Bicycle transfer on Majorca

We received the following email from Mallorcan company. We thought the information might be of interest to cyclists planning a visit to Mallorca this winter and spring.

2016 CYCLING SEASON……….Majorca Airport Transfers is a reliable specialist provider of transfers for passengers travelling with bikes, from Palma airport to all locations on Majorca.  Each year our regular cycle training groups and individual customers come to Majorca from all over Europe, North America and Canada for training / competition events in Puerto Pollensa, Alcudia and Paguera.

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2016 FAHRRADSAISON..... Majorca Airport Transfers ist ein zuversichtlicher Spezialist für Fahrgäste die mit Fahrrädern in Fahrradtaschen oder in Hartschalenkoffern

reisen.  Wir können Ihnen einen zuversichtlichen Transport vom Flughafen von Palma zu Ihrem Urlaubsziel auf Mallorca anbieten.  

Jedes Jahr und in einem regelmässigen  Zyklus kommen aus ganz Europa , Nordamerika und Kanada Radsportfahrer die hier trainieren oder an Wettkämfen teilnehmen die hier auf der Insel stattfinden und unseren Servíce nutzen.

From our customer reception office in Palma airport arrivals hall, flights are monitored for any delays to ensure transport is always available. Transfers are by quality vehicles (mainly Mercedes) with secure sturdy box trailers for the bikes or minibuses/coaches for passengers and bikes.

We also have a low cost Shuttlebus service. Example. 1 passenger with luggage and 1 bike in bag or hard case just 46 euro return to and from Puerto Pollensa or Alcudia.

Whatever your transfer requirements with bikes please e-mail us for a competitive quotation.   info@majorca-airport-transfers.com

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Von unserem Kundenbüro aus, dass sich in der Ankunftshalle vom Flughafen Palma befindet, überprüfen wir Ihre Flüge so das Ihr Transfer auch bei Verzögerungen und Verspätungen gewährleistet werden kann.  Die Transfers werden nur in hochwertigen Fahrzeugen ausgeführt, hauptsächlich Mercedes sowie in Kleinbussen und Bussen für Fahrgäste und Räder, die mit einem sicheren stabilen Trailer extra für Fahrräder mit Sicherheitsboxen ausgestattet sind. 

Wir können unseren Kunden kostengünstige Transfers anbieten Zum Beispiel :  1 Fahrgast mit Gepäck und einer Fahrradtasche oder Hardschalenbox wäre der Preis 46 € für die Hin und Rückfahrt nach Puerto Alcudia oder nach Puerto Pollenca.

Wie auch immer Ihr Transportbedarf mit Fahrrädern ist, um Ihnen ein wettbewerbsfähiges Angebot zu machen, wenden Sie sich bitte per e-mail an uns. admin3@european-airport-transfers.com

EUROPEAN AIRPORT TRANSFERS SL

Majorca Airport Transfers - Menorca Airport Transfers - Ibiza Airport Transfers

Edificio Túcan,

Avda Túcan 33, Esc 3, 2ºD

07400 Port d'Alcudia

Tel:  (0034) 971 549497   Fax:   (0034) 971 549875

Móvil:  (0034) 664 267644

Email: info@european-airport-transfers.com

www.majorca-airport-transfers.com   :   www.palma-airport-transfers.com

www.menorca-airport-transfers.com  :   www.ibiza-airport-transfers.com

De conformidad con la Ley Orgánica 15/1999 de Protección de Datos y su reglamento de desarrollo, le informamos que sus datos personales se incluirán en un fichero responsabilidad de EUROPEAN AIRPORT TRANSFERS SL. con la finalidad de gestionar las comunicaciones necesarias, así como realizar acciones de publicidad y prospección comercial. Usted podrá ejercitar sus derechos de acceso, rectificación, cancelación y oposición, dirigiéndose a la siguiente dirección:

EUROPEAN AIRPORT TRANSFERS SL., Avda Tucán 33, Esc. 3, 2ºD, 07400 Puerto de Alcudia, Illes Baleares.

