I'm new to road cycling and in fairness have not cycled for around 15-years and that was MTB. Around 17-years ago a friend and I decided to go on tour down to Provence, and we were put in touch with a coach operator who catered for cyclists. I think they were linked to the CTC and were based in the North East. It was a cracking little operation and very cheap considering and I just wondered if they are still around, and if not is there another operation similar?
If I remember the coach company had a regular pick up and drop off timetoble all the way down the A1 all the way to the South of France. We were collected in Leeds, bikes were loaded onto the trailer and off we went, making around 3 stops on the way to Dover. The downstairs of the coach was allocated seats and toilet and upstairs was bar and food etc. The craic was brilliant as all the bikers were good fun and all got on well, and many of us actually agreed to meet up if we were getting off in the same regions.
We got off near to Orange just off the motorway and off we went with our MTB's rigged up as tourers with paniers and racks, which wasn't the best use of a Kona in those days. We had the coach drivers mobile number and had booked to picked up from the same place in 10-days time and would keep in touch either way so that we all knew what was going on. Had a great time and some unusual cycling, like the time we were expecting a huge long, tough climb but due to the 'Mistral' were blown up the mountain and were hitting some serious speeds. We bumped into a few of the cyclists from our coach at a well known winery and think we all got hammered and most of us camped where we were rather than attempt to go on that day.
Anyway
If I remember the coach company had a regular pick up and drop off timetoble all the way down the A1 all the way to the South of France. We were collected in Leeds, bikes were loaded onto the trailer and off we went, making around 3 stops on the way to Dover. The downstairs of the coach was allocated seats and toilet and upstairs was bar and food etc. The craic was brilliant as all the bikers were good fun and all got on well, and many of us actually agreed to meet up if we were getting off in the same regions.
We got off near to Orange just off the motorway and off we went with our MTB's rigged up as tourers with paniers and racks, which wasn't the best use of a Kona in those days. We had the coach drivers mobile number and had booked to picked up from the same place in 10-days time and would keep in touch either way so that we all knew what was going on. Had a great time and some unusual cycling, like the time we were expecting a huge long, tough climb but due to the 'Mistral' were blown up the mountain and were hitting some serious speeds. We bumped into a few of the cyclists from our coach at a well known winery and think we all got hammered and most of us camped where we were rather than attempt to go on that day.
Anyway