Ventoux Cycle: London to the South of France by High Speed Train with bike

And so it was that I arranged to go to Mt Ventoux at the beginning of my UK trip in August 2013.  I touched down at London Heathrow Airport from Hong Kong at 0540. My bike case appeared at the baggage claim quite quickly.  It is quite a large soft shell bike case, about 1.3m long and a metre high, but it does its job to protect my moderately valuable bike.  The case weighs 10 Kgs empty; and around 25 Kgs with bike and equipment, including all my other luggage packed around it, so it acts as my suitcase as well. I had booked a bigger taxi to take me and bike case the 10 miles or so from Heathrow to my ex wife's parents' house (we can call this my forward base).  There I would do the re-assembly and prepare for the trip to France, leaving the case and some other stuff in my lovely in-laws garage (my in-laws are lovely, not the garage).

After re-assembly I did a quick circuit of 10 Kms through Shepperton, and back along the River Thames past Shepperton Lock, a short and pretty ride, to check all was working well.  

Picture: The River Thames just upriver from Shepperton Lock

After spending some pleasant time with my in-laws, I caught the local train from Shepperton to London with the bike, and then cycled across Central London from Waterloo to St Pancras.  I am amazed how easy and pleasant it was to cycle in London, especially if you can stay on the side streets, and how short the distances are between places in the Central Area.  My journey was just 5 kms.  And what I also noticed was how many cyclists there were on the streets....there seem to be quite a few signposted cycle routes and bike lanes....London is definitely a cycling city!

To guarantee I got my bike on the Eurostar high speed train to France, I decided to book it in advance and pay £30 to drop it off at the 'Euro Despatch' at the back of the station. On the first leg of the journey through the Channel Tunnel to Lille in Northern France, it must travel in the luggage van. The staff were pretty helpful with providing some cardboard, as I had only brought a soft cycling bag to put the bike in.  I could have left the bike fully assembled for this part, but I had a connection at Lille on to the High Speed TGV to Avignon.  TGV is short for 'Train de Grande Vitesse' in French meaning 'Train of great speed', and they certainly are (300 Kms per hour!).   On the TGV you can carry your bike on the train with you if it is packed in a bag and measures less than 1.2m in length.  This means taking off the wheels and stowing them separately in the bag.  In Lille, I had to be quick off the Eurostar train to go to the luggage van to be handed my bike before the train departed.

So there I was in Lille after a 1.5 hour journey, with less than an hour to wait for my next train, which was a double decker train with plenty of space for my bike bag in the luggage stowage at the end of my carriage.  We departed from Lille for Avignon, stopping at Charles de Gaulle Airport, and after spending a few hours speeding through the french countryside at the said 300+ kilometres per hour, we pulled in to the special TGV Station at Avignon at 10:45 pm French time.  Just 5 hours and 45 minutes from London, and nearly in the South of France, so easy!  I carried my bike the 10 minute walk to the Adagio Access hotel just up the road from the TGV station, and using the access code I had been emailed, let myself into the hotel and found my key in the deposit box, and hey presto, I had arrived.  Not really that tired either, but very excited about the next few days cycling, not knowing quite what to expect.