Wife's first tour

[vandatubes]

Hi
I am thinking of taking my wife on a 3 day short non camping tour and just wondering where?

Like the idea of France and the short crossing also the excitment.

Was looking at Caen via Brittany Ferries but too expensive (£116) crossing.

The terrain cant be too hard as it may put her off any future plans.

So over to you any ideas?
regards

 

[andym]

Erm if you don't want to pay for a ferry why not tour somewhere in the UK? Suffolk/Norfolk would be a perfect place for a short first -time tour. Or even, dare I say it, why not check out the thread on touring in Kent?

 

[Ivan Ardon]

How about:

Portsmouth -> Le Havre with LD lines. Plenty cheapness.

Then a jaunt over the Pont de Normandie to Honfleur (treat her to a meal at le Grenouille at the harbour) for an overnight stop, and then onwards towards Caen / Bayeux and back in a loop via the WW2 landing beaches over the next few days.

 

[Cathryn]

Just been to the Loire Valley with my parents on their first tour and it was spot on perfect. I suspect your wife will love this too. We took the ferry to Le Havre (LD) but it was more than £116.

I'm doing an online journal - should be complete within a week or so. It might help.Click on my signature and it's the journal called 'Once upon a time'.

Otherwise...the Champagne area? Some hills but nothing hard.

 

[ufkacbln]

This is not meant to sound negative, but lets assume that things don't work out?

My first "weekend tour" to introduce my wife was the Bristol - Bath Railway path!

We loaded bikes up on the FRiday and went by train, cycled to a Campsite (Newton St Loe) and then on the Saturday took a fully loaded leisurely route to Bristol and back, with a pub run in the evening.

There was no problem wit managing this and the confidence gained allowed us a longer weekend later on.

I would "underdo" rather than over and make sure there are "escape routes" if weather is bad or things are not going right.

A "themed" UK route with an accompanying train service would be my choice - many of the Sustrans routes make ideal starting ideas

 

[Dave Davenport]

How about the devon c-c, 106 miles mostly on ex.railway line trails etc. (we're doing it next week).

If you can cough for the ferry it's nice to go to one port and back from another, we've done St Malo - Caen & Caen - Cherbourg over a couple of days, easy riding and makes a nice change from the UK.

 

[summerdays]

I did the Devon C2C last year - and there are some big hills (well to me) in it, in the middle section - I did walk very small sections. I'm not sure I would choose it for someone wanting to avoid tough terrain. But it was very enjoyable despite the weather.

 

[jay clock]

Agreed, underdo it rather than overdo it. Norfolk would be a great place.

 

[JackE]

How about getting the Norfolk Line from Calais to Dunkirk and cycling from there to Bruges. Bruges is a wonderful city for cyclists and the canals in Belgium are brilliant for a first tour. The canal from there to Gent is a beautiful ride. Have a look at: www.gamber.net/cyclebel