A poor man and a Bike

[andy_spacey]

I think I may get away with it as I am not flying into the country but crossing bounders. I should be in Switzerland with in the month from leaving and that would give me 4/5 months on the pass port,And will be in and out with in 2 weeks so if I get pulled I will have to play stupid.(which any going to be hard) If I do come across any problems.I just turn west and head out the country

 

[Monsieur]

Checked out your facebook page Andy - looks good.
Keep us updated as to your travelling!

 

[andy_spacey]

I hope to update it more this time than I did last year on my Coventry to Santander tour

 

[vernon]

I think I may get away with it as I am not flying into the country but crossing bounders. I should be in Switzerland with in the month from leaving and that would give me 4/5 months on the pass port,And will be in and out with in 2 weeks so if I get pulled I will have to play stupid.(which any going to be hard) If I do come across any problems.I just turn west and head out the country

It's no good playing stupid. No concessions are given even if you are in the right and they are in the wrong. I wasn't allowed to board a plane that was leaving the UK for Greece because my passport had less than six months on it. Several officials got involved in the ensuing arguments about whether I had a ten year passport or a nine and a half year passport but the check in person was resolute and I was turned away.

I had to ring my son who'd dropped me and the rest of the family off at the airport and ask him to pick me up. I had to get a replacement passport and was offered appointments three weeks ahead which was no good to me as it was a two week holiday. The passport office found me a ten o'clock appointment in Glasgow for the following day, the only free slot for the next ten days. I lost a day and a half of my holiday.

During my quest for a replacement passport, i rang the greek embassy and asked about the validity of my passport - they assured me that there was no restrictions to my travel and that my passport was valid in their eyes until the date of expiry.

I'd not take the risk Andy. Being turned away can really bugger up your plans.

 

[andy_spacey]

As long as I can get on the ferry at Dover to go to France I be happy after that I will just head south, using my planed route. Life is about risk, I don't have any real plans, just that I am going to do the camino de santiago. all that am doing is cycling down the other side of france east boarder before crossing France to go into Spain as i did the whole west coast last year. I am only going to be 10 to 30 miles over the boarder of France in the other country's so I can soon turn and leave if I have to.

You must hold a valid passport to enter France. For stays of up to three months your passport must be valid for the proposed duration of your stay; you do not need any additional period of validity on your passport beyond this. However, it is always sensible to have a short period of extra validity on your passport in case of any unforeseen delays to your departure.​

 

[stephenjubb]

Even being to Switzerland? I have and it is beautiful beyond words. To risk not getting in is strange considering the effort you are putting in.

You are 67 miles from Coventry to Peterborough where there is a passport office where you can get a passport in one day, so you have plenty of time.

http://maps.direct.gov.uk/LDGRedirect/MapAction.do?ref=passportofficesregional#mapanchor

You will need to visit an IPS Customer Service Centre if you need a passport urgently and want to apply in person using the Fast Track one-week or Premium one-day service.

I would rephrase your quote "Life is about risk" to "Life is About Risk Where You cannot sensibly reduce it".

In your case with the passport it can be removed and think about it, if you do not get into Switzerland, you may not get a chance to return and regret it for a long time.

I could understand not renewing your passport if you had to travel hundreds of miles but 67?

However good luck in your travels. At least you are aware.

 

[colly]

I think I would make sure the passport was in order just in case. It's your call of course. I think the Swiss customs/police don't make allowances of any kind. ( so I am told )

I have a friend who lived there for quite some time and in his words...........''there are only two crimes in Switzerland. One is being poor, the other is not being Swiss''

That is probably overstating things but you fall foul of both of those.

 

[andy_spacey]

I old man told me once if you think about or worrier about something to much you wont do it.
I have till the end of October so I will have plenty of time on it when in Switzerland.
Lets say it takes me a month to do(700-1000 miles) to get to Switzerland. That will be 17 may and at that point I will have 5 and a bit months so I will be ok.
So the risk is sensibly reduce

 

[oldfatfool]

Depending where you cross the border the odds are that even if it is manned they will just wave you straight through in anycase.

 

[andy_spacey]

And I will wave back with a big :-)

 

[andy_spacey]

A friend of my has just come back form Bilbao ( Spain ) and says its still snowing above 700m and cold Plus the lower areas are very wet. He said he seen some very wet cyclist. That will be me..lol..if my waterproofs fail.

 

[oldfatfool]

Two years ago we had a good foot of snow and blizzards over the Grimsel pass end of June start of July oh and two years before that snow in August on the Furka. If you are heading high always be prepared to bed in and prey.

The Grimsel in late June (road mid right disappearing into the cloud) taken from the Furka.

 

[andy_spacey]

That's what its all about, the view

 

[andy_spacey]

Two more sleeps and I am off on my tour, Been taking stuff out of my bikes, and telling my self i not really need it.( pic of bike before diet)
o

 

[Bodhbh]

Two more sleeps and I am off on my tour, Been taking stuff out of my bikes, and telling my self i not really need it.( pic of bike before diet)
o View attachment 8605

Your cockpit looks quite interesting, it deserves a photo in itself. What are those bars, butterfly bars + bar ends?