Etape - entry only

Ryder

Cost and time wise am thinking of heading over on thursday and back sunday/monday. Anyone else thinking of doing this or organised their own event before

2 Wheels Good

Have been thinking about doing that, would like to give it a go without blowing the bank on it. Have you sourced an entry yet?

Ryder

Lots of different companies like sportstoursinternational do it. Also saw the option on onyourbike

kilns

There are a few Irish companies which were offering entry only to me for €160, they may be gone by now though.

Myself, I am going to enter via Velo Magazine. They post the entry form in their Jan or Feb issue. You can only go that route if you have a French address, luckily I have a house in Argeles Gazost which is on the route, so a few of us will be entering that way and using the address.

Plus I think entry is significantly cheaper

Ryder

@pat. Just checked flights. Possible to go on wed and return sunday for 170e. Sourcing accomodation may be the only problem - if enough interest a chalet should be easy to arrange?

blorg

@Ryder- I would certainly be interested. Do you have any thoughts on how you would get from finish to start?

Ryder

Not yet. Flying to Toulose is the easy part - rent a car and 145k drive. Getting back to the start on sat should be organisable...?if its more than just me, drive one car to the finish on friday and use that on the sat to get back

blorg

Sounds good, although I can't help with the driving bit

Ryder

Well...option two is to drive to finish and get bus/train back. Am determined to do it this year. Will post here when plans finalised. If enough people were interested we could get a chalet but if on my own will just get a B&B

lantern_rouge

Another possibility for entry-only is to contact Ron who is a regular Letaper.
I got 4 entries from him 2 years ago "at a reasonable price".

Have a look at http://www.etape.org.uk/ for more details.

Ryder

Got my entry and 3 day accomodation package sorted with sportstoursinternational. Booked flights to Toulose with Aer Lingus.

Reason for this post is......to say max of 6 bikes on the flight....mine was the 4th so anyone else thinking of going should book soon.

2 Wheels Good

Anyone find out more about entry only? Sent a mail to Ron above but no reply so far.

paddymacsporran

www.frenchcyclingholidays.com

UK based company who do entry only, I used them last year, good service.

Ryder

For entry only your problem will be accomodation and transfers. May be worth looking at a package

paddymacsporran

Two ways to look at it. I did it myself last year as part of a family holiday, ferry to UK then to France, drove down, got a great hotel close to the Ventoux, wife and kids loved it and I got to do the ride.

Packages are generally expensive, organisation is suspect on some, I would never use Graham Baxter/sportstours int again. Hotel was a dive despite taking the top package, Food was garbage, bus ran out of fuel(!), missed flight home as a result, and to boot I lost my bike at the airport.

Next year I would do it myself again if I was going, if you only have a few days its easy enough to hire a car at the airport and get a hotel near the start town. You can still book a bus transfer on the Etape website to get back to base after the ride.