Shipping from London (UK) to Marseille (France)...or Tunisia - Horizons Unlimited

**Philippe - Hannibal** · #1 22 Aug 2005

Hi;

To save a few days (which is what I'm probably lacking most!), and before crossing the Med towards tunisia on a ferry, I'm looking to ship my bike on a crate to Marseille. That would avoid driving down there on monotonous Autoroutes.

From initial research, forget AIR cargo..., and my beemer just exceeds my carry on allowance. :-)

There must be logistic companies that have trucks going back and forth between London and Marseille. Any suggestions?

Alternatively, anyone with experience shipping directly to Tunis?

Cheers!

**beddhist** · #2 25 Aug 2005

You can put your bike on a train and sleep your way through France. Search HUBB for France and train.

**Oletimer** · #3 13 Sep 2005

Hi, there a lot of trucks that travel back to Europe with space to take your bike, try talking to transport companies or maybe forwarding agents. It might not be as costly as air freight. Either that or take a train.
Just a thought.

**POB/London** · #4 13 Sep 2005

Phillippe - you will be surprised at how quickly you can get to Marseille and how hassle-free it is! Just get a boat to Brittany (Cherbourg / St Malo) then ride down over the Rance, through Les Landes and cut across N of the Pyrenees. It took me less than a day! It was also a good chance to get into my "travelling" frame of mind and sort any small bike / luggage issues. Shipping bikes, even if it's just on a train, is always more hassle than just driving them, in my experience.

**Tim Cullis** · #5 13 Sep 2005

Try Railchoice, but make sure they know it's a bike.

Tim

**Matt595** · #6 14 Sep 2005

Hi

If you don't want to ride it, take tunnel or boat to Calais or Cherbourg, drive until central Paris where you find "Gare de Bercy" train station, every saturday evening a car train goes south until Marseille or even better Narbonne, not very expensive.
When you wake up you'll only have to take bike and drive to ferry in Sète/Marseille for Tunisia, the Sète ferry is more hassle free for many reasons.
You can book everything online http://www.voyages-sncf.com
Oh and be carefull in Paris, people are CRAZY!

Good luck,

Matt

[This message has been edited by Matt595 (edited 13 September 2005).]

**Simon D** · #7 18 Nov 2005

Hi guys,
I put my bike on the train last week from Nice to Paris since it was cold and raining about the time I hit southern France, and I was over it. It was 99 Euro for the bike and 106 for me in a 2nd class sleeper (well dirty bikers are 2nd class citizens?!) on a overnight train leaving Saturday. It was 83 if not an overnight train. They said it runs 3 times per week but I didn’t check when. If you don’t pick you’re your bike up at the other end on the day the train arrives then the storage fee is 15 per day. To find out info before you get to France you can call SNCF+ 33 (0) 892 35 35 35 / 39

Cheers

[This message has been edited by Simon D (edited 18 November 2005).]

**JonStobbs** · #8 18 Nov 2005

My uncle (R1200GS) has a holiday place outside Nice,and he goes on the overnight train all the way from the Tunnel,and i'm pretty sure,directly to Nice without changeover.Don't know about the price though.Personally i'd do as POB suggested.Night boat Portsmouth/St.Malo then keep off the autoroutes and use the N and D routes through to the south.It'll be a long day but is viable.

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Just going for a short ride on my bike....