Interrail with Brompton trip

[robjh]

I bought a one-month Interrail ticket in the half-price sale last spring, and finally set off on the trip today. I'm currently on the train to Harwich.

I have a Brompton for all the non-train bits, and because I generally hate being without a bike. Here it is all packed and ready to go.

Not sure I've got the packing right yet, and the front looks particularly bulky as I have jacket and layers in there that I expect to be wearing at other times. I've been through the packing list again and there's nothing too profligate - the only luxuries are a sleeping bag (you never know), a European map book and a compact camera with a good zoom lens.

 

[All uphill]

I bought a one-month Interrail ticket in the half-price sale last spring, and finally set off on the trip today. I'm currently on the train to Harwich.

I have a Brompton for all the non-train bits, and because I generally hate being without a bike. Here it is all packed and ready to go.

View attachment 684202

Not sure I've got the packing right yet, and the front looks particularly bulky as I have jacket and layers in there that I expect to be wearing at other times. I've been through the packing list again and there's nothing too profligate - the only luxuries are a sleeping bag (you never know), a European map book and a compact camera with a good zoom lens.

This sounds brilliant!
Where do you plan on going?

 

[robjh]

This sounds brilliant!
Where do you plan on going?

I have too many ideas to get to all of them in a month, but the Alps, especially Switzerland, are my must-do destination. I have some plans for Italy and parts of E Europe too but it will depend on time and how long I want to linger in each place.

 

[robjh]

My first day consisted of cycling from Hook of Holland to Haarlem, a distance of about 90km, with a stop in the Hague for some brief sightseeing. The cycling infrastructure is breathtaking, but I still didn't find the route-finding that instinctive and am sure I meandered around a bit. I largely took the coastal path which runs through an extensive dune landscape, and was lucky to have a beautiful sunny day for it, though with a headwind. I finished by catching a train to Alkmaar where I had a hostel booked.
The Brompton is doing well so far, I'm quite pleased with the little beast!

 

[Llama]

Thanks for sharing your trip and photos, looks fantastic! enjoy!

 

[robjh]

The Brompton is performing its duties excellently and has been in hotel rooms, as hand luggage on trains and trams, and even in the bag storage area of a museum. All that and a great boon for exploring between trains (and some fully-packed rides too)

 

[Cathryn]

Is that ALL your luggage?

 

[robjh]

Is that ALL your luggage?

Yes, I thought I was taking too much

 

[robjh]

Had my first Brompton puncture today, on the back wheel. I was at the start of a 30km downhill ride (I had caught the train up), and a short way down the road I got the flat, while it was sleeting around me. Bugger this I thought, I need a video to remind me how to get that wheel off and don't fancy trying out here for the first time. Luckily however the road was following the railway so I walked down to the next station and caught the next train down.
I fixed it in the hostel corridor and made it to my next train with moments to spare. Something is still not right though, I have a knocking on downhills but will look again in the morning. Disaster averted.
For all that though, I'm loving this little bike.

At Arosa, before the puncture

At Scuol in the Engadine

Takeaway kebab in Karlsruhe

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Fantastic stuff.

 

[Rocky]

Rob - I'm loving the pictures and travelog. I'm also hugely jealous - although the Prof and I will be setting off up the North Sea Coastal route from Hoek in July on our Bromptons.....so not too long to wait.

Can I ask you what lock you are using? It looks just the job on the top tube.

 

[BurningLegs]

I dream of doing something like this with my five year old son when he’s older. Here’s hoping I don’t put him off riding by the time he’s old enough!

 

[robjh]

Rob - I'm loving the pictures and travelog. I'm also hugely jealous - although the Prof and I will be setting off up the North Sea Coastal route from Hoek in July on our Bromptons.....so not too long to wait.

Can I ask you what lock you are using? It looks just the job on the top tube.

It's an Abus Bordo Granit+ that cost £85 in Decathlon (and a bit more elsewhere). It feels as secure as these things can be but is unfortunately too short to give much flexibility for what you lock to - a D-lock would have been as good. I think you can buy longer ones but this already weighs 1.5kg.

 

[Cathryn]

I tried out a Brompton last January and haven’t really stopped thinking about it since! This thread is not helping! I need a Brompton!

 

[robjh]

The story of my day :

One thing about Bromptons is that almost everything on them is an unusual size.
I had a repeat of my puncture problem today, when the patch I'd put on the pinch puncture yesterday failed halfway down a long descent. Nothing for it, I needed a new inner tube (I have one, somewhere, at home but could I find it when I was packing?).
So, a long search in a skiing town for an open bike shop, and they don't have any 16" tubes. But they are helpful and ring around and find one in a town an hour's train ride away. Well, I have a train pass and it was another spectacular mountain route, so off I went. It ended up taking most of the day and I am now back in the (very pleasant) hostel where I started.

Oh, and now the rear is fixed, I realise that the increasing clicking is actually coming from the front, which needs a good hub service. I popped into another bike shop, they agreed with my analysis but said that would be a long job as the parts are non-standard. Anyway, we agreed that the wheel won't fail so I guess I'm stuck with the noise till I'm home.


This is about where I was when I got this morning's flat