Fridays Tour 2013?

[Flying Dodo]

I'd suggest a multi-stage tour, loosely based on going up the east coast (so sticking with the Coast part of FNRttC). Pick a few towns as bases. Plan rides out. Use trains to link up the sections.

 

[ceepeebee]

my instant reaction is..............not a chance - but that's silly because I only know the big cities. Your further thoughts?

it was a slight throwaway comment due to my hillophobia, but..... The LF1 out of Hoek northwards is some of the most.... pleasant riding I've ever done. Lots of cake and coffee opportunities and a nice big wide traffic-free cycle path. It takes big parties as when Mark and I did our three day tour last year we shadowed a party of 50+ all the way along day 1 to Heemskerk. And it's not just dunes along there either - you go through some cracking woodland, pretty seaside towns and some excellent ferries.

Obviously plenty of recon would be needed, especially as some bits can be dull, but as DP says - there are hilly bits round the way, and a cheaper ferry crossing to Dunkirk would give you an opportunity to ride northwards through classics country (with the prevailing wind at your back).

Also - the thought of a bunch of Fridays chain-ganging across one of the massive dykes is v v pleasing - or riding across somewhere as lovely as Texel.

I've got a 2 dayer coming up at the end of September (with a beer festival as destination) which I am so looking forward to.

 

[thom]

I have to say, I think if you manage to get a trip further south into french countryside, the experience is exceedingly different.
Reliable sun, quiet roads, spectacular scenery, fantastic food etc.
Find a suitable base point and rent a few gites - accomodation can be very reasonable when split between a few people.

 

[ceepeebee]

I have to say, I think if you manage to get a trip further south into french countryside, the experience is exceedingly different.
Reliable sun, quiet roads, spectacular scenery, fantastic food etc.
Find a suitable base point and rent a few gites - accomodation can be very reasonable when split between a few people.

the little cycling I've done in France (in Picardy) would back that up - such lovely roads (til I strayed onto a surprisingly busy section that felt like a ploughed field and I actually screamed a little when the shockwave from the artic thundering past me hit...)

And Gites is a v v good idea for housing a bunch of folks, prices are excellent when split - a bunch of friends used to do a 14 person one for a week every year and it'd be about 60 quid per head.

 

[Davywalnuts]

Am actually in with Stu on this, Tour Du Cymru would be great, not only for logistics and convenience, but also landscape. And you can get there and around and back in about the Same time as the LonJog, which would save a lot of issues of how to get back.

As much I would love to go abroad, one of the issues that us mere mortals don't have to deal with is the reccie'ing and nitty gritty logistics side that out illustrious leader does and does superbly.

Ireland, I would love to one year soon, but for me, Ireland would be a month out on the road, not a week/10days. And like wise with abroad, the longer away on the road, the better.

And, as they say, KISS.. or Keep It Simple Stupid.. (no offence intended to anyone here)

 

[dellzeqq]

On the subject of the whole west/east thing....you seem to have completely and unfairly overlooked Wales.

Trust me. I could never overlook Wales.

 

[Butterfly]

I like the East coast idea. There are lots of nice places to ride, it's cheap to get back from or bail if necessary and clarion wouldn't have to sort out his passport.

 

[wanda2010]

 

[mmmmartin]

Six pages already and we haven't even decided where to go. Ulp.
I'm still for a big house between lots of us, and I'm still on for Goole, assuming there is a big house for rent near there.

 

[wanda2010]

Plenty of time for research/arguments/proposals/presentations before the agreed date to be released. In the meantime, I'll be trialling the 'travelling light' option

 

[theclaud]

I'm persuadable, mind...

A revealingly Welsh turn of phrase. I think DZ is being unconsciously drawn to a tour of the Gwaun Valley. A sort of cathartic thing, a la Stu.

 

[dellzeqq]

A revealingly Welsh turn of phrase. I think DZ is being unconsciously drawn to a tour of the Gwaun Valley. A sort of cathartic thing, a la Stu.

yeah, right. I'd need one of these to shake those memories

 

[mmmmartin]

I have thought carefully before posting this, and although Wine Has Been Taken, I think, after due consideration, that I do not really care where The Tour 2013 is going, if you lot are going there, then, after LonJog, so am I, wherever it is.

 

[User10119]

Whereas I can almost guarantee that I won't be joining you, because Real Life makes is utterly infeasible - although managing by absolute fluke to join in for a few short miles of this year's silliness was an absolute joy. However, I'll repeat this year's offer if you do end up in or around York. Crash space, washing machines, macc+cheese and cake. These things can be arranged.

Plus if you don't need mainline stations and access back to That LonDon I can recommend a few mighty fine routes for riding through the night to the seaside up here. To Scarborough, where the 'spoons opens for breakfast at 8am and the trains run right back to York. Or head for 3amses at Scotch Corner, followed by the climbs up Kildale and Commondale and onwards to Saltburn (then Redcar for brekkie and a station, but you can't have everything). Over the hills to Whitby, Arbut's cafe at 6am for breakfast with the fishermen then a steam train (sorry Mice, but it is Really Cool) to Pickering and a 30 mile mostly flat, honest, ish, bimble back to base....

 

[mmmmartin]

Sounds very much like it to me. Although some of my employer's time spent perusing the English Country Cottages website failed to come up with anything near Goole.