Putting your bike on a long distance bus in Spain

It came to pass that we needed to travel to Oviedo from Irun and the quickest and cheapest way is to take the ALSA bus. ALSA are the biggest bus company in Spain and offer a good network of services all over the country. If you read the ALSA website you will see that you can reserve storage for up to four bikes, golf bags or surf boards per bus in advance and the bus driver must take them, unlike in the old days where the bus driver would accept the bike if he liked the cut of your jib and if not you were doomed to sitting by the side of the road until the next bus came along, which can be twelve hours. We had reserved room for our two Bromptons for ten Euro per bike at the same time as we booked our own tickets. I printed the tickets out at home. We arrived in good time at the bus station in Irun, a bus stop in front of the railway station and showed the driver our Bromptons expecting to load them directly into a padded luxurious pair of compartments. No, we had to put them in a cover, which meant folding them and then he insisted that we hadn’t paid for the bikes, so I had to return to the booking office for this to be validated. We had problems because the bus driver spoke no English and my Spanish is limited to buying a cheese sandwich and a draught beer. I went to the ticket office and the appropriate section of the ticket was ringed by an angry employee who was not happy having her time wasted. I returned to the bus, waved this under the driver’s nose and he grudgingly agreed to let us and the bikes on the bus, though we had to help him stack the bikes with our luggage in the space beneath the bus to protect the other baggage against our bikes. There was no talk of protecting our two thousand Euro or so worth of bikes. In contrast, the journey afterwards was superb in comfortable leather seats with coffee and snacks and a good in-bus entertainment system.
I am quite pleased that we had booked the Bromptons as bikes, although normally I am ready to fight for the principle that a folded covered folding bike is baggage and should not be charged as a bike, but if you don’t speak the language… One plan we had originally considered was to pack the bikes folded in their covers and in a blue IKEA shopping bag. I suspect this would have been a no no in this case.
When we got to Oveido I checked the ALSA website and found a sentence I had overlooked earlier:
“Because of the limited space, we admit 4 objects (bicycles and surfboards) total in each coach, one per ticket. They have to be good conditions to travel without causing any damage to other baggage, so it is obligatory for them to be well packaged in boxes or bags suitable for transportation.”, i.e. if you are going to travel with bike on a Spanish long distance bus then you will need to find a friendly bike shop beforehand for a cardboard box or take a bike bag with you. It is probably not a bad idea either, if you print out your ticket yourself at home, to highlight the bicycle booking.

The Way of St James

Small German towns often have a vibrant cultural and social life. Our small town, Viernheim (under 30 000 inhabitants), has a night school and a Catholic Family Education Centre offering courses and lectures on wide range of topics. There are concerts in the winter in several of the churches. Obviously the walking and the ski clubs have a number of slide show cum lectures on popular and also unknown mountain areas. However something that never fails to amaze us are the activities of a local climbing, canoeing and camping shop: Christian’s Outdoor Center. Christian organises a series of lectures in winter which do not only cover the usual rambles in the Alps or cycling along disused railway lines in Canada, but such topics as humour in mountain climbing and exhibitions of historic books on the Alps. (BTW Contrary to popular British received wisdom, German can be a very funny language. We have dined out on several occasions on the story of the American proposal of marriage on Mount McKinley, that we heard one night in his shop.)
Last Thursday 6. April 2006 Christian organised a information fair on the Camino de Santiago or Way of St James, the main part of which runs from St Jean Pied de Port in France to Santiago de Compostella in Spain. Obviously the pilgrims in earlier times did not hop in car or on a train to get to the Pyrenees. They walked all the way. There are connecting routes across western Europe. Christian thus invited local people who have experience on these routes to set up a poster display. A number of them had walked and/or cycled from Viernheim or nearby to Santiago de Compostella, which is at least 3000 km.
One spoke of the spiritual aspects of the journey, starting with the decision what to pack. In her words the trip taught her its first lesson before she started, in deciding what was really necessary.
Another walker covered 25 km a day for 100 days from Heppenheim to Santiago via the Mediterranean coast, across the Basque country and then along the Atlantic coast.
Another followed the Silver Route from Seville to Santiago pulling a trolley with his belongings.
Another couple spent their holidays over several years walking part of the major route from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostella. As did the cyclist there who cycled and walked with his wife and friends all the way from Viernheim. We did discuss with him the cyclist’s problem with the Way of St James. What do you do with the bike after you have ridden to Santiago? The railways in the north of Spain will only accept bicycles if they are partially taken to bits and popped in a bag. Our fellow cyclist at the event said that they had put the bikes as they were on the trains and argued. The trouble is our Spanish is not that good. We could see three solutions:
Fly back and pay the extra for the bike.
Take a folder and there are then no problems on the trains.
There are long distance buses from Santiago de Compostella to the rest of Spain and presumably Hendaya/Hendaye that will take bicycles without having to unfold or disassemble them, but the buses need to be booked in advance.
There was also a Viernheimer who is organising a bus trip to the classic section of the Camino in late spring.
We also discovered, although we had actually come across this before, that there are two 130 km long Jakobswege (Ways of St. James) in Rheinland Pfalz west of Speyer. These strike us as good routes to follow with vineyards, hills, views across the Rhine Plain, decent wine and beer, hearty food and plenty of history from the Celts to present day technology. The Tourist Office in Speyer (touristinformation@stadtspeyer.de) can organise a week’s walking holiday (B&B plus a daily picnic) for around 300 € per person sharing a room.
We met an acquaintance who was due to set off for St Jean Pied de Port the next day to walk to Burgos and will be fighting her way through the rain at present. Personally we are not so taken with the Way of St James. It strikes us there are lots of routes much nearer to hand that offer one the chance to reflect on the meaning of life without having to use so much fossil fuel to have a philosophical moment.