We are flying from Australia to Madrid and riding to near Valencia in Spain for a 6 week period. Then we want to spend a few more weeks in the Italian Alps in the Arabba Dobbiaco. We will ride from Dobbiaco to Munich and home to Australia. We would like to get a train from Valencia to Milan. We are happy to spend a few days off the train somewhere like Lyon in France. But our trouble at the moment is travelling with our bikes on trains on this journey without having to pack them into a box at each part of the trip. We cannot take bike travel cases with us because we will be doing week long legs on the trip. Suggestions from people who travel in southern europe would be much appreciated. We are limited by our 90 days Schengen limit in EU.
Comments
What trouble to have!
Dermot, I note that you don't say when and how many people in the party. I'm assuming you're not using folding bikes.
First of all, if your issue is with using a hard case it should be quite possible to source disposable bike boxes in bike shops or even use a plastic bag - mattress bags are useful.
Since you're travelling through several jurisdictions I wouldn't be placing too much faith in anything that a randomer writes on the web. However, my understanding is that going direct / long distance will require boxing/bagging but that by using regional trains that requirement may not apply.
An outside-of-the-box solution might be to consider shipping the bikes by a dedicated service, leaving you free to travel from Spain to Italy without them. Thousands of pilgrims travelling through Spain every year means that there are some useful services available. Look online or check Correos (Spanish postal service).
While CT is great, this forum is for help with CT. You may need to cast your net further afield. UKCycling & Cyclechat both have dedicated touring sections, CrazyGuyOnABike has a don't-stray-from-the-topic forum, as does CycleBlaze. The Man in seat 61 is useful for all train related things.
Flixbus may also be a potential solution, at least for sections.
Thank you. Point taken about this forum being help for the app. We have decided to train to Lyon then use this brilliant app to guide us to the Aosta valley and onto the locations in the Italian alps instead of going via Milan. Cheers Dermot.