Tim Sanders holds the accolade of being one of only two people to have attended every single Cycle Touring Festival since the event first appeared on the calendar in 2015. During this year’s event in Clitheroe he spoke to The Cycling Europe Podcast not only about the joys of the festival but also about a recent cycling journey that took him from the Istrian Peninsula on the Adriatic coast along the Parenzana Trail to Trieste and onwards over the Alps to Munich in southern Germany.
[Music] welcome to episode 76 of the cycling New York podcast my name is Andrew Sykes and about a month ago it was the cycle touring Festival so for a short weekend headed over to clithero in laner and again it was a another interesting weekend of people talking about where they’ve been on their bike talking about their experiences giving advice Etc and one of the people who was giving a talk this year was Tim Sanders Tim has been to every single touring Festival since it started in 2015 and he was given a talk about cycling on the istrian peninsula and then into Italy and up to Munich in southern Germany and on the Sunday afternoon had to chat with him about his [Music] experiences okay so I’m Tim Sanders I’m 56 I work as an engineer in the southwest of the country yeah any any more than that is that it okay but you you haven’t mentioned one thing the one thing you haven’t mentioned is that you’re the apart from Tim and Laura who actually organize it you are the I think one of only two people to have attended every single cycle touring Festival in person event and probably online as well since it was I think that might be correct since it was first one in 201 2015 yeah I I happened I was planning a trip in late 2014 early 2015 and I was looking along I was looking online and then I suddenly saw this this website actually no it was a psycle touring Club forum and saw reference to this this Festival I thought oh that’s F fantastic right instantly I bked and then I told a friend of mine about it who lives up up the road in in Summerton and very quickly he booked too very spontaneously so he came to the first one there were various people I’d heard of online like Heen Lloyd to Tim and Laura so it was a good chance to pick up tips get some ideas and several trips I have done have been inspired by things I’ve I’ve learned here like the Eur ell um the chili trip I did in 2019 that was following a talk that I saw in 2019 earlier so it’s very inspirational yeah and he’s also chuing it down but will persist with the rain um I can’t I was just thinking that I can’t remember how I first heard about it cuz I couldn’t come to the first one because I was traveling from Spain to Norway on my bike it was that it was that summer or that spring if May of 2015 and I don’t know whether I’d heard about it at the time or not um it must have I must have stumbled upon it somehow I suspect it’s a sort of thing that once it happened word got out and I think Lor said last night that there were 150 on the first session whereas subsequent years pre pandemic um it was several hundred I I think we probably I guess we’re talking 250ish I don’t think we got to 300 um so word clearly got out and and and and many PE there are many people who’ have come year after year fewer fewer in the last couple years but the last two years which have the last two years sessions have been have been Gatherings rather than festivals um it was a more limited limited Affair um but then the last three years we’ve had an online Festival which is great in so far as that people from outside of the UK can come um it’s it’s a long way to come from Summit to get to clithero but a worthwhile trip I was surprised when she asked yesterday morning to put for people to put their hands up that who hadn’t been before who were here for the first time it was still a good number of people doing it for the first time and I think that’s great because the there are many that have come for the first time have been talking to who’ve done plenty of cycle touring before others who haven’t done it but really think it might be quite fun to do and it it work it it’s festival for all people at at all levels and I I’m I’m sure there will be people here that have done some pretty spe spectacular stuff they still think oh that that’s a good idea well yeah I mean the the the Great and the good of the cycle touring world have been you know apart from perhaps apart from Tim Moore Tim Mo has never been as it yeah um I mean like like like Tom Allen who’s overseas now um there haen Lloyd who’s done some quite spectacular things um Steven F yes yes I mean I I also thinking of say last night we had a procession of bikes where people that volunteered could bring their bikes in into the like a catwalk it was called the catwalk wasn’t it um and you saw some great examples of different bike and no no one bike was the same with touring bikes people are very particular to make it work for them either size-wise or fitting on racks um now with ebikes it’s meaning that when you get to a certain age you can continue doing it yeah it is a very inclusive thing there’s no there’s no hierarchy I don’t feel when I come to these things and and the fun the fun on Friday was well I hadn’t had a chance to eat I came with a sandwich made it from Subway um I just sat down in in the in the Marquee that we’ve got and was quickly joined by other people never met had a ABS great time and it it was good you know they they they had stuff to bring and um they were also Keen to hear what would be said over the weekend yeah I I delayed my departure cuz I’ve got a terrible cold hence the cough um but yeah I arrived yesterday morning and uh hopefully I’m I’m recovering but um did you think when you came to that first one back in 2015 that how many years later is this eight years later yeah eight years later you’d actually be delivering one of the talks I think I had no expectations about what it might be I mean as I said i’ I’d heard of various people who were who were attending I did do one of the