NickWi
Guru
A bit of info for anyone touring in France and would like to let the train take the strain. It's Easy!
We've just come back from Brittany / Normandy with our tandem and on one particularly yucky day in a not very pretty area we wondered if we could 'cheat' and catch the train. It couldn't have been easier.
The ticket machine had an English option, accepted our card and the Station Manager told us to look for the bicycle symbol on the train. They even escorted us across the tracks because the Tandem was too large for the lift and to cumbersome for the stairs.
The train doors open at platform level so no big lift or step up and the doors are double, large & automatic so very easy to get the bike onboard. Once inside are six (I'll say that again SIX) hangers for bikes. With solos you'd hang them up by the front wheel, but with the tandem I had to prop it up and there are seats both opposite and next to the bike hangers.
The staff were helpful, the train clean tidy & comfortable (and on time) and nobody battered an eyelid that we wanted to take a fully loaded tandem on a train. What is best of all is that I'm not talking about a specially laid on train, an Intercity or tourist area special, just an ordinary rural three carriage SNCF train.
TGV's I gather are different and we didn't use any of these so I can't comment on them, but if you're planning on using 'local' services don't worry about it.
BritishRail (or whatever they’re called nowadays) could learn some valuable lessons for the sake of a simple cross channel trip.
We've just come back from Brittany / Normandy with our tandem and on one particularly yucky day in a not very pretty area we wondered if we could 'cheat' and catch the train. It couldn't have been easier.
The ticket machine had an English option, accepted our card and the Station Manager told us to look for the bicycle symbol on the train. They even escorted us across the tracks because the Tandem was too large for the lift and to cumbersome for the stairs.
The train doors open at platform level so no big lift or step up and the doors are double, large & automatic so very easy to get the bike onboard. Once inside are six (I'll say that again SIX) hangers for bikes. With solos you'd hang them up by the front wheel, but with the tandem I had to prop it up and there are seats both opposite and next to the bike hangers.
The staff were helpful, the train clean tidy & comfortable (and on time) and nobody battered an eyelid that we wanted to take a fully loaded tandem on a train. What is best of all is that I'm not talking about a specially laid on train, an Intercity or tourist area special, just an ordinary rural three carriage SNCF train.
TGV's I gather are different and we didn't use any of these so I can't comment on them, but if you're planning on using 'local' services don't worry about it.
BritishRail (or whatever they’re called nowadays) could learn some valuable lessons for the sake of a simple cross channel trip.
