Family Tour

[Time Waster]

Just thought I'd start a family tour thread here so family cyclists can share information. I know from experience that choosing touring routes with a young child is a bit daunting if you're new to touring.

Our trips included firstly Scotland around Mull and Skye, child was 3 and in a child seat. This was a bit hilly and not all campsites were great with a young child. But we enjoyed it, even the two weeks of rain didn't bother our son. He could have a drink of water whenever he wanted by tilting his head back and opening his mouth. Which he loved doing even though rain went down his neck. Good trip but perhaps wasn't the best of ideas.

Second was Holland at 4 years. OK he'd just lost his stabilisers and we rewarded him with a new, 16" wheeled bike. He loved it and got very bike fit. BTW don't listen to advice that Holland is flat. For a 4 year old the dunes area north of IJmuiden does have steep hills for a young child. Our son doesn't take too kindly to being attached to my back wheel (the followme-tandems is worth being BTW even though it's more expensive than other kits). Holland is good for cyclists but there's a lot of them and they expect every other cyclist to ride like they do. Our 4 year old was new to riding solo. He didn't ride like everyone else shall we say. Conflict did happen. BTW on many cycle paths mopeds can and will be on them. They don't ride at cyclist speed and often you have to keep your child close to prevent issues (collision and angry British parents). IMHO a mixture of both parties fault if anything happens. Although without any doubt Holland should be every parent of a young child's first choice for their first cycling tour.

This year, child is 5, we're looking at France or Germany. Not sure so hoping others will continue this thread with their experiences of family cycle touring. Our options are fly to Germany and rent touring / trekking bikes. Drive to ferry port, securely park car and cycle onto ferry into France and two weeks ride from the French ferry port (possibly Brittany looks best option there).

So anyone else cycle tour with young children? What were your trips and what were they like? I'm sure a brief impression of your trip would help others.

Thank you for reading and hopefully posting.

 

[Sixmile]

We did a weeks holiday last year with our two (then 3 &5) in a Croozer trailer. If you're interested you can read about our trip here:

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/week-long-family-tour-4-countries.221692/

We've a few local overnight trips planned this year but no bigger one's planned with the kids this summer. I'm heading to Holland with friends for a 4 day cycle trip in June and hope to scope out the country to help plan and prepare to bring the family over possibly next year. They'll be too heavy and big for the trailer then so we'll probably just fly and rent bikes there. Maybe something like a weehoo each on mine and my wifes bike so the kids can help but won't be on their own as such.

 

[Time Waster]

We went from Newcastle to IJmuiden then over the river and up to the dune area to Den Helder and back. Our 4 year old son was not too keen on being attached to the followme-tandem so he rode free most of the trip. 30 miles I think was the most, perhaps a lot more if you factor in the shopping trips after pitching the tent or his near constant wish to ride his bike.

Depending on where you live I would seriously consider taking a ferry and ditching the car at the port. The journey starts from the UK port and you have your own gear.

The followme-tandem is a great piece of kit that doesn't interfere with your rear rack load. If you bring your qr skewer with you then you can switch between parent bikes rather easily too. Provided the adult bike wheels are the same size. Quick to mount and dismount the child's bike.

BTW the Newcastle to IJmuiden ferry has great food. The buffet is pricey but a great way to start your holiday. Good food for kids and great for adults. As much as you can eat.

The dunes have plenty of campsites at regular intervals provided you stay near the coast in the dune area. To the east of that peninsula you get a lot fewer campsites. We turned up at IJmuiden without maps, no Dutch language and no idea where to go. After a difficulty we got a map from a bookshop and were on our way. BTW English language among the Dutch isn't universal. In the north of the dune area we found a lot of German holiday makers and German language was more widely spoken as a second language than English. My partner is fluent in German so we got by.

 

[Time Waster]

BTW I was beginning to think nobody was interested.

I just thought a thread with experiences of cycle tours with children in different areas might encourage others to try cycle touring in rest of Europe with their family. There's a lot of threads about cycle touring without kids but I don't think there's much about meeting the different requirements touring with kids entails. It's not as simple as 70 miles a day I reckon.

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

I’d love to get touring with the wife and kids.

I just need to think how best to persuade my wife...

 

[Time Waster]

Do you do day rides with family? If you do that often then it might be easier than you think.

Try the base camp and cycle in loops from your accommodation then move on.

Or just try a local weekender. If they like it try a longer break. If there is doubt and resistance then look at the long term. Aim for touring next year or 2020 and use the time between as softening the family up to the idea.

At the end of the day proper touring where you move on each day is committed touring. If you're not a keen cyclist and camper (assuming you're camping) then you are bound to have doubts. Talk through what you expect you're day routine would be like. If the family knows what a tour is like and can get round the idea you'll probably end up with a family excited with the idea. If they like cycling together.

IMHO if your other half hasn't toured themselves then it's often the practical aspects of the holiday they're questioning. It's why I say talk through a typical day on tour. Work out a route with options should it not go to plan. Shorter recovery days and days where you stay in the same place for two nights. Basically plan your tour out and have answers to their questions. If they think you've got it covered then they might accept the idea more.