online talks in August 2021 about the Chile trip um yeah I I didn’t I didn’t I wasn’t sure I’d ever be speaking but well you know there are so many different stories that can be told and I suspect there’s many more great stories that we didn’t hear from maybe next year we’ll hear from them well the the question mark about the festival is the fact that uh it is held at a girl guide Center called W Hall which is where we are now and the girl guide Association are actually closing they selling this establishment so there’s a question mark as to whether it will still be here next year or whether Tim and Laura U Move it elsewhere so uh I hope they do because uh my life would be a little bit emptier if if it didn’t take place well you see having been to this Festival so many times and and there are I was surprised how few had been to every session but I think that and the inclusivity that you mentioned is a good point but there are so many people that come year after year and many that come that are new and what I’ve noticed is that people don’t only talk to the people that they know well and it can be very easy to see so and so you’ve not seen in for a year um I think people do people here do look out for people that are unknown I mean part of the problem is you you might not know the people unknown because there’s all these all of your life has been happening the last year and you might have just forgotten the odd face but we put name bges on we get talking to each other yeah I I think it’s still an excellent festival and all credit to Tim and Laura for you know because it must be a hell hell of a lot of work especially because they’ve got a young family now they’ve created Yeah well yeah but I I do I do kind of miss that prepandemic um Festival in that or festivals in that it took place in May the weather was a bit nicer yeah there was a bit more Buzz about it but like you say it’s it’s more of a it is now referred to as a gathering rather than a festival it’s a very different one in the pre- pandemic the festivals were as you say held at W Hall and we were using the W Hall building which had a a main a big main room that we could all get in and several side class rooms and several other buildings such as Ribble log where could hold smaller gatherings I think it must have been a nightmare for Lauren Tim to decide okay that Talk’s going in that room because you have to guess okay that room takes 50 people the main hall takes 100 several hundred people um so it so you could have several sessions happening concurrently whereas now it’s largely event um talks happening con consecutively and in inevitably in the pre-pandemic ones you could find yourself oh no there’s two things I want to I want there’s two different things I want to be on at the same time so you just have to choose yeah um but going back to when it’s cited yeah the weather is much better at may but may is also edging into the psych touring season in northern hemisphere I mean I would say that winter is the traditional cycle tour planning season and yeah it’s a difficult one um some psych tourists are higher than others and yes it’s been quite wet this weekend and it is not looking that optimistic for taking the tents down later um so I I’m expecting to have a a wet tent to dry off over the week yeah yeah I mean I am I am I’m being very picky there in terms of my comments because I think it still is an excellent event and it does make sense I suppose to have it at this time of the year cuz people have been on there you know a lot a lot of people have been on their trips they’ve got more to reflect on and then they’re beginning to perhaps have a few ideas for the following year um so it is a good forum to come to to to to hear what possibilities and then to spend several months thinking about them and procrastinating over planning before you eventually make a decision I don’t know in February March April time of next year yeah and the in-person aspect is lovely I I I I do totally get that having the online f for has meant that many po many more people could could see the talks but in person you see the bikes you see the people then you see at coffe oh I’ve got another question for you and it’s it’s very it’s it’s a very easy place to be here you hear you hear lots of Stories the the most of the stories inevitably involve some hardship of you know we heard about the pame highway yesterday um there was hardship involved there with with Immigration and Customs and transportation and the road surface and um you do hear stories of the type one fun or the type two fun type one fun being stuff that’s fun at the time type two fun stuff being you may well be questioning why you’re doing this and why you are there at the time but when you look back on it you did enjoy it that’s type too fun bit like teaching yeah I tried that once uh back in 24 2004 and 2005 um yes I I can relate to that right if I cough through this my apologies but you gave your talk uh about cycling two routs in uh Croatia Slovenia and Italy and Germany yeah and Austria and Austria um right but you you ended up and you’re going to talk talk about that now but you ended up actually doing a different route or a different order of of of what you plan to do just talk about what happened when after you’d planned your your trip so so la last Festival Gathering Rob anley gave a talk called ostra is flat it was amusing um talk and that’s Rob en in the person who provides the music for this podcast and who I told last night that I apologized to him foret forgetting to give him credit on every episode of the podcast so can I can I squeeze that in now the music is credit to brt Hensler who and it’s very good and if I if I forget at the end yeah so Rob gave his talk about a trip inos that he’ done and that gave me inspiration when I got back to do do a bit of surfing on the web and I came across this route that goes from Venice to Munich Lely Offroad or Lely on quiet roads and so that that was what my plan for this year’s travel would be so I had