Where would you open a campground for cyclists?

[friedel]

Hello everyone,

Long time, no talk. We've been on the road in remote places, thinking of you all but not really much internet access to actually drop in and say hello.

All the time on the road has given us food for thought for what comes next after our tour and one thought we have is to open a campground just for cyclists, rather like the Biker Camp in Budapest if anyone is familiar with that.

So, anyone have good ideas for where this might be feasible? London would be great but buying a house with a garden big enough to allow several tents is just not in our budget. We are willing to consider anywhere in the world.... rural or city.

The main requirement is a reasonably steady flow of cyclists and also motorbikers who would be looking for a campground to pitch up a tent for the night. Having an off season is no bad thing either as we'd be quite happy to shut up shop for a few months each year and go pedalling ourselves.

So far we have toyed with the idea of Montreal and somewhere in NZ but I am sure you all could come up with plenty of other ideas. Somewhere in Britain on a well trodden bike path but with semi-affordable housing costs would probably really tweak the interest of Andrew, who is dearly missing the UK pubs.

 

[summerdays]

Never having toured yet (I want to someday) I can't offer much help ... but what about the intersection of 2 routes such as Jogle and C2C? But having stayed at a campsite in Ireland which had plenty of cycle tourists - having a common room (with no TV), drying facilities and kitchen etc would look to be a good idea.

 

[domtyler]

Probably somewhere with lots of downhills but relatively few uphills, lots of tailwinds, but relatively few headwinds.

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

it would be cool to have an onsite workshop and mechanic as well

 

[summerdays]

And a few spares too....

 

[ColinJ]

Wow - sounds like you two are having a great adventure!

As for buying somewhere close to cycle routes with pubs handy - how about the South Pennines area of the UK? That includes the area of West Yorkshire that I live in. There is plenty of good road cycling in this area. Apart from West Yorkshire itself, there is the Peak District to the South, the Yorkshire Dales to the North and the Forest of Bowland to the North-West of here.

The West Yorkshire Cycle Route passes through my home town of Hebden Bridge. The WYCR is about 145 miles long which is too much for most people to handle in one day so a convenient rest stop would be a great idea.

The Pennine Way passes nearby. so there would be a constant stream of walkers looking for accomodation. Ditto, the Pennine Bridleway for mountain bikers and horse riders.

The Mary Towneley loop is another big local off-road attraction - nice write-up here. Again, that is a bit much for most people to do in one day so a rest-stop halfway round would be great.

There are a couple of other long distance cycle routes passing locally.

The town is halfway between Manchester and Leeds so nightlife isn't too far away either.

Hebden Bridge in the South Pennines

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

and free beer

 

[ComedyPilot]

Try Bavaria, nice and scenic in summer with lots of quiet rural roads for touring/training. Then in the off season go skiing.

 

[jags]

ah it's got to be ireland

 

[Cathryn]

You'd need a laundry!! And somewhere for the Brits to make decent tea!

Hello Friedel - lovely to hear from you again. Lovely idea about the campground - how about being able to rent a caravan in case the cyclists aren't carrying camping gear?

Much as we'd love you to be in the UK so we can scab jobs, I'd say somewhere in Austria, Switzerland or Germany simply because so many people cycle tour over there. If you were fixed in the UK, come to Yorkshire and then i can come and work for you!!

 

[domtyler]

Free massage/hookers?

 

[Cathryn]

I like the idea of free massage and hook(er)s are always useful for wet waterproofs!! Good, constructive idea, Dom.

 

[Dayvo]

Good, constructive idea, Dom.

You seem surprised, Cathyrn!

 

[ASC1951]

Good, constructive idea, Dom.

You may scoff, madam. There was an outfit a couple of years ago who had the idea of a register of people willing to put up touring cyclists overnight in their homes. Even an innocent like me could tell that "Warm Showers" wasn't the brightest name for their website. I imagine their inbox was clogged up by urolagnics from all over the world.

 

[Cathryn]

Eugh.....