Another refugee from BR

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yoyo

Senior Member
I'm glad I found this forum in a post on the BR site. So many familiar names and so similar to the previous forum. I don't post much but I am an avid reader of BR and CTC. I have just completed my first tour, rather wimpish by comparison to others, on the Danube. It did not even feel like exercise but my fitness is improving slowly. Will probably give up on BR, now that I have found this.

Thank you

Yoyo
 

alecstilleyedye

nothing in moderation
Moderator
welcome yoyo. not a bad place to hang out, this.
 

Shaun

Founder
Moderator
yoyo said:
I have just completed my first tour, rather wimpish by comparison to others, on the Danube.

So come on then, tell us about it :biggrin:

Oh, and welcome BTW xx(

Cheers,
Shaun
 

Keith Oates

Janner
Location
Penarth, Wales
Welcome Yoyo, it's good to see more people arriving and if you're into touring there are one or two others here that have done some as well and will no doubt like to compare notes with you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Aperitif said:
I'm sure this site has its ups and downs yoyo - which is why you will enjoy it...home from home!
Tour of the Danube? I bet you waltzed it! :biggrin:


<groan>

Yeah, welcome yoyo! Glad you've found your way 'home'...xx(
 
OP
OP
Y

yoyo

Senior Member
Thanks all for a warm welcome.

Doubt you need to hear about my tour as it was so simple and so unchallenging. My husband does not want to tour as he does not think a sore rear end is conducive to being on holiday! I went with my daughter on an organized tour by Hooked on Cycling. The cycling was simply amazing - all signposted, away from traffic, lightly travelled roads contained a few cars that passed very wide and very slowly. The scenery was also most pleasant but not spectacular (perhaps a walking holiday in July in the Graubunden, Switzerland reduced my sensitivies!) However, I would not do an organized tour again. The train journey from Munich, billed as taking 2 - 2.5 hours took five hours due to works on the line that we didn't know about and we couldn't understand what was being said. This caused me some anxiety. The bikes were supposed to be in perfect working order and fitted to us. However, we had huge difficulty finding the garage where we were supposed to hire them; the man was most unfriendly in spite of my efforts to speak very limited German and he was not interested in whether the saddle was at the correct height or not. WE cycled the first 20 miles with our gears making the most awful noise. My daughter didn't wish to make a fuss but I was not happy that the noise was good for the bikes. Fortunately, the manager of the hotel at the end of the first day had good English, was friendly and most helpful. He fixed our gears - mine for the rest of the trip and my daughter's for the next three days. The hotels was stayed in were very good but had I done it myself I would have avoided the impersonal large hotels in the cities of Linz and Vienna as they added unnecessary expense. For coming home the company had written my instructions for catching the bus from Vienna to Passau in German - more anxiety. I tried to contact the company on the ground who I was told by Hooked on Cycling would welcome any requests. This was anything but the case; they couldn't speak much English and I was none the wiser and none the less worried. I knew this was tight travelling in one day from Vienna to Munich for the plane home so I was on tenderhooks. We got the bus fine but understood nothing the driver said and he had no English. About twenty miles down the road he came off the motorway and took signs to Vienna on the side roads. We finally asked another passenger what was happening and we were told that he had not picked up four people and that he was going back for them. We were incredulous but nobody else was bothered. This detour took two and a half hours. On our way again we noticed that he was taking the scenic route rather than the direct motorway. There was an accident involving a road closure on one of the narrow roads, not to mention a poor boy being sick noisily at every bend - poor chap. WE arrived in Passau after 7 hours on the bus instead of 3 - 3.5hours. On arrival at the train station we were told that there were still works on the line and so there were replacement buses - more stress. We got to Munich airport with fifteen minutes to spare before checkout; this was instead of a pleasant journey with a stop off for lunch etc in Passau. Whilst I would follow the routes these companies say they do, I would never use any again. At least if I made my own travel arrangements I would stand a chance of getting them right and I would not be unnecessarily adding to my costs by staying in expensive hotels.
Hope this helps someone and that you are not bored to tears!

Yoyo
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Wow Yoyo, that's an adventure!

Sometimes, you have to have an experience like that to realise that you can go it alone and it would be better - although intimidating, especially in a foreign language. Sounds as if the cycling was lovely though, and that's the main thing.

Mind you, I'm a bit out of breath reading that monster paragraph! :biggrin:

I was lucky enough to have a perfect tour last summer, in France, courtesy of a couple of friends with a house over there. They'd been planning it for about a year - and 7 of us rode each day, while an 8th drove the car and trailer with luggage and as breakdown backup (needed when one guy broke an axle, and on the two days my knees gave up before the end and one day when two of us got heat rash badly). They'd booked us hotels each night - lovely simple cheapish hotels with good restaurants, and sussed out the best villages to stop in for cafe, dejeuner (le pique-nique sur l'herbe et sous les arbres) and cafe again dans le apres midi... I suppose it was a labour of love - a commercial company would probably charge a fortune, but they did the planning for nothing, and we just paid for hotels and food. Heaven. I'm hoping to go with them again next summer.... <dream>
 

Spoked Wheels

Legendary Member
Location
Bournemouth
yoyo said:
I'm glad I found this forum in a post on the BR site. So many familiar names and so similar to the previous forum. I don't post much but I am an avid reader of BR and CTC. I have just completed my first tour, rather wimpish by comparison to others, on the Danube. It did not even feel like exercise but my fitness is improving slowly. Will probably give up on BR, now that I have found this.

Thank you

Yoyo

Welcome Yoyo, I have not been to the BR site for a while now but I remember that it was no way as good as the old C+ forum. This one is not as good either, there is a lot of non cycle related c*r*a*p that makes it rather boring to read sometimes.:biggrin: - I hope you make the most of it.


Rick
 
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