a flight booked from Bristol near where I live to to Venice on Thursday the 8th of June it was really good because it would be leave leave Bristol 11 which is fairly social time to get there you then get to Venice at early afternoon and you could get on your way so got the flight book only 6 weeks later that got cancelled the next flight available to Venice was on the Saturday so two 2 days later but leaving brist at 7: a.m. and although it’s only a 45 minute journey to get to brist airport from where I live it’s not a sociable time to do that so I looked around at what other flights were available and one that I looked at was Pula in Croatia i’ been to Pula before on holiday so I knew it was a nice location where where is Pula oh so Pula is in the eastern peninsula in North Northern Croatia so it’s it’s fairly near it’s the the opposite end of dnik um but certainly in the northern part of coastal part of Croatia and is it kind of opposite from Venice really yeah yeah so so Venice um is in the northern bit of the adri Adriatic following the coast round you get to triest and then there’s a little bit of of coastal Slovenia and then maybe halfway down towards the lower part of Eastern Peninsula is is Pula so your original plan was to fly to Venice and then do only the Venice to Munich bike route um and in doing that um I I so I didn’t I hadn’t in any point at that point intended to do the p on a trail it was when I was looking at the at the um at the um Landing in Pula in terms of how it then get to Venice to start I then did some web surfing and thought came across a Parana Trail the Parana Trail is a a disused rower line that goes between pork on the eastern coast north of Pula and that then goes Inland through um medieval Hilltop Village called motovan then back out towards the coast then coming out at the Croatia Slovenia border before going through slov part of Slovenia and back out finishing in triest it’s 13 123 kilm long between triest and pork there are 33 stations theun communities served by it but it start it opened in 1902 as a as a narrow gaug but closed in 1935 under musolini at the time that it opened it was part of the austr Hungarian Empire why was it built as a tourist no no it was built to serve the community the Inland communities and it would be used for local Freight for eggs sheep milk um and and passenger transport cuz it you know it’s a considerable engineering undertaking the the terrain there in the estrian peninsula is pretty is challenging it’s very H yeah my my history of the austro Hungarian Empire Is Not Great other than it clearly finished after that but what the politics were at the time um that it was one country one organized country then whether the whether it was done to develop tra there are certainly other rway routes around there there’s one that you you might have done on the UR eight that goes from Ravin Inland a bit before the um a coast to EST that you go around so I think they did have other Railways it’s just that that one they they strung together as a cycle route so why sorry to bang on about the railway line but why did it only survive for what 10 years um it it it made it from 33 years from 02 to 35 but that’s pretty short lived yeah but the the politics of meline um might not make sense to us now possibly um it was a Narrow Gauge raway maybe maybe he wanted to just have standard gauge maybe it didn’t pay um I I I I don’t I don’t know the history of it so basically it’s now being uh uh it’s now being it’s been repurposed as a cycle route and it’s part of the euroa 8 no no EUR as I understand ell 8 runs long Coastal Croatia and this could make if you were doing Coastal Catia which is very it’s beautiful Coast but it’s very it’s quite busy with with tourists this gives you a chance to escape that to see non-coastal Croatia the the first bit of it in pork pork um the route has long since been obliterated by modern development it starts off with segregated segregated soccer routes there’s one bit where it passes the main road where it it looked an it it was you a nasty Crossing of a main road well I just made a a detour along the side of the road along a track closer side of the road a kilometer and then went made made made my way back but um apart from that it was all on there there were onroad sections where you went through towns but largely that was either segregated or on on um quiet roads right and what’s it called what’s the name of the route it’s called the parenzana trail and there’s a website called par par. net and it’s got it goes into various information about um about about about the route um what the community like and periodically along where there were stations there might be a notice board that that gives you some history to what the community was what it was famous for but along the Route there are some amazing placees to look at one of one of which is motivan there’s a campsite nearby is a medieval village that’s at the top of a hill it’s quite a long way up a hill I mean I did come across a loaded toying cyclist that cycled up this very steep hill within the middle of this Village there’s a gated section that you then go into um it’s not but the there’s a big church and an like an inner Courtyard it’s worth a visit you got views around looking down from the hill um I I stayed at the campsite there small campsite but um apparently there’s a swimming pool that someone after the talk told me that they’d been too um but it’s it’s got a covered area where you can cook in where you can recharge your electrics not particular I campsite but you I don’t think they turned people away was it a very busy route I would say not very busy you did see you did see cyclists nearby the touristy region so towards the end by Isola which is on the North Slovenian Coast it was quite busy with people using the bike for using the trail for running or road racing or commu or families on bikes I did I did come across quite a few other the people overall on the trail but there were times when I saw no one for 5 10 