Riding the Atlantic Coast

 

First we ditched the Pegasos and took to buying a motorbike abroad and next we sampled renting some.

Now we have ditched the motors, and are powering a tour ourselves.

There are various European spanning cycle routes, we have decided to do a chunk of EV1, hopefully it is a warm bit.

Eurovelo 1 starts in Norway, cuts through Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England, continuing in France at Roscoff and then down the Atlantic before crossing Spain and Portugal.

We will be starting from Okehampton, Devon, then getting the ferry to Roscoff from Plymouth. Once we get to Biaritz we will decide how and when we are coming home.

The hardest part has been organising the journey to Plymouth. 

We could have driven to my brothers in Devon and left the car there, but that would mean having to come back that way. Eire looks like a better option to us to return by.

The train *should* be an easy option. Until you start trying to work out how to do it. There is no direct route to Plymouth. Not all trains will allow bikes to be booked on, and the prices can be astronomical.

Using the split ticketing sites we worked out various posible routes, ruling out "advanced" prices because if you missed a connection the ticket would become void.

We decided to go via Wales, only £91 for the two of us and the bikes bookable from Chester to Newport.

Except once you buy the ticket, you can't reserve the bike spaces until 6 weeks before the train leaves! (Later explained that Network Rail only give them 6 weeks notice of works that may require connection buses).

We have added racks to the bikes, bar bags, frame bags and done a fully loaded test ride. Now we just need to cycle to Newton-Le-Willows on the 12th May and cram them onto the commuter train to Chester. Would could possibly go wrong? Apart from train strikes, so will now be leaving on the 11th, a night in an hotel near Chester (points so no cost) and a short ride to get the 1st leg underway the next day.