The Fantasy Orchestra

Hi all,

I was wondering whether there is any interest from anyone in going by bike?
Train to the ferry then cycling the lovely greenways through France, probably 3 days?

Return on a coach or train or by bike cycling a different route...

Holly and I are thinking about it as a option
Lisa

great stuff, i was hoping you might cycle!

Hi, I'm interested in Cycling,

But probably would have to playing a smaller clarinet than the bass one.

Dani
07832261151

Questions questions -

How many people do we need to make this viable?

How long with it take? (Rich Nouv has a good route I think we could ask him)

Dani

I totally want to do this (with tuba) but it's probably not very sensible

Hi all,

sorry for no update on this for such a long time. We met yesterday (Jess, Ruth E, Greg, Holly and I) to discuss the route and options so here is what we talked about:

Getting there there are two ferries on Tuesday the 21st of April from Newhaven to Dieppe one is at 11.30am arriving n Dieppe at 4.30pm and the other is at 0.30am arriving at 5am (so technically on Wed the 22nd).
Both mean we have Wed, Thu and Fri for cycling, just one means potentially no sleep on the ferry but setting off from Bristol a day later if you go by train, and the other means either travelling early on Tue from Bristol or joining Ruth and Jess in Brighton on Monday night and then another night on the French side maybe a couple of hours inland from Dieppe.
Anyway, whichever option you go for we can all meet up on Wednesday morning to travel.

Booking the ferry: through http://www.ferrysavers.com which is £28 and cheaper than http://www.dfdsseaways.co.uk at £35 who run the ferry. You can only book one bike per booking even if you have several passengers, select bike under vehicles ... see if you want to return this way too not sure if return is cheaper or not. Select the right date and time, you won't need to buy a cabin.

We are aiming to cycle about 50 miles per day, maybe fewer on the Friday when we have to get into Paris. Holly has a book with the detailed route, the first bit can be off roach then its on minor roads. This gives you an idea http://www.donaldhirsch.com/dieppeparis.pdf of how we could go.
We will probably aim for somewhere near Gourney-en-Bray for the Wednesday night, then the official route goes slightly more south than straight to Paris but I think that means flatter...?! Open to suggestions. We will spend the Thursday night somewhere about 40 miles away from Paris I guess.

Accommodation: we would like to go as cheap as possible but everyone can do their own thing. I am looking at Warmshowers and potential hosts though we don't know if we will be able to get more than 3 people stay until we tried. Holly is looking at campsites and Ruth is looking at Couchsurfing and other options. Where we stay might also depend on the options.

Food: Ruth and I will take cookers, if we spend less on accommodation we'll probably eat out but also do some cooking.

So its up to you with accommodation but likely to involve some carrying of sleeping bag, matt and maybe tent for some of us at least.

In Paris we wanted to ask Jesse about a place for Fri night and then go with the hostel people on Sat and Sun


Return: different people do different things. Holly and I might cycle back to Le Harve, Jess and Ruth might take the train back to Dieppe ...

There might be fancy dress on the ride

Looks like we can stay with Jesse on the Friday night

yeah i'll find you'all a place on the fri no probs. make sure you've some kind of sleeping bag ofcoruse

hi all,

I've contacted two warm shower hosts just outside of Dieppe but not heard back yet. It would be about 15km to cycle from the port to the house, they say they can take 4 visitors and have space in the garden so that might work for all of us arriving during the day on Tuesday.
On Wednesday night I have confirmation from a Warm Showers host in Gournay-en-Bray, they can take 3 people and have already confirmed that they would be happy to do so. There are no further warm shower hosts in that area though.

Thursday night Gisors would be the right sort of place in terms of distance but there are no warm showers anywhere near there. But I'm sure we can find a place to camp or similar?

Let me know what you think
Lisa

Hi all,

accommodation through warm showers on the Tuesday night confirmed (near Dieppe), sounds like they can sleep at least 4 people in beds especially if we have our own sleeping bags...
Getting there.
Any ideas for the Thu night?

Lisa

Re: trains and travel to newhaven, if you're travelling by ferry tuesday day the 5.44 should just get you to newhaven in time for the ferry @11.30. book as one ticket to brighton and one to newhaven is the cheapest.

Hey love
Thankyou for all your hard work with finding warm showers-you're a star.
Ruth and I are just booking our ferry now. We're booking the leaving newhaven 11.30 tues 21st april so is it possible that we can stay in that warm showers place on that night with you?
It looks like weds warm showers is covered??
We have been discussing camping and wondering if it's worth lugging all our camping gear for one night of camping.
We could just treat ourselves to a hostel that night?
XX

hi all,

yes Tuesday night is fine for 4 of us: Jess, Ruth, Holly and I, Wed night I have a warm showers place for Jess, Ruth and I and Holly found something for her and her friends. Thu night outstanding...
We will be in or near Gisors on Thu night, I think Holly said there aren't any hostels but I'm not sure, I'm happy with couch surfing or hosteling or would take a bivvy bag if all else fails but would agree that taking a tent for just one night seems a bit much. We will need sleeping bags and matts for the warm showers places though.

I've not decided if I'm travelling on Tue morning or Mon night to the ferry. Is there room in the car and a place to sleep on Mon?

xx