minutes and was the was the train was it originally a rack and pinion I mean are no no quite steep sections no it it was never it was it was never very steep but both ends of the of the line start near sea level and it’s got two areas where it goes up to about 300 M but no part of it was it steep there’s one part where I left lard which is not long after which is from going from pork in the south after motan it felt like it a little bit steep but I don’t I don’t think it was steep in to be a rack and pinion Railway my guess is that with a l having a Narrow Gauge rilway means that you can go and top much tighter bends and it it does hug contour lines and parts of it when you look it on the map do resemble what you could do with a squeezing a toothpaste tube with the squiggles that you get I think that was just probably getting to pretty the closest that a train could do but it it was the there wasn’t there wasn’t um dramatic Mountain scenery but what there was was some views o o over over forests over um you didn’t off you had Coastal views when you got to the bit where you oversee um the approach of Slovenia the approach of Slovenia was spectacular in so far as you’ve got a large Inland EST that goes to where the Croatian Slovenian border is but before that you’ve got these 12th 13th century Salt Flats which is still worked um and there’s some there are some really some great views there it’s notable that the the p.net website the pictures they show of in the Autumn where you’ve got you the fall where you’ve got the the turning leaves um I think it’s one that would be quite good to do in the Autumn yeah and it it is all in Croatia there’s none of it that’s in Slovenia oh it spans the three countries so I’d say 2third of it is in Croatia then when you’ve gone past the Salt Flats you then come to the border and then you turn a corner and then you sort of then you go back out along this estery along the the Slovenian coast and I think that bit definitely is 8 and then at some point before you get to the end of that Slovenian Peninsula you then turn Inland slightly uphill you there’s an Old Railway Bridge that that you pass under and I’m quite sure that’s your V8 I think the official GPX points that you download from par p.net does take you right the way around the coast I may be wrong but I don’t I’m fairly sure the track didn’t do that but but it does give you it’s it’s only it’s only going to be a couple of maybe extra 20 columns to do that but it’s going to give you it’s a lovely coast and I dare say there are um more accommodation options um this at this point it’s also used by the bucket and Spade Brigade people using it to run on to walk on to cycle on and it finishes in triest yeah in the outskirts of triest at that point you you you’re still another 10 15 km away from trest Center I I may maybe I got that bit wrong but um I found finding a route into triest was difficult when I looked on the ell 8 website it didn’t seem to show the route or I couldn’t find it I triest is obviously Coastal it’s got several it seems to be on several hillsides there were there were some bicycle routes to get into triest one of them looked like you need to do a bit of climbing I was going to say cuz when I when I did my version of the Euro val8 which by that point had completely abandoned the Euro val8 yeah um in fact I don’t know whether it was s posted at the time this is back in 2013 I cut across one afternoon I cut across Slovenia and then I’ve got good memories of coming down these Switchback roads descending quite rapidly into the center of triest yes and I think had I have been bothered to Sock up some of those Hills I I would have find found those certainly once you got the way the route I took was a main roadway in but there there were there were cycle Lanes not not segregate on traffic but there were painted Lanes but on some of these when it then took you to a a pavement bit of segregated cycling you then having to cross the road a few times there were Junctions that you could do this um but eventually you got to the the seafront at triest where there were some cycle route cycle lanes that you could take in they were offro they were Offroad they were at the wat’s egg um also used by pedestrians so there are plenty of people just pedestrians just wandering in yeah and Test’s a nice city yeah I I have in a way I I regret not spending I spent one night in triest um I regret it’s somewhere I could go back to I think I alluded to the day I got in was the day after s Sylvio bisone died so flags are at half M there there’s some nice building to look at from the outside um James Joyce lived there and there’s a statue of James Joyce I didn’t see that I I’m not the only person to have parked their bicycle next to James Joyce and take a photograph I’ve seen others do it as well there’s there’s lots of things to take photographs in the town um there’s a there’s a huge cruise ship docked in at the time which goodness to how many thousand were on that and actually just trying to follow the seafront ccle route you having to go past see security guards who are letting people into um specific areas to before rejoining the boat did you cycle all the way then to Venice to pick up the route to Munich I I did I did consider that I did come up with a route that would I mean I I could have taken Ur 8 to have gone near to Venice I came with a route that went from from triest to a place called um kigo which is part of the rout it’s also got a train I hadn’t actually been feeling that great that that day so I got a train from triest to to kigo about 20 if I recall correctly isn’t isn’t Coniglio Italian for rabbit I’m going to check that when I get home I don’t speak Italian um but but K I know was it it was on the train route rabbit Town yeah I I I could have got a train I could have got a train nearer to start but it was it was um it was on a rilway line that goes up to near P I forget the name of where where it got to but it was convenient it it was a spot on on the on the route it