Fortunately I was the one who's never toured but I always wanted to. My Partner could see all the practical aspects of touring. Her concern was with our son being too young to ride for a long time. So we waited until he was 3. He was then OK in a child seat for an hour or so

Then our second trip he was on his own bike. That was our first overseas trip. At 3 we took him to Scotland with the car so we could bug out easier. We ended up doing a short trip and then drove to a series of new areas to base camp with day rides. And used the big family tent we'd brought at well as the touring tent. It was two weeks of rain though so understandable. We still had a very nice trip. Whetted our appetites so the next year was two weeks in Holland.

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

Do you do day rides with family? If you do that often then it might be easier than you think.

Try the base camp and cycle in loops from your accommodation then move on.

Or just try a local weekender. If they like it try a longer break. If there is doubt and resistance then look at the long term. Aim for touring next year or 2020 and use the time between as softening the family up to the idea.

At the end of the day proper touring where you move on each day is committed touring. If you're not a keen cyclist and camper (assuming you're camping) then you are bound to have doubts. Talk through what you expect you're day routine would be like. If the family knows what a tour is like and can get round the idea you'll probably end up with a family excited with the idea. If they like cycling together.

IMHO if your other half hasn't toured themselves then it's often the practical aspects of the holiday they're questioning. It's why I say talk through a typical day on tour. Work out a route with options should it not go to plan. Shorter recovery days and days where you stay in the same place for two nights. Basically plan your tour out and have answers to their questions. If they think you've got it covered then they might accept the idea more.

Fortunately I was the one who's never toured but I always wanted to. My Partner could see all the practical aspects of touring. Her concern was with our son being too young to ride for a long time. So we waited until he was 3. He was then OK in a child seat for an hour or so

Then our second trip he was on his own bike. That was our first overseas trip. At 3 we took him to Scotland with the car so we could bug out easier. We ended up doing a short trip and then drove to a series of new areas to base camp with day rides. And used the big family tent we'd brought at well as the touring tent. It was two weeks of rain though so understandable. We still had a very nice trip. Whetted our appetites so the next year was two weeks in Holland.

Thanks, some great tips. I’ll start work on an escalating plan. She’ll be fine with the base camp and loops idea. Then we can branch out from there.

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

In fact, we’ve already booked a holiday near Ashburton, Devon in the summer. If I persuade her to take the bikes (she has already tried to veto the idea though), then we can go from there. I’ll come up with a few loops and see what the possibilities are.

Mmmmmm....

 

[Time Waster]

You're halfway there if she agrees to the bikes on Devon. I mean there's some nice off road routes in Devon for cycling. I think we did part of the tarka trail and possibly another one.

One trail had a very, very nice cafe at what looked like an old station. Not sure if it was a station though their house had a back garden which they turned into an open air cafe. They prepared food in their kitchen and their cafe toilets were just inside their front door IIRC. Strange place to run a cafe but their cream tea was very nice. The garden was on a slope with a series of terraced seating areas. I'm sure someone here probably knows what cafe it is and which trail too.

Bike hire is on a lot of these trails including those weehoo trailer bikes for kids.

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

Looking up Tarka Trail now...

 

[Sixmile]

When I pitched our holiday idea to my wife she was fine with it but when it came to logistically thinking about it closer to the time, she had her doubts. I knew we'd be fine but it was the fear of the unknown for her. Most folk have never holidayed without a car and think they absolutely need one to do the simplest of tasks like go the shops or go to the beach. What helped with our planning was doing a relatively short (20x2 miles) overnight trip closer to home beforehand. That helped reassure my wife that such a trip wasn't only possible but was an adventure in itself, as to how we overcame issues before and along the way plus she seen how much the kids enjoyed themselves. It also helped us to pack even lighter too. I reckoned that to make the trip bearable for my wife, that the overnight stays needed to be warm and comfortable. Camping just wouldn't have cut it. Good café stops and well thought out routes and places of interest all help.

 

[Time Waster]

We're campers through and through. Both car camping, backpackers and cycle touring. A night in a tent is better than a night in a hotel IMHO. It does not need to be a tent neither. I'm perfectly happy dossing down under a tarp, in a cage and when necessary an empty cattle shed (one off, small shed in a field that was remarkably clean).

To try it with bikes carrying the load only needed a new tent (we each had our tiny tents or tarps but nothing to fit all of us together). Then it was about kitting the bikes out to carry the load. Then it was about reducing the weight for the second trip. Now we're kitted out and happy touring to a very, very loose plan.

 

[BrazingSaddles]

Just completed a tour in France. Elder son is 3.5yrs (his third tour), younger son is 7mo (his first!). We did two weeks west to east along the Loire, starting at Oudon where we left the car at the municipal campsite (ferry Portsmouth to Caen). We hoped to have made it as far as Orléans but we soon realised that we couldn't put the same miles in as we used to and keep the little folk happy. We're already contemplating next year's tour... But where to go?!
Thinking a follow me tandem will be necessary (we strapped his Isla bike to the luggage trailer so he could have a pedal).

 

[EcoFamilyTravel]

We're planning to see how much of the TPT we can do in a week with a 7 and 9 year old. We'll camp along the way if the weather isn't too bad. Any tips about doing the TPT with kids? We have done lots of trips by bike (don't own a car) but usually we go and stay somewhere and do day rides (or normal tourist stuff using bicycles as transport) from there, or do a tour moving on every few days. This will need us to move on almost every day so will be a new adventure.