It’s amazing how much you can do and how far you can go if you’re prepared to get up early! Having woken up (at 3am) at The Cottage in Wales, we drove to England, took a flight to Denmark, caught a train to Sweden and then set off on our bikes!
Having never flown with a bike before, there was some considerable concerns about how things would work. Will they get damaged? How to we wrap them? How can we carry all our gear? Having taken plenty of advice from the most experienced cycle tourer we know - Mr Google - we arrived at 5am at the meet and greet car park at Manchester Airport.
Having left the van keys behind for someone else to look after, we wheeled our laden bikes straight into the airport. Next to the EasyJet area, we began to repeat yesterday’s rehearsals of packing up the bikes and panniers. It was a slick operation.
The panniers were all bundled together into bin bags and wrapped up with tape, while the bikes (peddles off, and handle bars twisted), went into giant, heavy duty plastic bags. The panniers went on to a trolley and I carried the two bikes in each hand while queuing to ‘check-in’. All that was left then was to drop them at the special baggage area. Seamless.
Pleased with our efforts and having disposed of the tape ‘scissors’ before security checks, we had a cup of tea and watched the bags and bikes get carefully loaded (thank you EasyJet!), into the plane.
Of course, we still had to get them back, but arriving in Copenhagen, we were relieved to receive them back without damage.
Clare ripped into the ‘bin liner suitcase’ and got her panniers out and we spent the next half an hour or so unwrapping, straightening handlebars and putting in the peddles.
It being Copenhagen Airport, there was even a bike pump to inflate the tyres properly and a bin to dispose of the packaging. So efficient. Finally, we folded up our bike bags (a special CTC Plastic Bike Bag in case you were wondering) and packed them away ready for the return journey.
By midday, we were ready to wheel our way out of the baggage reclaim area!
With nothing to declare!
Clare’s attention to detail and intricate planning meant that we moved seamlessly from flight mode, straight into Copenhagen Airport Station, where a train arrived within a few minutes. The bikes were wheeled onto the cycle carriage and before we knew it we were saying goodbye to Denmark and zipping across a huge bridge to Sweden. Then we were finally riding. The journey had begun. Thankfully, it was a short ride to our pre-booked Airbnb studio, but not without its dramas. While Clare went into a supermarket, I tried to help with some first aid. I didn’t see the accident, but a girl had fallen off a longboard at speed near where I was stood waiting with the bikes. She seemed remarkably calm (presumably pumped full of adrenaline). I tried to re-assure her, but it was obviously a very serious situation, as her foot was pointing the wrong way. Thankfully, there was no blood showing and others were quick to the scene and help was called. I felt queezy at the sight. It was with some relief, we made it to the sanctuary of a quiet sofa, where we fell asleep for the next hour or so.
So tired now, but The Tour has begun.... Exciting times ahead!...
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