before it got particularly hilly and just to backtrack a bit this route from Venice to Munich yeah again this is this is a long existing route isn’t it it’s not part of the illa network not that I’m aware it goes via the Brena pass and it’s one way of getting one good way of cycling from Southern Germany down to the Mediterranean I would say it’s a really good way to get from across the Alps that there’s most of it some of it is XR lines some of it is paths and it it doesn’t you know you’re not climb climbing a stelvio pass or I don’t none of it was very very steep there were bits that walked and pushed because well I was tired um the first pass you go across is the um Paso de banche and that that is 1580 M the appro the the 60 70 kmers before that you’re on XR line so gentle gradient and then when you go over the top into um the trantino South till region the first bit of that isn’t on X row lines so on it’s all gentle gradients it’s all stuff that’s quite straightforward um but before we get to that bit um you’re you’re on you’re on some of it is the old main road that that’s now being bypassed by the auto route so I don’t remember there being much traffic on it some of that bit there were off-road Parts you went along routes at the side of some couple of lakes and then there’s a a campsite I stayed that that on the way um but the approach to that that bit of the line a p cador some of that bit was quite steep but once you’re on that you’re on row X row lines after that you’re approaching um you go through Sim Bank sh and then you go on it’s not a it’s not a straight route but then then you the route turns a corner going to the West um on that bit there still an active Railway line so you’re on on paths or quiet roads and then you get to the brickson to Brena Valley and that that is an active cycle route the first part before you get to sim B you’re at the side of of a railway line and then there’s a switch back that the train does take but then you come to a bit before you get to Brena where it’s they they’ve built a a neish tunnel that start that opened in 1994 pecture tunnel but that soon will be bypassed by the Brena tunnel which will be a 55 km tunnel that goes south from inbrook towards Brixton so is Brena the border between Italy and Austria yes yeah so that one’s not quite as high that’s at 1300 or meters but what this what this why is the Brena pass so famous because everybody’s heard of the Brena pass it’s a Border Town for Road Transport and for rail transport the at that border there’s a huge it’s a large railway station with many many sidings so my guess is that pre pre-brexit pre pre not pre-brexit but in in in in in post war Europe where trade was still going across borders this would been a Border Town with Customs houses with trade going from Italy to Austria is it the only only pass is it the main pass between Italy and and Austria I don’t know if it’s the only pass but it’s certainly a major pass um so even even following even the rway line that is still active it’s still quite quite squiggling going around curves whereas this Brena pass that will be completed in due to completion in 2032 it it will be straight I can’t if it’s TR tunnel but for Freight it will be much quicker so it will it will mean well even you know the trains have to climb those Hills to get to the pass so there’s energy involved in in doing that so maybe it maybe it will streamline the the non the nonroad transport and when you’re passing over the the brener P yeah is it on cycle route you on the road the last 10 15 kilm from the rail Switchback where this since 94 has been disused that take that takes you into Brena on almost entirely traffic free routes on that route there’s a a a business called Route 232 which a disused building now now it’s a cafe frequented by cyclists that that gave me that gave me extra couple of K several kilometers of range with my legs talking up there um once you after Brena you’re then on Main Road for most of for a lot of the route down towards inbrook um I would say that the first bit after Brena north of Brena is then quite a steep downhill bit on this main road I I did that it was fairly busy so going downhill you could go quite quickly I would not like to do that bit in Reverse if I was to do that route in in Reverse which I may do um I’ve got that bit I would do by train I I don’t mind Hills because well I’ll just push but it was just it was busy there was no there’s no cycle route there’s no segregator it was just a road um that bit wasn’t pleasant so I stayed at an airb there were no there are no office campsites along the valley there were if you diverted aside Valley some distance but I was getting a bit tired then so I just went to a guest house that I saw on the web um and that that that that was lovely I got talking to some German cyclists also staying there they confirmed my suspicion thaty taking a bike on a train in Germany isn’t isn’t so straightforward and so I and I was also running a bit short of time so in the morning I did 11 km went to another railway station went to railway station took a train to inbrook had a wand around inbook cuz I like in’s loveely I’d been before quite touristy of which I I was one of course then I got another train to jenbach jenbach is east of inbrook by I don’t know 60 km that’s a total guess it may not be right so genb back at genb back the route then heads North and you’ve got a 4 km section where you’re going up 335 M to aeny will it so happen that there a steam train with a racken pick opinion that goes up that so for 30 or so EUR me and the the bike and I took that uh took that train and that that that it was very pleasant it it was it it wasn’t quick it was climbing a hill I can see on the other hand when you get to top is this beautiful Lake still in Austria um most the people on the train were then taking a boat a boat trip to cruise around the the lake for a bit um I I I hung around then cycled along the cycer route that that goes around ien see it really was beautiful and I