I have carried bikes in bike bags on this self-same TGV line coming up from the Riviera into Paris.
Granted, my bikes were racing bikes without hammered Lefol guards, but those could ne detached fairly easily unless the lighting wires travel through them.
I found that the TGV s have large open lockers for luggage just inside the entrance doors to the carriages, and so I have not found any inconvenience whatsoever. The bike travels in the same carriage as the ticket-holder..and is never really out of sight..
I have never travelled the TGV route from Paris to the UK with a bike but assume that the carriages are the same.
Apart from flying Easyjet, on which it is often possible to take a bike without a box. ie pedals removed, bars turned and tucked underneath..and some pipe=lagging on the tubes and forks..there is the possibility of using the long-distance bus that takes cyclists and walkers all the way through the UK and down into France, Italy and Spain. It runs on a seasonal timetable..and normally has a special trailer to carry the bikes in riding form.
I think the best contact for the bus is through the CTC who used to part sponsor the bus. I have used it to get to Valence in the Drome area of France..and Avignon is only about one and half hours further south down the A7 autoroute.
Norris Lockley...Settle UK
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