Bike transport in the north west

[Deleted member 23692]

A few mates and I are looking to do a multi-day ride in Cheshire in early May, and we are struggling find a cost effective way to get us and the gear from Carlisle to Knutsford.

Does anyone know of any minibus firms in the North west that can tansport 7 of us (with bikes and paniers)?

Any gen would be grand

 

[martint235]

Is it possible to add a couple of days either end and ride it?

 

[Deleted member 23692]

Unfortunately not - getting the same time off togerther would be frowned upon by the bosses

 

[Flying Dodo]

Go by train, but split your tickets to buy them Carlisle to Manchester, and then Manchester to Knutsford, which gives a big saving on the cost of a straight through ticket. Northen Rail also offer a Duo ticket where the second person travels half price on their part of the network, which will give an even bigger saving.

The local trains probably won't be able to take all of you in one go, but it shouldn't be an issue to stagger the timings.

 

[toekneep]

I know www.sherpavan.com do that kind of thing for walkers on the coast to coast walk. I might be worth an e-mail to see if they would be interested or know of anyone who could do it.

 

[Deleted member 23692]

I know www.sherpavan.com do that kind of thing for walkers on the coast to coast walk. I might be worth an e-mail to see if they would be interested or know of anyone who could do it.

Great idea - thanks

 

[Andrew Br]

Train to Manchester (maybe splitting tickets* at Preston) and then ride to Knutsford ?
The ride is only ~15 miles and, once you're out of the city, it's quite a nice route.
I'm sure some of the CC MCR massive could arrange to meet you at the station and act as guides.

*If you're not sure what "splitting tickets" means then just ask .

.

 

[Deleted member 23692]

Cheers for the suggestions but trains aren't an option.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

One way van hire + 1 car (or you could try for a minibus if you can get one) and drive yourself. Seriously. Carlisle to Manchester Airport should not be a problem...

 

[400bhp]

Bit confused here. You only need transport one way? Are you heading back to Knutsford?

If you need it two ways then you can leave a car or two at mine? I could stick 3 bikes on my trailer and get you from my house up to Knutsford (about 8 miles away, fairly quiet so 20 mins).

Clearly a lift from mine is dependent on me not having any commitments. The other thing you could do is leave cars at mine then get the train from Navigation Road (1.5 miles from my house) to Knutsford. About 15 mins by train. Or you could cycle there from mine?

You could leave a car in the train car park at Knutsford station or one of the other car parks in the centre. It's a good area and there are some roads near the centre you should have no problem leaving a car for a few days. If you need a link to quiet car parking places let me know.

 

[Deleted member 23692]

Whoops plum forgot about this thread

Thanks for offers of help the help and ideas

Anyway. the problem is sorted - We'll end up taking two cars, after discovering a secure long-term caravan storage company who's offered to let us park in their compound and only want a pittance for doing so. Best of all they are on NCN 70, and just a few miles from where we'd planned to start the ride form. Result!!

It means we've had to re-jig days 1 and 4, but all being well we'll be down in Cheshire this Friday. I'm looking forward to revisiting the area I used to work in around a decade ago

Here's the planned route if anyone is interested - http://ridewithgps.com/routes/4527096 (individual day routes in my profile)