FNRttC The Fridays Tour 2016

[velovoice]

VV - get away from SE England and the UK is a lot less busy! I've done two tours this year in the UK, both with very light traffic (and with land transport only + beautfiul scenery): Cardiff to Holyhead and a lap of Ulster.

Scotland is great but for London-centric (or Tunbridge Wells-centric people) it is an awful long way away! For the west of Scotland it probably should be May, rather than September - although anyone seeing McShroom's pictures on Facebook will see he has really lucked out on the weather in the far north this month.

Yes, all that's true... for a solo cyclist or couple. For a group of 20? That's where my doubts lie.
(And God yes their trip looked fantastic! Retracing a lot of where Adam & I went last year. But that's *Scottish-land* which I have already said is a notable exception to my general cynicism about UK touring. )

 

[velovoice]

Lancaster to Berwick upon Tweed via Kielder is just under 500km and also goes abroad... just. http://ridewithgps.com/routes/10778063

I like the look of that. How about adding to the beginning by starting in Leeds or York? On the other hand, a lumpy 500k (300 miles) over 7-8 days would allow a leisurely pace, even a rest day or two.

 

[User482]

I like the look of that. How about adding to the beginning by starting in Leeds or York? On the other hand, a lumpy 500k (300 miles) over 7-8 days would allow a leisurely pace, even a rest day or two.

You could ride from York to Lancaster using the "Way of the Roses" but that does mean crossing the Pennines twice. I should caveat the route I posted by saying there are large sections of it I haven't ridden. But the section through Northumberland is gorgeous, with traffic levels as low as you'll find anywhere in England.

 

[StuAff]

+1

Moi aussi.

 

[StuAff]

You could ride from York to Lancaster using the "Way of the Roses" but that does mean crossing the Pennines twice. I should caveat the route I posted by saying there are large sections of it I haven't ridden. But the section through Northumberland is gorgeous, with traffic levels as low as you'll find anywhere in England.

Yorkshire......

 

[Andrew Br]

Yorkshire......

The best thing about Yorkshire is that it's next to Lancashire.
As ever, YMMV .

.

 

[StuAff]

The best thing about Yorkshire is that it's next to Lancashire.
As ever, YMMV .

.

White or red, they both come up roses for me

 

[StuAff]

Wine for me.

That too.

 

[jiberjaber]

Hoek - Cologne - Dunkirk is 611 km, according to Mrs. G. Oogle's pedestrian expertise...

Woud combine much of cycling in the Netherlands and a bit in France, has easy logistics and includes great destination (that got a also a bit shaken in the war, but thankfully, you guys left the most important thing standing)

Has this option seems to have drifted out of favor @mmmmartin ?? I love a good Kolsch (Fruh being an excellent example Adrian )

 

[mmmmartin]

@jiberjaber I refer m'learned friend to the point made earlier in this case:

• A late entrant is the idea of going to Europe (Hook/Dunkirk/Calais) and doing a circular route through new territory and back to the coast for a ferry home (Hook/Calais/Dunkirk).

 

[jiberjaber]

@jiberjaber I refer m'learned friend to the point made earlier in this case:

I blame tired eyes and Leffe

 

[StuAff]

Eurostar bike policy update: According to a PR guy quoted on the road.cc report (in an update) the Evoc and Scicon bags are OK for the allowed space (though someone should tell him they exceed the published allowed dimensions). The bike boxes they will supply from November are custom made and padded, not just cardboard. Internal dimensions 126 x 79 x 25 cm. In all other aspects operation will be as the current setup- you'll go to Euro Dispatch,same fee as now, but the bike gets dismantled and goes in the box, and you'll of course have to reassemble at the other end. This will increase the bike capacity, not reduce it, which is nice...

