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Any advice on this? Seems that i have to book the ticket on the train THEN try and secure passage for my bike??? What if i get an advance ticket and then all the bike places are gone? Seems needlessly complicated and very bike unfriendly 🙁
Anyone done this? How did you go about it and how easy was it?
You can buy the Virgin ticket at a station so might be able to do it in one there - it's what I plan to do. Can't comment on current Eurostar
Train tickets for all UK companies can be booked with bike spaces at
https://www.gwr.com/plan-journey
No idea about Eurostar though.
You often need to be quick. The advance cheap tickets for 22nd May were released on 6th March. By 5pm I was unable to book bike spaces on the Glasgow - Penzance direct train. Ended up needing go Glasgow - Edinburgh - Taunton - Penzance with two changes.
The bike space option comes after choosing your seats.
I've always gone to a manned station and booked both us and our bikes from there. Quite why there's no on-line option to book bikes is a mystery - just checked Virgin trains' site, it's either by phone or in person at a station.
Depending on the train there's either a few straps to hold your bike or a "guard's van" - basically the back half of the first/last coach behind the driver's cab - with room for a dozen or more bikes.
Don't know about Eurostar.
For some reason the site at
https://www.gwr.com/plan-journey
wasn't finding bike spaces on Virgin services.
I just did a dummy booking on a Virgin service at
https://www.scotrail.co.uk/plan-your-journey/timetables-and-routes
and was able to book a bike online.
Eurostar - it seems you can take a bike but it may need to travel on a separate train with a parcel service. So may involve arriving at St Pancreas earlier and possibly having to wait for the bike at the other end.
https://help.eurostar.com/faq/uk-en/question/Can-I-take-my-bike-on-Eurostar
Beardy touring cyclist thread on Eurostart at
https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=128520&hilit=eurostar
I’ve always booked the bike on the virgin website. On ES Bikes can go as a bike or as separate luggage if it’s full. Separate luggage means you need to put it in a bag but it can be a plastic bag with bungies. Last summer Eurostar had more bike capacity but be warned all our bikes were scratched. My mate got some compensation after a load of hassle. His was a new bike and he wouldn’t let it go. I couldn’t be arsed.
Cheers. That GWR site is pretty good thanks. Think i need to get the eurostar bit sorted first.
Thanks for that GWR link, that makes life so much easier.
I've just booked 2 people and 2 bikes from Gatwick to Plymouth.
Luckily, I discovered the (very straightforward) GWR site, and things went smoothly. However, when researching the trip I also encountered the websites of National rail, Trainline, southwest rail etc, and found each to be an exasperating experience in different ways.
You can book a ticket for a journey with any rail company on any of the other company's sites but, depending on the phase of the moon, tickets may be available 12 weeks before travel, 15 weeks before travel or at some random point around then, and the ability to book bike spaces at the same time is anybody's guess.
Why on earth has somebody allowed such a disjointed situation to prevail - multiple companies, multiple call centres, multiple policies, multiple overheads?
The argument for a nationally coordinated rail network can only be strengthened by this mess.
The argument for a nationally coordinated rail network can only be strengthened by this mess.
Exactly - This point really bugs me. The train network should be integrated with, or at least accommodating of, bikes if it is to really offer car free travel door to door.
On a happier note, i managed to book my bikes on eurostar last night. Not so great was the price. London to Paris and back x 2 bikes (not boxed) = £180 (this does not include me and mrs blackflag, its just the bikes)