April Credit Card Tour Suggestions

[GrumpyGregry]

Starting point: northern West Sussex, or anywhere else with a decent rail connection from SE England. Must not involve flying but could be undertaken on a Brompton. Could go forenz by ferry or tunnel.

Duration: 7 - 10 nights

Riders interests: Good beer, good wine, good food, industrial archaeology, Roman Britain, canals, preserved railways, scenery, especially mountains. Good art.

Ample cash to stay in B&Bs. Rider is used to 100km back to back days but thinks 60km a day a more easily attainable.

I may well find myself at a loose end in April. I may well need to be away from home for the second two weeks as we have the builders in.

Have a bike, have panniers, have a credit card and an extrex.

Where would you recommend I go if the stars align?

So far I'm thinking ride to West Wales to see Big Sis, ride to Mid Wales to see tlh's family, ride home.

 

[srw]

If you're not planning on coming on the Fridays' jaunt to the low countries (and why not?) steal the route. You won't get mountains but you will get just about everything else on the list.

Or just head south - Portsmouth - St Malo - keep going. You've probably got time to get to Bordeaux. For April I wouldn't fancy Wales because the risk of rain is too great.

 

[srw]

Incidentally, @GrumpyGregry and @Moderators I know we're a cultured lot in SCP, but I suspect a thread in the touring forum might get a wider range of responses.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Incidentally, @GrumpyGregry and @Moderators I know we're a cultured lot in SCP, but I suspect a thread in the touring forum might get a wider range of responses.

Good call. And whilst I value the opinions of m'learned friends in SCP not all are reknowned for bummelability. So, yes, dear @Moderators let's move it elsewhere,

I blame the Jacobsens at Kastrup, and posting at 11,000 metres.

As tot the Friday Tourette; a family thing is planned...

 

[Rapples]

Ah.... the family that swears together stays together, eh....

fark off you daffodil

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Meanwhile let's have some suggestions please....

 

[jay clock]

I know it completely ignores your request but I would do Spain or Portugal and fly! No Roman Britain but plenty of Roman Spain

 

[Rapples]

Riders interests: Good beer, good wine, good food, industrial archaeology, Roman Britain, canals, preserved railways, scenery, especially mountains. Good art.

Avoid Wales

 

[fimm]

Have you ever visited Hadrian's Wall and the associated Roman sites? If not, how about taking a train to Newcastle - have a day there to explore the museums, quayside, sights (not-as-New-as-it-once-was-Castle) and then follow the Wall west. That won't take you 7 - 10 days - I think from Carlisle I'd suggest you head south and east but that's an area I don't know about - heading back to the east coast rail line in, say, York.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Have you ever visited Hadrian's Wall and the associated Roman sites? If not, how about taking a train to Newcastle - have a day there to explore the museums, quayside, sights (not-as-New-as-it-once-was-Castle) and then follow the Wall west. That won't take you 7 - 10 days - I think from Carlisle I'd suggest you head south and east but that's an area I don't know about - heading back to the east coast rail line in, say, York.

Lolz. Typing this from the Vermont Hotel, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. About 50 yards from the less than new castle.

The Wall is a tidy idea. Carlisle and head east appeals then spend a few days exploring Co Durham... Tempting.

 

[tallliman]

^ you mean the castle that was so good they named it twice?

 

[steveindenmark]

Snowing like hell in Spain and South America.

Beautiful in Denmark this week.

 

[User169]

April to me says Belgium! You could base a tour around the spring classics and/or the Trappist monasteries.

There's good beer, good food, decent scenery, especially in the Ardennes, canals a plenty, art in Antwerp courtesy of PP Rubens and industrial archaeology at Blegny for example. You'd have to dash across to Aachen for your Roman fix and there aren't any mountains and as for wine - pah!

 

[Flying Dodo]

Take the folder on the Eurostar to Avignon. Cheap seats from £40 one-way - we're off there in June. Covers everything on your list. And if you want to get up front and personal with a mountain, Mont Ventoux is only 60km away. I'm sure you'd have fun zooming up that on your Brompton.

 

[mmmmartin]

Agree with @Flying Dodo - Avignon with a Brompton would be good on the train, the journey is great.

BUT The Fridays' tour - Dieppe (easy for you to get to), then night in Eu near Le Treport, then nights at Hesdin, Ypres, Bruges, Helevoetsluis, Bunnik, Zaandam near Amsterdam, then back down the coast to Hoek van Holland and the ferry to Harwich. We can tell you the hotels we used, provide tracks to follow, give you the coffee stops and places to eat, and suggest the Vrienden op de Fiets to stay in Netherlands, €20 per night B&B. Cycling in the Netherlands is a life-changing experience: you realise how crap the infrastructure is here, over there is is like cycling in a dream. Just drop me a line.