Channel Tunnel
 

OK, it's silly question time. I find myself at a loose end in a couple of weeks and was considering a little trip through France, Belgium, Luxembourg and others. The tunnel is the cheapest so I was thinking of going through that way. Now, here's my question. What do I do with my bike once onto the train? Do I strap it down like on a ferry or does it just sit there on its side stand?
Jim

park it in gear and sit on it. or get off and sit on the floor. no strapping it down required.

Hi Jim,
I went last year and one of the assistants on the train told me that the carriage I was on didn't have suspensions (?) I don't know if it was a temporary inconvenience or maybe some carriages are just like this but I felt like I should have brought a tie down strap (although my tenere has a quite long side stand). I used a bungee strap instead.
Mind the ramps by the way, they are quite slippery when wet and you board the train from the side.
Have a nice trip.

Regards.

Chunnel
 

Just park up in gear as mentioned before. The tunnel is very close to me 1/2 hour away so i use it a fair bit. I have had the odd rough carriage where everyone sits around watching their bikes nervously as they rock about. I take a velcro strap to tie the front brake on as well for a bit of extra security, still ive not seen one fall over yet.:cool4:

Chunnel
 

P.S the dover/calais ferry is normally cheaper but admittedly not as quick and easy, and when you turn up at the tunnel have the credit card to hand you booked with for the auto check in.

eurotunnel
 

if you book the tunnel and say you are coming back next daybut dont use the return leg you can get it for £ 22 dont know if they do anything about not using return leg i was just looking to go on a ciggy run :thumbup1:

I use the tunnel quite regularly and generally the way to park is in gear on the side stand with the front wheel butted up into the curb inside the carriage. I then put the steering lock on and take a strap from the handle bars to the hand rail at the side of tha carriage. It helps to stabalise the bike and ensures it doesn't rock too much. If you are loaded with luggage this really helps so take a long a small webbing strap about 2 meters long and you'll be fine. Bon vogage - coming to Belgium - let me know and pop by for a coffee - I'm 15km south of Antwerp. :scooter:

I am surprised you dont all use the centre stand?

I might just take you up on that, i often visit friends there.. st job int goor.

maybe go for a chinese :)

I think if the train decelerates abuptly most bikes will come off the central stand

XTZs dont have central stands by the way

The reason I asked the question was, I thought there were wheel locks or something for your front wheel, then I read posts on forums about people watching their bikes shaking and stuff. If I go through the tunnel I'll just do whatever any other biker would do, and that's, do what everyone else around me does :) That plan has never let me down yet.
Gecko, thanks for the offer of coffee. If I'm in your area I'll give you a shout.

P.S watch for my next post " My bike fell over in the tunnel" :)
Jim

Funny... when I passed through the tunnel about 2 months ago now (seems like yesterday), they wouldn't let me strap it, and I had to insist that it would have gone down otherwise...

The chunnel is no fun though, compared to a ferry! 35 minutes.. it's more like a commute than a sea crossing adventure!

Chunnel:
 

I dont know what all the fuss is about, I just got back from a 3wk trip to the south of France and i used the tunnel each way without any trouble, the easiest and cheapest way to get to the continent, if you look out for the booking bargains on the web site and you not fussed bout the time you travel, i cant fault it, you check in get your loading letter and wait till your turn, you drive down to your train and drive on, but watch out when you cross over the ramp onto the train when its :rain: you can loose your front end if you not carefull as i saw this morning, poor chap dropped his R1 in the carriage :oops2: you park your bike in 1st gear on side stand and front wheel turned to the small kerb thing no strapping or chocking of wheels and you should be alright, my GSA was ok on board fully loaded two up. I had to hang on to it coz it was rocking abit in the carriage, also put a bungee cord from front disc to side stand if you are till worried bout your bike goin forward off its side stand.

The only prob is you dont get that rest that some of you might need after a long trek to Folkestone or Calais if you on the otherside. If you not tried it out an you want a quik crossing then go for it, if you prefer the sea air then take the :boat:.
Enjoy either way which you take and take care.

Roi. n Bron.

Looking forward to it Jim. :thumbup1:
As a "Chunnel virgin" you might need to know that there are no facilities on the train (except a toilet) so grab yourself something to eat and drink before you board and carry it on with you so you can use the half hour crossing to have a snack and be ready for the next stage of your trip. :scooter:

Anytime you're passing :thumbup1:

Chunnel
 

How were you going to get back? or were'nt you???

when you come back you just book a day return from calais to folkstone and back to calais cheap fare again :thumbup1: but like i said dont know if they like you to do this or if they can do anything about it anyway

Chunnel
 

They are wise to this, took a while, but from what i gather from those that have tried recently you get charged for a full price ticket on return.

Idle thought: What about if you use a different credit card for the return leg? Would that get around it?

it's the boat for me.
 

going back and forth france/wales regular and always take the ferry. tried the train twice and found it rather sad! nothing to do except worrying about the bike falling over:( . on the boat you can relax,eat and drink after your ride there so i find it better. think i seen something the other day though about the tunnel having special stands nowaday's to clamp the front wheel. if you book on line they all do great offers out of day time hours!

The last bank holiday we had i went on a trip to the south of france on my GS, altho i booked in advance i was told that due it it being a bike you didnt need too.

I was given a compartment all to myself ( I must of looked dodgy! ).

For parking i was told to put the bike on the side stand and have the wheel wedged into the step on the side.

Due to how quick this service is, and no need to pre book i will not be using ferries anymore.

Mike

Norfolkline ferry are competitive as well (Dover-Dunkerque) - £51 return last time I got a quote for the high season and it would be cheaper without a pillion (can't remember how much the passenger cost in that quote but there was an extra).

The cheapest I ever crossed the channel, with a car, was £4.50 one way in the depths of winter and from the continent to Dover AND a few years ago it has to be said; this was because the ferries will give any amount of discount out of season (but it is still cheaper to enter Britain than it is to leave because we are captive customers and we are used to paying over the odds for everything in the UK). I was living over there at the time.

Reference the credit card; don't use it - spend cash, you know it's best!

Chunnel:
 

You do get the bargains for day time travel, as me an g/f got a trip for £31, that was £19 going out between 10:00am.. 11:59am friday morning and £12 return 2wks later at the same time 10:00am.. 11:59am. After that the price went up by £20.
The bonus for us was we were there at 8:00am an was asked if you would like to be on the early train, so we were an hour an half early getting back to the U.K.

Roi. n Bron.

Price
 

Was this a pre booked price or did you just turn up? cheapest ive seen for a 2 week return pre booked was £72. I was talking to a guy on the french side a while back and he was charged £55 for a single back to blighty, 15.00hrs on a thurs, not what i'd call a high demand crossing slot. If it was a turn up and go i wont bother pre booking any more.:thumbup1:

Chunnel:
 

Just to let you know, yes it was pre-booked 3wks in advance, if you get a cheap early booking as we did and turn up early (on day of travel or return) there is the chance you may be asked if you would like to be on an earlier train than your booking slot, our train had 2 empty carriages behind us as me an the R1 guy were last on, he dropped his bike on the wet ramp onto the train. :oops2:

Roi. n Bron.

I've been doing a bit more research into Norfolkline and I now realise that their fare quoted here is "independant of the clock" - doesn't matter what time you want to sail (and they depart every two hours around the clock). This seems pretty competitive with the others, such as the chunnel, especially if you like a good nights sleep!! The pillion = £15, so you can cross the channel, solo, for £36 return.

latest price wise :-) Just booked a crossing leaving 4th Sept returning 27th Sept Newhaven to Dieppe for £57 :-)

Well that's it then... on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

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