Every time I take my bike on the train to Europe it does seem to get a bit easier, so for those of you who want to give it a try here's how we did it this year. To get the cheapest fares you need to cut the journey into bike-size chunks - like this
(i) Sheffield - London. Booked online via East Coast
(ii) London - Paris. Booked online with Eurostar, then you have to call baggage despatch and book the bikes on. £30 each way per bike which is a bit steep I think. When you get to the destination station you can collect the bike straight off the train if you're quick off the mark down to the baggage car.
(iii) Paris - Grenoble. Booked by phone with Rail Europe. This is on the TGV which takes about 3 hours - 356 miles. How come people don't want High Speed Rail in the UK? The downside is that SNCF will only let you book your bike on certain trains, generally either very early or very late - however these tend to be the cheaper trains as well. Olaf our friendly guard was quite surprised to learn that we had actually booked the bikes on the train, so it seems SNCF are still getting used to the idea.
But it wasn't all sweetness and light - my travelling companion took her bike back by train from Briancon to Grenoble, but was caught by a strike and got her bike on the replacement coach with difficulty. In fact I got back to Grenoble only about half an hour after her having cycled the 112kms.
Plus we took a little side-trip to Italy (without bikes) which was slightly marred by one of the Simplon tunnels being closed, although that did mean we got a stunning coach ride over the Simplon pass.
And the cost? About £250 return each, which might sound like a lot in these days of cheap airlines, but if you take bikes the extra charges soon add up and you don't have to leave your bike in the tender hands of the baggage handlers, so it's worth it if only for the stress-free experience.
(i) Sheffield - London. Booked online via East Coast
(ii) London - Paris. Booked online with Eurostar, then you have to call baggage despatch and book the bikes on. £30 each way per bike which is a bit steep I think. When you get to the destination station you can collect the bike straight off the train if you're quick off the mark down to the baggage car.
(iii) Paris - Grenoble. Booked by phone with Rail Europe. This is on the TGV which takes about 3 hours - 356 miles. How come people don't want High Speed Rail in the UK? The downside is that SNCF will only let you book your bike on certain trains, generally either very early or very late - however these tend to be the cheaper trains as well. Olaf our friendly guard was quite surprised to learn that we had actually booked the bikes on the train, so it seems SNCF are still getting used to the idea.
But it wasn't all sweetness and light - my travelling companion took her bike back by train from Briancon to Grenoble, but was caught by a strike and got her bike on the replacement coach with difficulty. In fact I got back to Grenoble only about half an hour after her having cycled the 112kms.
Plus we took a little side-trip to Italy (without bikes) which was slightly marred by one of the Simplon tunnels being closed, although that did mean we got a stunning coach ride over the Simplon pass.
And the cost? About £250 return each, which might sound like a lot in these days of cheap airlines, but if you take bikes the extra charges soon add up and you don't have to leave your bike in the tender hands of the baggage handlers, so it's worth it if only for the stress-free experience.
