane" <jrkrideau@gmail.com > wrote in message
news:1175912904.888934.98140@q75g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
> On Apr 6, 9:35 pm, "DC1999" <dc1...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I've cycled in France but I don't think I've ever read a book about
> cycling there. (T de F books excluded) Some of the British cycling
> magazines have very useful articles.
>
Lonely Planet do cycling guides to both France and Britain.
Peter
|
|