 

[Gordon P]

A late entrant

To put a bit of flesh on the bones, drawing on ideas upthread and trying to make it different to The Lowlands 2015 and to a future Dutch Tour:

Calais has more ferries than the others so start and finish there.
First head for Ghent, perhaps via Ypres again.
On to Maastricht - we'd have to decide whether to go via Antwerp or Brussels, or neither.
Then Aachen & Cologne and up the Rhine via Dusseldorf, Krefeld & Xanten (as suggested by @frank9755 )
West to Tilburg & Breda or to Turnhout
Then to Bruges either through Antwerp or to Middelburg & south via the Vlissingen ferry (a section from this year in reverse).
Back to Calais via Ostend & Dunkirk.

Here is one option sketched in with ridewithgps http://ridewithgps.com/users/417919/routes that skirts Brussels (via Grimbergen! although Heineken & Carlsberg brew the brand elsewhere these days) & returns through Turnhout & Antwerp.
Flat apart from a section around Aachen; 970km = 600 miles.
Will need a recce to find the best routes but can first take advice from @redfalo @swarm_catcher @frank9755 etc.

 

[StuAff]

To put a bit of flesh on the bones, drawing on ideas upthread and trying to make it different to The Lowlands 2015 and to a future Dutch Tour:

Calais has more ferries than the others so start and finish there.
First head for Ghent, perhaps via Ypres again.
On to Maastricht - we'd have to decide whether to go via Antwerp or Brussels, or neither.
Then Aachen & Cologne and up the Rhine via Dusseldorf, Krefeld & Xanten (as suggested by @frank9755 )
West to Tilburg & Breda or to Turnhout
Then to Bruges either through Antwerp or to Middelburg & south via the Vlissingen ferry (a section from this year in reverse).
Back to Calais via Ostend & Dunkirk.

Here is one option sketched in with ridewithgps http://ridewithgps.com/users/417919/routes that skirts Brussels (via Grimbergen! although Heineken & Carlsberg brew the brand elsewhere these days) & returns through Turnhout & Antwerp.
Flat apart from a section around Aachen; 970km = 600 miles.
Will need a recce to find the best routes but can first take advice from @redfalo @swarm_catcher @frank9755 etc.

Like the sound of that. Agree Calais is probably a better bet- if people miss one ferry, there'll be another one along in a minute. And we can avoid DFDS catering....Ghent is splendid, I know just the place for a cafe stop, Antwerp would be interesting, and I'm definitely a fan of Brussels. Might I suggest routing through Oudenaarde (nice little town if for nothing else, the Tour of Flanders museum- closed on the day I was there, sadly)?

 

[redfalo]

To put a bit of flesh on the bones, drawing on ideas upthread and trying to make it different to The Lowlands 2015 and to a future Dutch Tour:

Calais has more ferries than the others so start and finish there.
First head for Ghent, perhaps via Ypres again.
On to Maastricht - we'd have to decide whether to go via Antwerp or Brussels, or neither.
Then Aachen & Cologne and up the Rhine via Dusseldorf, Krefeld & Xanten (as suggested by @frank9755 )
West to Tilburg & Breda or to Turnhout
Then to Bruges either through Antwerp or to Middelburg & south via the Vlissingen ferry (a section from this year in reverse).
Back to Calais via Ostend & Dunkirk.

Here is one option sketched in with ridewithgps http://ridewithgps.com/users/417919/routes that skirts Brussels (via Grimbergen! although Heineken & Carlsberg brew the brand elsewhere these days) & returns through Turnhout & Antwerp.
Flat apart from a section around Aachen; 970km = 600 miles.
Will need a recce to find the best routes but can first take advice from @redfalo @swarm_catcher @frank9755 etc.

For my taste, that would be too much cycling in - sorry, @swarm_catcher, Belgium. I find the Belgian cycling infrastructure not too impressive. Why not start (or end) in Hoek? Basically something like this: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/H...cbed9e08cd279f4!2m2!1d1.858686!2d50.95129!3e2

It's also 250km shorter than the route suggested by Gordon.