My vague ponderings had been on the lines of:
On a certain Friday, congregate at Dover based on an 11am-ish ferry, meaning availability of off-peak trains to Dover, then cycle Calais to Le Touquet (70 km), leaving plenty of time to wander around Le Touquet after arrival.
Le Touquet to Arras (105 km)
Arras to Mons (105 km)
Mons to Liège (140 km)
Liège rest day, allowing excursions to Maastricht, Herve ("cracking cheese, Gromit!") etc
Liège to Mönchengladbach (110 km)
Mönchengladbach to Arnhem (120 km)
Arnhem to Gouda (more cheese) (105 km)
Gouda to Hook of Holland (55 km) to then get either the 13:45 afternoon ferry back to Harwich, or have a wander around Gouda in the morning, to then get the 22:00 overnight ferry, arriving in Harwich Sunday morning.
Happy to park that until 2018.
(spell check reckons the closest match for Mönchengladbach is Church of England).
11AMish ferry (with a 1hr before check in?) might be challenging to them that can't get in to London to head out to Dover due to full size bike bans on the peak trains? (though there may be combo cycle towards destination and then train which might get round it?)
This year the low points for me were the combinations of lack of sleep, late eating and so long in the saddle with heat for the distance travelled. The heat was probably the root issue effecting our progress, which in turn effected our stopping and meant on the majority of days for me, 10 hours in the saddle of which 5 hours moving to get 100km done. None of us could have predicted the heat though! This was my main holiday this year and I was quite depressed to have to leave mid way with a sense of failure...
It's a real shame we didnt get chance to discover more of Koln than the walk from the hostel to the meal, the Dom and the old/new Market areas we skirted by as we walked to the meal and back are epic places to view, but I also understand the reasons why we did what we did, so this isn't a criticism of what we just achieved, more a support for a bit more sightseeing.
I am sympathetic to
@StuartG POV but also the general desire to keep the group all inclusive, there needs to be a compromise somewhere on tour focus (i.e. just ticking off destinations vrs sightseeing), distance, speed and ability at both ends of the spectrum. An Alpine bashing fast tour it should never be, but there also has to perhaps be a consideration of a minimum threshold if there is an application of a maximum. No I don't have any strong views on this (i.e. where to set the 'minimum bar' so to speak, but it would seem fair to both sides of the discussion plus).
I am not sure why there has to be a binary tour option (other than lack of leaders of course)... If I could, I would have loved to do a sightseeing tour sort of like 'what we just did' plus the tour challenge like 'the highest cyclable road in Europe' too...
I don't envy the challenge of getting the balance between ability, distance, destination and focus - best of luck with it
@mmmmartin , however I suspect next year will bring different challenges for me which might preclude me from joining with you all...
Where ever you all end up, I am sure you'll all enjoy yourselves and I look forward to following it if I can't partake.