In all cases, please arrive by the day/evening before the Tour starts. This will enable those hiring bikes to complete the required paperwork, collect their bikes and acclimatise themselves with their steeds, locate the starting point, and join the meet and greet event the evening before the Tour starts.
The meet and greet will be close to the starting point and therefore we recommend your accommodation for this night will be too.
Arriving by:
Air - Hire Bike will be necessary.
Toulouse International airport serves European, UK and some Middle East countries.
Coming from further afield will normally require a connecting flight, so look at options for any EU/UK country to get the best deal to Toulouse.
Carcassonne and Perpignan are also options, although less well serviced. They are also en-route from our starting point so rendezvous during day 1 is possible.
Sea/Land from the UK - BYO Bike.
Closest French /Spanish ports from the UK are Bordeaux, Bilbao and Santander with usually a 24 or 36 hour sailing.
These are relatively close to the furthest point and end of the rides before we had back to base, so are a possible options for departing the ride at the end.
They are between 4 to 5 hours from the starting point of the Tour.
The ports of St Malo, Le Havre, Dieppe, Calais are all on the northern cost of France, the former two tend to depart from the UK ports of Portsmouth and Southampton and require an overnight 8 hour sailing, arriving in the morning.
Dieppe departs from Newhaven and is a 4 hour crossing.
Calais is 1 hour 30 mins’ sailing from Dover. See Channel Tunnel also.
St Malo, Le Havre & Dieppe avoid Paris and the dreaded périphérique!
It is possible to ride from these ports in a day, but two days makes it less tiring and starts the adventure with an overnight stop recommended somewhere around Tours, Poitiers, Limoges, The Lot or Dordogne.
Channel Tunnel - BYO Bike
A longer ride, possible two and half or three days with a 35 minute train crossing. You’ll have to navigate around Paris and/or take the dreaded périphérique!
Continental Europe - Hire or BYO Bike
Sett is the nearest main sea port (3 hours ride), there are many other options if arriving across the Mediterranean.
Train options are Toulouse, Albi and Castres as the nearest stations, with Carcassonne and Perpignan as pick up points during day 1.
Departing by:
Air - pretty much the reverse of arriving.
Sea/Land - pretty much the reverse of arriving.
In General:
We don’t offer shuttle services to the various arrival/departure points, as you can imagine logistically this would be a challenge with multiple people, locations, luggage and requirements.
We are happy to provide advice and in exceptional circumstances help with transport. There will be a charge to cover our costs.
The Tour rendezvous point and start time (usually around 10h00 CET) is provided as part of the joining instructions, emailed once payment has been processed.
Please arrive promptly at the set departure time.
Contact details and WhatsApp group will be available should unforeseen issues or delays arise.
