How do I get my bike on a train from Narbonne to Valencia

[makepeace]

I am cycling the Canal Du Midi and getting the eurostar from London to Paris then across Paris and getting another train to Toulouse, then cycling to Narbonne, I then need to get a train from Narbonne to Velencia.
Can anyone give me advise how to do all of this. I have paid to take bikes on Eurostar so that I could travel with out bagging the bikes , I checked with Rail Europe and they said I dont need to bag bikes from Paris to Toulouse, but it seems I am having terrible difficulty getting bikes on the leg from Narbonne to Valencia, please can anyone give me some help ? I also would like directions by bike from the Gard De Nord to the other station in Paris where I get the train from to Toulouse ?
Thanks for any help

 

[andym]

OK, to start with the most straightforward option, ALSA (a subsidiary of National Express) have an overnight coach service that will take you from Narbonne to Valencia in just under 9 hours. It costs 70€. Unfortunately you will need a bag of some description.

As far as a train is concerned, there are two problems:

- while you can take bikes on local, regional and medium-distance services you can't take them - even in bags on long distance services (the only exception is the Trenhotel sleepers but you have to take the bike in a bag and occupy a whole compartment. that's the official policy at least - you can get away with taking a bike in a bag on a train, but you run the risk of a guard spotting you and stopping you getting on - or chucking you off;

- the RENFE website is useless when it comes to telling you which trains you can take a bike on; it only tells you the type of service (eg AVE, Talgo, EuroMed) and there are over a dozen different types.

If you can work out how to get to Barcelona on regional or medium-distance trains, there is a regional express form Barcelona to Zaragoza and from there there is a service whose number is prefixed by 'MD' which I'm fairly sure means Medium distance but in all honesty I'm not 100 percent certain.

As far as the second question is concerned - services to Toulouse run from Montparnasse, Gare du Lyon and Paris Austerlitz. they're all reasonably easy to get to, but if you want someone to give you directions you'll need to specify which station. Alternatively you could try the routes facility on ViaMichelin.com

 

[theloafer]

was given this bya friend ...not used yet but might be usefull to you .. http://www.seat61.com/