Re: To the South of France on the train

D.M. Procida wrote:
Next August, we'd like to go to La Colle Sur Loup in the South of
France:

<http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=la+colle+sur+loup&sl
l=54.162434,-3.647461&sspn=20.524072,34.848633&ie=UTF8&ll=44.127028,5.96
0083&spn=3.130704,4.356079&z=8&iwloc=addr&om=1>

The nicest way would be with our bikes, on the train, all the way from
Cardiff.

Eurostar goes to Avignon, but then we'd have to change for services to
Nice and then something local. We'd also have to change in Paris or
Lille.

It would also be desirable to have the bikes looked after, so we don't
have to drag them around between trains, and also to book everything
from one point.

Not having attempted anything like this before, I'd be keen to know
how easy it is and practical with the bikes.

Other advice on bags and "man in seat51" is sound.

I travel to France fairly frequently, though without bike if going by train.

Change at Lille is easier than Paris if you've lots of luggage, worst is a
platform swap. Its a new station with lifts as well as escallators.
There are TGV's all the way to Nice, though have slowed down a fair bit once
on the south coast.
Think there will be some all the way from Lille, otherwise I'd suggest:
London-Lille, Lille-Lyon, Lyon-Nice (or similar, not all the fast trains to
the south go into Lyon, there is now a TGV "bypass").
Avignon TGV is in the middle of nowhere, outside the town, fine to change a
train, but not somewhere to wait a long time.



I find that unless your chosen destination is on one of Eurostar's direct
ticket options, its quite difficult to get optimally cheap tickets yourself.
This is because the windows for booking the tickets is so wide.
(Something like Eurostar 3 months, TGV 2 months. So for a two week trip, the
outbound Eurostar can be booked on day -90, the return Eurostar on day -84,
the outbound TGV on day -60, and the return TGV on day -46, by which time
all the cheap seats on the Eurostar and outbound TGV have gone !).

So, I find its a lot easier to use an agency to book the tickets and pay
their small fee. They are able to hold cheap seats from the day they become
available until the entire itenery is put together. I usually use
Ffestiniog Travel, I think the booking fee is either £5 or £10.



- Nigel

--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/


.

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