FNRttC The Fridays tour 2014

[mmmmartin]

When we leave the ferry terminal at Ouistreham on Saturday 14th June you'll pedal south on this cycle path as far as the café at Pegasus Bridge.

the current thinking for the recceconscience is that we will ride on the cycle path into the centre of town and near the railway station. .this is so that on the return journey people will already knows the ride from the station back to the ferry.
gordon has put a lot of thought into how to get out of town going south

 

[mmmmartin]

also please note that the train tickets from bordeaux to caen can now be bought
See the "conversation"

 

[Andrew Br]

We've not finalised our return from Caen to MCR yet.
What are people doing on the Saturday after getting back to Caen ?
Anyone hanging around ?
I'm thinking
Of course we may be sick of each other by then, but I doubt it .


.

 

[wanda2010]

Well I'm certainly expecting to have enough time from train arrival to legging to the ferry, for a swift half or two and some grub.

 

[ianmac62]

We've not finalised our return from Caen to MCR yet.
What are people doing on the Saturday after getting back to Caen ?
Anyone hanging around ?
I'm thinking
Of course we may be sick of each other by then, but I doubt it .


.

mmmmartin and I will be waiting at Caen station until the last bike is collected. Then, assuming the bubble wrap has been successfully disposed, we'll be pedalling to Ouistreham and staying overnight at the Hotel Le Normandie. We may enjoy a Calvados or two during the evening. I'm catching the 0830 ferry from Ouistreham to Portsmouth on Sunday morning. mmmmartin has other plans.

 

[ianmac62]

Well I'm certainly expecting to have enough time from train arrival to legging to the ferry, for a swift half or two and some grub.

There are a selection of bars in Ouistreham within a few hundred metres of the ferry terminal. If you want to relive the 2013 Tour, one or two sell cidre fermier.

 

[mmmmartin]

We may certainly will enjoy a Calvados or two during the evening.

FTFY

 

[mmmmartin]

As I said in the"conversation",

It would be good for my peace of mind if others could confirm they have booked on the train. I suspect the lack of triumphant postings means this may not yet be the case.
So peeps, please confirm......

 

[StuartG]

Those that can't get a train booked could consider chasing this solitary three geared clown rider to the Med. It's cheaper from there.

 

[rvw]

I can indeed confirm that srw and I are booked on our trains: technically that's irrelevant as we're returning later and transporting the tandem in the big case, but at least you know we have got our act together!

 

[Ian at fleet]

What are the train timings/details please and it does the train only go as far as Caen? if so taxi back to the port?

 

[mmmmartin]

@Ian at fleet i have "invited" you to a "conversation" and all the train timing stuff is there, you should have an email about joining that conversation - plus an email alerting you to this post because I have "tagged" you in it.

 

[mmmmartin]

Sorry, to actually answer the question.... you and your luggage get the 5.30am train to arrive at Caen about noon and the van takes the bikes to Caen train station. You ride the bike with your luggage nine miles along a flat, traffic-free and segregated tarmac cycle path to the ferry. This means you need to be able to carry your luggage on the bike, but only on easy ground and not in traffic. So a rucksack would do the trick.
The van is hired from the Europcar office at Caen railway station, so when the bikes are out of the van we hand the van back.
How exactly I am going to get rid of 100 metres of bubble wrap one metre wide at Caen railway station I have no idea. Current thinking is to either just leave it in the back of the van and hope for the best or to prop it neatly against a lamppost and ride away. I fear I might finish up with it slung neatly over my shoulder as I ride off, dwarfed by bubblewrap.
Ian and I will remain at Caen railway station until all the bikes are collected so you need not worry about your bike being abandoned there. In fact, a "what if" session of planning led us to decide to stay that night in Caen because you never know what might happen.

 

[mmmmartin]

Minor update of no importance, but I thought you might like to know anyway.....

Today I have mostly been wearing a frown, as I calculate how many bikes will fit in a Renault Trafic Master van, which has a load area 1.58cm wide and 3.03cm long.
The answer, which I reached by dragging all my bikes out of the shed and messing about with them, and using geometry learnt in the mists of time, is 16 on the bottom layer. They fit with eight next to each other, facing the direction of travel, and it is possible to fit a second row behind, because the wheels should interlock with those of the front row by 80cms (if not we can take the wheels off). The plan is to put the steel frames here and if there are any carbon frames, they can sit horizontally across the top of the others. With 100 metres of bubblewrap and everything tied down with blue polypropylene rope, it should work a treat. So the number of bikes going north after the ride will fit into that van OK. If there is a late influx of riders then we can hire a Luton body van, as we did on LonJog, and I will build a wooden frame as we did then, on which 50 bikes will go in two levels. The wider Luton body allows the bikes to go sideways, which they won't do in a Trafic. So the decision on which van to book will be made just after the recce. The cost is more or less the same, but the smaller van is much easier for Ian to drive and park, and the motorway tolls are group 2 (rather than group 3 for the larger van).
The significance of all this is that we could take a few more riders. While I'm quite happy with the numbers we have now, and also think we're a pretty good group personality-wise, I reckon we could take a few more. (But not a lot more. Some of the villages we stop at for coffee would struggle to get us all feed and watered in a short time.)

 

[mmmmartin]

Well, you, obvs....

The Italy game is at 23.59 on Saturday, the night we are in Domfront: that might be past the bedtimes of some of us.....
The Uruguay game is at 9pm on the Thursday, when we are in Royan.