This website is being rebuilt and modified (a job akin to painting the Forth Railway Bridge) so if a link does not work please bear with me....

CTC Cycling Holidays and Tours Ltd. (or CTC Tours for short) is a part of the CTC, the biggest Cycle club in the UK and has about 40 volunteer tour leaders including myself. We offer fully bonded cycling holidays (ABTOT and ATOL) to suit a wide range of abilities. These tours are for anyone who is a member of the Cyclist's Touring Club of Great Britain - you can join at www.ctc.org.uk. You do not have to be British to join. The oldest person I've met on a tour was 76, the youngest 15. Providing you are of (relatively) sound mind and body and can get travel insurance there is a tour for you!

Financial protection for your holiday

Our air holidays are ATOL protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is 5613.

Holidays without air content are similarly protected by the Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Ltd, of which we are a member. Our ABTOT number is 5102.

Some quite large travel companies, advertising in cycle magazines, do not have this bonding which they are required by law to take out.

See the tour itinerary, more details and booking forms if you know which tour you want to go on.

Update At the 25th November 2008

0868 The tour of Victoria March 2009 is now FULL

0925 Haute Provence June 2009 has places,

0929 Budget Land's End to John O'Groats July 2009 has places but will fill very quickly

0939 Haute Provence August 2009 has places.

0947 Budget Land's End to John O'Groats September 2009 has places but will fill very quickly

0962 Tasmania February 2010 has places.

For more pictures and details of the fixed centre/moving on tours in France based at Buis les Baronnies near Mount Ventoux in Provence go to the
Haute Provence Page (Easy, suitable for beginners, to moderate/severe depending on choice of rides)

For more pictures and details of the Australia tour that visits the best bits of the state of Victoria go to the
Victoria Page (Easy to moderate, suitable for fit beginners)
,

For more pictures and details of the Thailand tour that visits Bangkok and Trang Province and Islands go to the
Thailand Page (Easy to moderate, suitable for fit beginners)

For more pictures and details of the Tasmania tour that visits the sunny east coast and central region with it's mountains and lakes go to the
Tasmania Page (Moderate plus, suitable for fit beginners)

For details of Audax rides go to my Audax Page

There are photos here of previous Thai tours and here from my solo touring in Thailand.

RyanAir are now doing cheap flights to Nimes (a pleasant day's cycling from Buis les Baronnies or two very easy days if you stop at Orange or Avignon) from Liverpool, Luton and East Midlands Airports as well as Stansted. They charge (I think) £20 each way for a bike; which must be bagged or boxed. With return fares often around £30 - £80 this must be a bargain. They seem, touch wood, to have a fairly good record for looking after bikes on these flights.

If you wish to make your own way to and from any of my tours please get in touch.

We returned again to Haute Provence in June and August last year for scenic weeks with a choice of short and gentle cafe tours, or longer and more challenging rides, culminating (for those who wanted to) in an ascent of Mount Ventoux, this went very well, was much enjoyed and will be run again twice this year in mid June and late August.

www.buislesbaronnies.com/villagesa.html for more about the area.

There are more photos here of our Haute Provence tours which visit the Haute Alps and the area around Mount Ventoux.

For audax riders the Mount Ventoux ride is an AUK permanent as ' The Mount Ventoux Grimpeur ' and you are welcome to enter this without being a member of the tour - see my audax page and the AUK website http://www.audax.uk.net or handbook for details.

2005 Tour Photos by Francis Cooke & Sheila Simpson

We went to Bourg d'Oisans in July 07 to attempt Alp d'Huez along with some of the Grand Cols and watch the Tour de France pass through the French Alps. This was my fourth tour in the area, in 2008 I'm doing LEJOG instead but we will be back.

See www.aukadia.net/alps/bdo.htm
for more about the area.

See the tour documents and booking forms if you know which tour you want to go on.

If you cannot get the downloads on this site or the CTC Tours website to work, please email us (tours@halchemy.com) and we will email you back with the files attached or please send us a large stamped and self-addressed envelope in the post.

The Cyclecover insurance forms can also be obtained by phoning 0870 873 0068.

Please phone 01246 250 647 (mobile: 0796 758 4409) or email tours@halchemy.com if you wish to check availability - and send in your forms ASAP

Previous Tours:

Thanks by email and letter from tour members:

As someone relatively new to cycling I thought the centre and routes were excellent, culminating in the successful ascent and descent of Mount Ventoux!

I could not have managed without van support, and the holiday would have been a disaster. With your help it was one of the most memorable weeks of my life.

Just to say thanks for the way you organised the tour and looked after us so well.

Thanks for organising a great trip. I found the heat rather hard to handle, so I was very glad NOT to have more cycling. It was a lovely mixture of cycling, beautiful locations, snorkeling and of course, LOTSA SWIMMING! PERFECT!!

Just to say many thanks for an enjoyable but hard graft trip to the Alps. Your attention and cheerfulness to minute detail (e.g. waiting @ road jncs to dispense much needed refreshment etc...) was excellent.

I had a wonderful time with you and the group in Thailand. Thanks so much!

Thanks again for organizing the tour which I really enjoyed, actually not just the cycling but everything else!

Thank you for such an excellent tour, well organised and good fun with all those spectacular rides.

Just to say a big thank you for all your dodging about in the white van. It was a great tour, really well thought out, and made so much more enjoyable with the vehicle support.

Sun
We had loads of sun and even when it rained it was still hot.
Scenery
It was gorgeous all of the time.
Rides
We had loads of great rides and there was loads of choice and we always found a ride we wanted to do.
Support
There was always the white van with white van man and we couldn't shake him off.
Food
We had loads of good food and plenty of coffee/beer/lunch/elevenses/tea stops. The food at the hotel was great.
Hotel
The hotel was great and the staff were good. I enjoyed trying my basic French on them!
Company
Everyone on the tour was great.

Useful Websites:

For health advice, information on vaccine and malaria recommendations for your destination www.fitfortravel.scot.nhs.uk/ or www.dh.gov.uk/travellersare both useful.

For up to date Maps of everywhere:www.themapshop.co.uk

For light-weight touring related bike parts such as old fashioned cantilever brakes, ZEPNAT are very useful, they do mainly cycle-cross parts but some of these are hard to find and very useful for tourists with drop bars.

For some very technical info about the science of cycling and bikes AnalyticCycling

Leominster Photos by Sheila Simpson

There are more photos here of our Shropshire tours based in a rather good hotel at Leominster. This will run again over Easter weekend in 2008 probably by Pam Pilbeam.

	There are more photos here of our Haute Provence tours which visit the Haute Alps and the area around Mount Ventoux.

There are more photos here to give the flavour of touring in Thailand

And Finally Touring Responsibly

Often cycle-touring can be a real help to the local economy. At best we can buy local food and produce, use local services and indirectly show people that protecting the environment, for their and our benefit, makes good economic sense - and do all this without producing pollution of a physical or cultural nature.

I aim to organise tours which do this while letting us enjoy cycling.

See the tour documents and booking forms if you know which tour you want to go on.

See www.ctctours.co.uk for more tours by other leaders

email: tours@halchemy.com   phone: 01246 250 647   mobile: 0796 758 4409