then continued North on on the on the venic cyle path until I got to tiken se and I stayed at tken se there’s there’s a campsite there I should add before you get to tiken se the route then splits so two options to Venice on the official route there’s the east route that goes vi vi teen see or the West Route I can’t remember the major place it go it goes through this is the route to Munich yes not the route to Venice no no yes so once once you are in Bavaria a little bit further on there’s a signpost that gives you the option to take the east route or the West Route I opted for the east route because I’d been in Te into the area in the early 90s and I I I liked it very much I thought quite like to revisit it so there’s a campsite at um T Southwest of the lake tky by a kilometer or so the official route goes north taking the east route of T whereas if you take sorry the West the the fishal rout goes on West Side I went on the East and that that takes you via the town of t with its Monastery um where in the basement of that in the vaulted ceilings of that um it is a bear house and I had been there in in the early ’90s so I I had to look around um around around T see there I also went to the nearby railway station I was using the deut bar app and that indicated there was um there was limited availability for getting a train to uh Strasburg but but the lady there at the counter um she had a look and and so oh no no no I can’t do that sorry um but she used this phrase that several German cyclists I’d met use which was it’s complicated so at this point I thought right let’s hurry on towards Munich so I got as far as I then continued north um close to Vango um through me close to misbach and then close to H Ken after H Ken you’re then no longer on qu roads but you’re on dedicated cycle Lanes these were 4 M wide they might be either close to the side of the road or um or close to railway so there the railway and the cycle path in the woods and really really smooth surface well maintained and long that pelons of cyclists and matching Garb would belt past it it was it was quiet it was you could you could just go along and with those wide cycop paaths you know the pelons could go I’m teen depress so how how long had it taken you to get from uh from the rabbit Town con near kig I know I think that was sort of we’re looking at five five six days is okay I had originally allowed two weeks to do that it had my original plan of arriving at Venice then picking up the route then I would have I was aiming to take 7 eight days and then maybe sock a bit further to bit of to the German part of you EUR 6 then travel West to France where I knew I could easily from past experience so you didn’t have a flight booked for the way back no no not at all no no I um I just flew once and the the plan was only ever to then take trains back um so I then from tky I then went to the it’s not immun campsite but it’s a campsite that’s a few kilometers away from the center Munich it it was perfectly fine campsite s there was a um 8T 2 and 1/2 M tall fence Security Fence there’s no shot but within a kilometer of that was a supermarket that was also very close to a an underground station so that that would make a good a good campsite to stop off to then then do then see see Munich um I stayed one night there and then cycled further 11 km further to finish the route at the D Museum I I then went on to the raway station to the m Munich hop Plum H H bhof is um quite a large Affair so I I took her ticket to the customer area customer sport area where you could then talk to someone who could then book so I asked him about getting to Paris and no sorry sir um I then asked about going to inorg on the TR so now I can’t do that directly but I can I can do it indirectly oh yes so yes please so why would you want to go back to inbrook um it was apparent that it would not be possible easily to go to Strasburg to get my to get home but you’re going in the wrong direction if you go to inbook that is also quite true that it was looking very difficult to go back home by train certainly on the inter city trains so did you go to inbrook yeah and where did you go from inbrook well let let let me talk through the way home so the gentleman at the at Munich Ro station gave me ticket firstly to kurstein then from kerstein to inor on that second train I then booked a train from inor to Zurich using the ostan app which worked brilliantly so I could book me the bike and myself onto that train on the train on that train from inbook to dur I then used a Swiss app to book the bike and me um from Zurich to barel on that train from Zurich to barel I used see sncf app to book me and the bike from barel to Strasburg and also a hotel you did get there eventually oh absolutely you did all that in one day yeah that this is this is all one day but that that train was then going to get into Strasburg at about 8:00 p.m. so I I I also knew from the sncf app that I could get from Strasburg to Paris a availability there was 5:00 a.m. the next day or 7 8:00 p.m. that same day beginning to Paris at 9:00 p.m. I had no desire to get into Paris at that time in the evening so I booked a hotel in Strasburg by the railway station so thought brilliant all sorted so got into barel and at that point then the train to take us and everyone else to uh stasbor never came and then word got around from the um Ry staff that a tree had come down between barel and Malo so rail replacement bus was arranged that came at about 9ish and they were able to take the bike and everyone squeezed on the bus to get us to to Malo so at Malo a number of us were waiting for a train to then for onward travel to stasbor that train didn’t arrive until 1:00 a.m. which meant that we then got and the other stranded passengers didn’t get to Strasburg until 2:00 a.m. but you had booked to your hotel and I had a hotel bought so I did get my money’s worth from that hotel my my plan was to get into stasbor at 8 p.m. dump the bike have a wand around bite to eat um take some pictures