I just returned from biking in SW France. I think I can give you some
information that will save you money, at least. If you go to
www.sncf.com, you can purchase or simply reserve seats on TGV & Corail
trains. I began my trip in Angouleme, and returned to Paris from
Bayonne, near the Spanish border. I purchased my TGV ticket for the
return on the website above, getting a special low fare the SNCF calls
"Prem's". The fare was only 25 euros, as opposed to the regular fare
of about 75 euros on that route. They offer these fare for virtually
all TGV destinations to/from Paris. The trick is that they are like
many airline tickets, namely:
1) You must purchase at least 2 weeks in advance of your travel.
2) There must be availability. They only allot a small number of
seats to be sold at these low prices, so it is best to buy your ticket
as quickly as you know your date & time of travel. If 25 euros seats
are gone, there may still be 40 euro seats.
3) The tickets are non-refundable and non-changeable.
4) You must either print your ticket yourself on a laser printer
(which is what I did) or similar quality printer, or have an address
in France where the ticket can be delivered. You CANNOT retrieve
Prem's tickets at the station, unlike most other SNCF tickets. (I
have purchased cheap train tickets online for Paris-Brussels and was
able to retrieve those tickets in the station)
5) You must give your date of birth when purchasing. This will be
printed on the ticket, and you will be asked to show a photo ID to
confirm both your identity & date of birth. Your name will be printed
all over the background of the ticket like a watermark in appearance.
It's pretty cool.
Note: the rules say the paper used to print out your ticket yourself
must be european sized "A4" plain white paper, but I used 8 1/2" x 11"
North American paper, and I can assure you my paper size was not
measured by the ticket inspector. He did take my ticket away for 20
minutes or so, and I had paranoid fantasies that he was indeed
measuring the size of my paper. But of course, that didn't happen. I
believe A4 paper is slightly narrower and slightly longer than 8 1/2 x
11. I suspect the actual printout is identical, with slightly
different margins. A bar code is printed on the ticket.
When I was beginning my trip, I intended to take the TGV the same day
I arrived at CDG airport. I couldn't get a Prem's ticket because it
happened to be at the beginning of a holiday weekend in France, so
there was no availability by the time I knew I was going on my trip.
Also, that ticket would have been somewhat risky, since I couldn't be
sure of my flight arrival time, as well as how long it would take me
to stop first at my friend's house, put my Bike Friday together from
its suitcase (which I was leaving at my friend's house), and hop back
on the RER to get near Gare Montparnasse. What I did, however, was
hedge my bets by reserving seats on 2 different trains a couple of
hours apart. The TGV's were completely sold out ultimately, and I
reserved one of the last available seats (at full fare) on the earlier
train I reserved, which was the one I ultimately took. All I was
required to do was actually purchase either of the tickets at least 30
minutes prior to the train's departure or the reservation would
disappear. I barely made it, buying it about 40 minutes ahead of
time. BTW, SNCF automatic ticket dispensers do not recognize american
credit cards. You have to go to a "guichet" (ticket window) to get
your ticket.
I did my transaction in French on www.sncf.com. I just checked and
even if you specify english, the cheap Prem's fares will still come
up. However, on the French-language site, there is a link
specifically for Prem's fares which I didn't see on the english
version. I just left the default "France" as being my country of
residence, since if you say USA, Canada, Australia, or Japan, it tells
you to buy from raileurope.com, which will rip you off with a fare
even higher than the standard SNCF full fare. Since I was printing
out my ticket myself, my country of residence was of no importance
whatsoever to the transaction.
It is indeed true that the large suitcase areas at one end of each TGV
car have been blocked off with heavy plastic and duct tape. I did see
one car, however, where people had simply punched thru it and put
their bags inside anyway. On most cars, however, they were blocked
off and not used.
My Bike Friday folds. I folded it (and removed the pedals) on the
platform before getting on the train and put it inside a large nylon
bag I carried in my panniers. The bag is too large to put in the
narrow overhead area above the seats. My choices were to either leave
it vertically in the aisle (I specified an aisle seat for this
possibility), or, what I ultimately did on both TGV trips I took, I
simply leaned it against the wall at the end of the car outside of the
seat area, near the exit to the car, but not blocking the passageway
between cars. A couple of other large suitcases were left there by
other passengers. The conductors completely ignored our luggage on
both TGV trains I took.
I took a few local trains to go short distances, and on those trains,
I was able to simply wheel my bike onto the train. There was no
charge for the bike. One of those trains was not designated as being
able to take bikes, but the ticket conductor said "oui" when I asked,
and there was an empty area to put the bike. Otherwise, I would have
folded it up like I did for the TGV.
BTW, my route was first from Angouleme to Rodez (the Dordogne & Lot
valleys mostly), then in the Pyrenees & Basque country first crossing
the Col d'Aspin, then the Col du Tourmalet (turned out to be the day
they were bringing the statue of the giant cyclist up to the summit,
so hundreds of local cyclists were riding up), then thru Lourdes &
Pau, and into the Basque country just over the border to San
Sebastian, Spain. The 18 km on the main road from the French/Spanish
border to San Sebastian is hellish and should be avoided. I rode to
S.Seb, but once there, asked and learned that the local commuter
trains between S. Seb & Irun at the border all allow you to take your
bike. It costs just 1.10 euros and took 15 minutes, and saved me much
grief when I returned to France the next day.
Finally, in many, many, many years of bike touring in 30+ countries,
San Sebastian was the first place where anything was ever stolen out
of my panniers when I left it unattended a few minutes to go into a
shop.
