3 - 5 May: Wheels & Waffles; The Ghent Tour

Have you never ridden in Europe? Then this is the trip for you! 

Riding in Europe is straight forward, but it can be nerve racking and there are some odd rules that you need to follow, but once you get past all of that, the roads are simply amazing! So to help those who’ve never ridden aboard, we putting together our Wheels & Waffles; The Ghent Tour event.

General itinerary 
This is a 3 day event, with day 1 traveling to Ghent, 2 nights in the same hotel, day 2 a loop route taking in some areat roads through France, Belgium and maybe the Netherlands.

Please note we will ride for a maximum of 90mins before each stop. Please ensure that you are able to ride for 90mins in a single go and can ride approx 120 miles in a day. 

Day 1

• 10:00 meet at Eurotunnel
• Intros and briefing
• 10:45 board train (going through customs)
• 11:36 train departure
• 13:11 arrive in France
• 14:30 coffee stop
• 17:00 arrive at the hotel
• Evening drinks and food in Ghent

Day 2

• 9:00 set off
• Morning coffee stop
• Lunch / fuel stop
• Afternoon coffee stop
• Fuel just before getting back to the hotel 

Day 3

• 9:30 set off
• 10:30 morning coffee stop
• 12:30 arrive at Eurotunnel
• 13:36 train departure
• 13:11 arrival in UK Ride home

Please note, we aim to get an early afternoon train 

Hotel
ibis Gent Centrum Opera
Nederkouter 24, 9000 Gent, Belgium

It is your responsibility to book the hotel. If you wish to book another hotel, then please do so, but you will need to make sure you at the ibis for the correct departure time (if you wish to join us)

We have chosen this hotel due to that it has secure underground parking (chargeable) and is only 5 mins walk from the City Centre.

Eurotunnel
It is your responsibility to book your Eurotunnel tickets.

Departure: 11:36 (arrive in France 13:11)
Return: 13:36 (arrive in the UK 13:11)

Admin fee
£75 - non refundable

The admin fee is in place for 2 things:

1. To prevent time wasters (unfortunately we’ve had plenty of these)
2. To cover the admin costs of putting together the event, riding leading and contributing towards the cost of the Ride Leaders. 

Number of spaces
12 

Support
This is an unsupported tour. This means you are responsible for booking your hotels, Eurotunnel and ensuring you and your bike are legal within any of the counties travelling to or through. 

It is also your responsibility to ensure you have breakdown cover and adequate medical and other insurances. 

By paying the fee you accept that is a fully unsupported tour.

Starting / meeting times
A full itinerary will be issued beforehand. This will include the departure and arrival times and places that we will be stopping. 

Due to the size of the group departure times are stated as ‘Be ready to go at’ times - this means having your bike packed, fuelled and you are ready to go. Not ‘just finish your coffee and wonder back at’ time.

We will depart on time and will leave people behind if you are late, as 1 person being late is unfair on the rest of the group. 

What if I not ready to go/ don’t want to ride with you?
As this is an unsupported tour, you can come and go as you please. A full itinerary will be issued and if you, for example, wish to go elsewhere in the morning you are free to do so. It will be assumed that anyone late to departure time will be riding their own route. 

What do I need to bring?
Yourself, passport, money, insurances, V5.

We will send out a list of requirements, but it is your responsibility to ensure you are safe and legal AT ALL TIMES.

Breakdown
If you breakdown, whilst we will do as much as we can to help, ultimately you need to be able to be self sufficient. That includes bringing your own toolset and puncture repair kits. We advise that you have tubeless tyres as these are easier to repair roadside. 

Insurance / medical
It is your responsibility to ensure you have all of these in place

What if I get an earlier/later train?
Departure: if offered an earlier train DO NOT SELECT IT, if you do your only options are meet at the first coffee stop or to meet us at the hotel that evening. Same as if you get a late train, we will not wait. 

Return: if you wish to get an earlier train, please feel free to.

Riding ability
As a minimum we will expect you to be able to ride for 90mins in one go before a break. We will break the day up so there are frequent stops. 

You will also need to be able to ride approx 100 to 120 miles in a day. 

As mentioned this an unsupported, so you are free to leave the ride at any time.

A full itinerary of train and hotel will be issued