of illuminated buildings um so that so my phys my my exploration of Strasburg will wait for another trip and then to get home what did you use yeah so to get home I got this half five a.m. trip from Strasburg on the tgv and that that worked brilliantly that on that part of the T that region of tgv and my understanding it’s different for different different parts of tqv you can book a bike on the tqv I think I may have paid XT for it but you could take a full full bike you didn’t have to you take your panes off and put in the rack and there was a limited number of places for bikes on that trip there were two other psych pyo there so good old chat there that on that bit of the of the journey the first part to non it’s on quite slow standard track but after non SE then it gets on T tgv and it it mots along so I get into Paris at 9:00 a.m. initially I cycle in towards towards the river um and I I wonderand around I wonderand around the outskirts of um notam of course not for obvious reason not to Dr is closed and fenced off but on these fences are lots of pictures of what’s going on so there’s lots of pictures of of the damage and how they’re repairing it there are sections through I didn’t realize for instance that the Ved ceilings that in some cathedrals you can walk on these only two stones thick so you’ve got the outer dress stone that you might walk on and are watertight when mortared and then the inide of that are what was the ceiling that you’d look up before only two stones thick curved um being structure engineer with th with those with all of those stones in compression it’s an arch that’s what holds it up um truly but you know impressively what they built with what to us might be primitive tools 00 years ago but also to see how how they’ve got the the Craftsman rebuilding it in in the um sympathetic way um so that was quite fascinating then I found a cafe Roadside Cafe where I could keep an eye on the bike and re I and I could refuel before then taking taking a train to K leaving at not long after midday so on call there were several of the P tourists I think on that one You definitely did have to book and I I there are different philosophers that in taking trains on bikes with T it’s generally free I have had somewhere I think I’ve had to book and maybe pay on T um or an inter inter city trains where you would have to book and that might be 10 I think the TR is free yeah yeah I think it’s free there may be some you have to book yeah I think the T you need to yeah out of choice this might sound quite flash out of choice I’d rather pay € on an inter inter city where I have that ticket I’ve got a space booked on one trip I took last year when I took a train from from non to pore I did have a bike space booked and I put my bike on and another cyclist turned up but it was also a school being used to school it it it really was shoulder Tosh shoulder I mean everyone so care of each other and you know when I went to get a drink bottle that you know a space created and you know around that space I could get my arm and my drink bottle to get a drink it it really was heaving so door to door yeah from leaving your house in in Somerset to getting back home how many how many weeks you been away um I’d been away two weeks uhhuh um so I got I got to call two cyc Tes I was talking to were then taking the afternoon sailing to Portsmouth from wam which is very close to call I I there was space I could do that but that would then get me into Portsmouth which to then get a train back to Castle kry that was after the last train back to C Costco had gone so I just stayed at the local campsite and then and then took the the morning sailing to Portsmouth and do you regret not having taken a plane back no no I I I I mean I I would prefer to take less trains but I didn’t think that I could get to um Venice or Pula as it turned out um in time to then do the Venice to Munich bike traal in two weeks not because you could do that trial in two weeks but to train there and train back think about it lastly I think maybe a better way to have done it would have been to to to f over to France get a A Train to Paris then a longdistance train to South Coast and then to get a train through southern France to Italy to Venice well you could have got a train from uh Paris to Milan although currently I think the uh the tunnel is closed isn’t it to Milan so that’s currently of uh out of action yeah so and and Milan would have been on Route really to get to Venice following those routs so yes um I would have had two weeks easy to have done so I was only planning to fly one way I I’d done a similar trip before flying to Mars and then going along the mad and then doing the the the canal de midi fire to lose and then the the the go on and then I took local trains through um from near Bordeaux up to non and then to the coast um I had I I I have alluded to going to car car I live in the southwest of England and I’m really fortunate that at car car I can get two trains to P to Portsmouth two different trains to Paul one maybe two trains depending which one you get to Plymouth all all of which are Ferry ports so I’m really fortunate in that respect um so so getting so getting I got the the morning train the morning ferry to Portsmouth having having dropped the bike the first thing I did was to go to the restaurant now they have cafes and they have restaurants for breakfast so first thing I got on I was hungry wanted breakfast they have a restaurant and for something like 20 quid it’s you you you it’s buffer you know you you kind have a cooked breakfast You’ then go to the buffet and have a cereal breakfast you then go back to the buffet and have um a continental breakfast it pretty much was or you could eat so I think poto got better value than going to the and it it was deserted I went there first of all got a seat with a window seat so you could watch I was probably in there good half an hour 40 minutes munching away so where next where’s the next train the cycling journey to yeah after after