Bumbling by Bus

As we know from living without a car for the last few years, bikes and public transport aren’t always a sweet mix. But, due to the implications of Brexit and the limitations (90 days out of every 180 days permitted in the Schengen area), we planned to use public transport to travel greater distances at speed as part of our trip.

Only travelling at 30 - 40 miles a day, our allowance in the Schengen area would quickly be used up in countries closer to the UK and where we are likely to have the opportunity to travel to again in the future. Our aim was to reach Norway and then spend as long as we can exploring the Fjords.

UK trains (Chelmsford to Bures)

Our past experience has been both good and bad in the UK, and it depends enormously on the company/provider. On the way towards Harwich we had an opportunity to shorten one of our days in the south east by using the rail network. Making this decision was made much easier by the fact that we were within the area covered by Greater Anglia and we had been impressed by their provision on previous trips.

Even before we got on the train, the station at Chelmsford (which we accessed along a very scenic National Cycle Way number 1) had loads of bike parking and somewhere to store your bike lock when not in use.

As we expected, purchasing a ticket was easy and bikes didn’t need to be booked on. Ticket and platform staff were extremely helpful and pointed us towards the relevant carriage with bike spaces. The first train was almost level boarding, but there was plenty of space for our loaded bikes to go on.

There was level boarding at the interchange station which made rolling off super easy. Our connecting train was there waiting on the other side of the platform so we could continue our journey without hassle and both passengers and train staff made sure we knew about the short platforms which could have made unloading the bikes difficult.

Overall, a great experience with Greater Anglia.

Ferry (from Harwich to Hoek van Holland)

Again, booking this Stena Line voyage was very easy and we added the bikes on as part of the online booking process. This isn’t always simple and as part of our planning I was looking at a route from Hull to Hoek van Holland with P&O Ferries. It turns out it’s not possible to book 2 bikes through their online booking system and you have to call them up to make the booking. Not a major issue but the added complexity meant we went with Stena Line instead.

We arrived to find a few other touring cyclists waiting for check in. As the cars queued in the various lanes, we waited at picnic tables, sharing stories of our travels. Joining the queue as a critical mass to the check in made it straightforward and we were directed (up a very steep flyover) to the boarding area.

Bikes were stowed in racks on the car deck and we tied them securely for the crossing. We made the mistake of taking ALL our luggage with us which was totally unnecessary but we were unsure about security. Other tourers left some of theirs and as the car deck is secure and locked during the crossing, this was probably most sensible. Lesson Learnt.

Generally good service and easy to use but would have preferred to avoid the very steep flyover over the motor traffic at boarding…

FlixBus (Rotterdam to Berlin, Berlin to Aalborg)

This, we had no experience of. We knew that we could book bikes on but had no more idea about the process, security, or even if our bikes would fit.

Waiting at Rotterdam Central Station, we arrived early and packed our luggage so that we had what we needed with us, what would be stowed under the coach, and everything off the bikes.

The bus driver helped us strap my bike on the back then, as there were only another few passengers, put Sam’s in the luggage compartment. Knowing that we had a 12 hour bus ride ahead, I was pretty apprehensive about my Coo being on the back. At the first stop we checked that everything was secure, which of course it was, and the driver laughed at our needless worry!

Arriving safely in Berlin, there was a four hour wait for our next connection. Again, the drivers were extremely helpful and got both bikes loaded on the back of the bus for the 10 hour journey to Aalborg.

Service by FlixBus was good, even with our larger touring bikes and luggage. The only issues about the coach were totally unrelated to bike travel…