Portsmouth I was there at College in the 80s so I knew it well I mean next as in next your next cycle not I have to say I don’t know um I’ve had PL I’ve got plenty to think about from the the trips that we’ve had um spoken to us about this this this Festival I alluded to earlier that um I I Su with the car orral um in Chile in 2019 so in the 2019 Festival um Ed Mark shawcross and his wife gave a talk about the car oral and I I was planning to have a sort of a midlife crisis trip at the end of 19 start of 20 and South America was on my radar so to hear um Ed’s talk Ed and Charlie’s talk about um the car St it that you know my my eyes lit up that was what I did um I mean we could talk a lot about that car car austr but until Chile becomes part of Europe we possibly can’t talk about it on on the on the podcast but if anyone is interested there my account of it is on the crazy guy in the bike website which for those that haven’t heard of it it’s a brilliant resource where people blog their trips um I mean many people have their own blog and own own website as as as do you but the crazy G of website is a good place to look resources so if you go to the journals page of caratel orral and T in the word Tim Sanders there’s no you in Saunders just just Sanders um or type in carera or stal you’ll find the carater orral is a 1237 kilomet route that largely got created by um by pinese the DI the dictator in in the 80s and ’90s there’s a theme Here dictators anyway yes yes yeah well you know this the first podcast where we’ve mentioned I think two dictators some people would attribute motorways to Hitler but that’s three now yeah you want to get get thater in there as well we we won’t mention the war so so so the car St is a 1237 km route between pront to or hickin Chile is very narrow you you cannot drive then and I don’t think you can now you cannot drive from the main the main say Santiago um you cannot drive to the proton nalis without either taking a boat or driving through Argentina and they’ve not always been friends um but the carera was a route to get further and further that way it’s a well-known route I I I I I I took I was in Chile for 6 weeks I took a gap from work so South America is definitely on the radar but I think I think it it won’t be for a while it’s it’s not some you do in two weeks um you do want to be so it’s on the radar for one day um I alluded to earlier living close to in the South Coast so you know within an hour or so maybe two hours of train rides I’m at a French Port so for me going to France is easy and when you need a stressfree break from work it’s it’s easy to do but I’m also aware there loads of France I haven’t seen I would I would not be if someone said Tim you can no longer take any more holidays outside of France I I wouldn’t be too upset there’s so you know you’ve spoken on podcast about um the eurell routs um I I I’ve I’ve met Jeff husband many times who runs Bret on bikes in gor in Britany um it would be no hardship to go back there the non the um non breast Canal you can do most of that on if you don’t want to do the canal you can also do bit on some of the Britany green Roots there are two books by a book a Britany based book from Red Red Hat books maybe and they’ve got one book on on the vo ver which aren’t the non breast Canal XR lines um and there’s another book that they do on on the non breast Canal but you and I both know that um you go further I I’ve done the some of the lair ur6 really really lovely but you know the festival um we’ve just had there several roots that that you mentioned the one from rosoff to Normandy that that that sounds quite fun the V Martin the V maritine um I’ve also done some of the Vini that I did it a few weeks before you so you know we we we spoke campsites about um yeah I mean I I would prefer not to fly if I can but there are many PL to take the P onor tril for instance it would have been that’s that’s even further round from Venice that would be F more difficult to do in two weeks from the ukuk um there there’s l you know I I I look forward to one day retiring and doing some of these or you know I I I I joke with friends that I keep looking out for you know a job ad for for what for you I wanted full-time bicycle tourist apply within you know I I that hasn’t appeared on LinkedIn so far no yeah I’m looking for that too right well thank you and enjoy your enjoy your cycle back down to Somerset from uh from Lancashire unfor I have to confess I will be driving my 18-year-old Audi down visiting my father in the way shame on you thank you thank you very much thanks to Tim for agreeing to have that chat in the rain over in Clyo about a month ago and as you probably heard I had a cold at the time and I can’t believe that now a month later I’m recording this and I’ve got another cold that’s why I sound so croaky hopefully next time I’ll be back up to um 100% Fitness and I won’t be croaking my way through either the interview or the introductions anyway thank you for listening um this has been episode 76 of the cycling Europe podcast if you want to contact Tim by the way you can do so the easiest way to do that is to um look for at Tim and his bike on social media he’s on Twitter Instagram threads and he will answer anybody’s questions if you’ve got them so thank you for Tim for agreeing to talk to the podcast if you’d like to talk to the podcast then please get in touch you can do so by visiting the contacts page on cyclingeurope.org contacts and if you’d like to support the podcast then you can do that by visiting cyclingeurope.org support thank you to all those people who over the course of The Last 5 Years 6 years have very generously supported the podcast and that’s it for episode 76 as I say I’ll be back very soon with episode 77 in fact I may well be crooking through that because I’m interviewing the people at 6:00 p.m. tonight I suspect you may hear this croaky voice at least once more certainly when it comes to asking the questions so thank you you for listening and happy [Music] cycling