We've muted a French Unofficial in the Summer Hols '08 next year taking in
Overnight ferry to Saint Malo
3 days Saint Malo..(camp site suggestions near to Saint-Malo needed for tents & caravans)
scooting down 246 miles (5-6 hours in convoy) and doing a week in the The Vendée -- I can recommend perhaphs at
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which will not disappoint for R & R and close to the biggest Zoo in France then back up 302 miles (6 - 7 hours in convoy) for say 3 or 4 days perhaphs at
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plonking us ready for a short run to the ferry at Cherbourg - Portsmouth for a 4 hour afternoon crossing
more chillin and landing beaches - culture - beer and stuff.
Any idea on general costings? I tried pricing up ferries the other day to do a similar trip but got in a right mess. Are you talking about towing a 'van down or camping. Or is there the option of "fixed" accomodation?
Previous years booked through the caravan club towing a caravan and inc cross channel ferry crossings have been £1100 all in.
Thats insurance and breakdown (worth every penny), ferry and pitch fees. You just need fuel, tolls and spending money then. Tolls wise £60 got us all the way down and back 3 years back - around 1200 miles - and yes they are well worth paying. This is a rough idea.
This year we pushed the boat out a bit further to spain and it was £1100 just for the crossing (return) inc caravan and cabin. Then around £700 for pitch fees, insurance and breakdown cover. We booked the crossing in the October prior , the ferry was full and no empty cabins so little chance of a late booking.
The idea is that we will do cross channel as cheap as possible whilst making driving as short as possible for the trip to the sun. Portsmouth to Saint Malo really drops us bang on for a scoot down the autoroutes and has little need for the B roads
If we do go the plan is to cater for all, i.e. tents and caravans.
LPG is around 55 euro cents a litre and is available at every other aires (service area).
Only other cost that springs to mind when we first went was passports x 4 which really sent the budget in to shock.
Gowan! You know it makes sense :-) Taking the ferry will drastically reduce your carbon foot print to in comparision to Jetting to the same locations.
Bugger the carbon footprint - I want to be there. Once there are firm dates I'll try and book some hols so I can make it - by that time I should have recovered financially from SWMBO running off.
I've been using Transmanche (Newhaven to Dieppe) - if you can stand the extra drive, I've been finding them less than 1/2 the price of Brittany Ferries. The time before last I was parked next to a brand new French '07 Defender 110 CSW and G4 110 coming back from Billing - very nice they were too! The guy with the 07 was showing it off! I like the interior more than I thought I would from the mag. photos.
I couldn't go to Vendée this year, but a local friend went in his Disco and said it was a great event.
Cheapest ferries are the shortest ones like dover-calais/dover-dunkerque. Its about £80 return for them (IIRC) - but means an extra 200-250 miles of driving on the french side (which isnt bad ;) )
How much is that in a 101 then Tom? It's also a days lost holiday too so it gets you one way or another. However if we do agree a camp site then peeps can get to it by whatever means they want.. it can be pretty flexible.
We already have plans for Northern France during the middle two weeks of next years summer hols. If you're all going to be there at the same time we are we might be able pop over and join in the fun. ;)
Would certainly be very interested in this if it's cost effective for us by the time it comes around. The way my shifts work is that we get a long weekend every 3 weeks, finishing on a Thursday at 5pm and then not going back on till Tuesday night so i'm going to try and suggest that we take the borrowed 'van to somewhere local next long weekend and see if we could survive in it with the little one for an extended period of time.
I reckon that a one or two nighter an hour or so away will give us a good idea! Maybe i could justify a bigger 'van then. Oh my god, i'm being sucked in to caravanning.............
I must be reaching a certain age as i'm quite excited by this idea.
Parents currently at a campsite near Avrille about 70 miles to the north, there are no tour operators there and it has most facilities. Will find out a more precise details when they get back.
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Le Grand is a bit far for doing the British landing beaches
This one isn't bad
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while this one is halfway between Le Havre and Cherbourg
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and isn't badeither. Have stayed at both.-- "For those who are missing Blair - aim more carefully."
To reply direct rot13 me
bURRt the 101 Camper
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200TDi Disco with rotten floor
200 TDi DIsco, "the offroader"
1976 S3 Lightweight
Not something I'd recomend. Have done that with parents towing a van in a variety of standard cars, on my own and driving a minibus full of schoolkids.
Me, I'd pay the extra on the ferry, book a cabin and get pleasantly sozzled on the overnight crossing everytime now.
Besides which, 250 miles is, realistically, over 5hours of driving in
101, which is no the way I want to start or finish, as there is also the drive in this coutry to and from the ferry as well.
I did it in my car and actually enjoyed the drive. once you get out of calais the roads are empty and its just dual carriageway cruise all the way - and the services/aires are all great (and you can stay overnight in em)
I'm tight though :) My parents drive to Rouen and back a lot and generally go through the tunnel. Its about 10 hours (including crossing) for the full 450 mile journey here to there assuming no traffic jams in the UK
I think, in the 101 i'd leave in the afternoon and drive down to the port and get a late evening ferry. half hour drive in france and then kip overnight in an aire. Start again in the morning.
So are you in by what ever means you get there then? :-)
We can all RV on the French side though a convoy does offer some reassurance in a breakdown situation. If we drag Richie Beamends along in the Sherpa he would probably do more trade that stopping at home ;-)
If i can ever have enough time off work to do it :( I'm about a week and a half delayed at the moment by having too much work to do - hence not having a working vehicle for the unofficial. I was hoping to be in france on holiday this weekend but that aint gonna happen either :(
Yeah - its a bugger that. I dont see why they wont let a car with an LPG tank through but they will let you take a gas bottle in a camper van. If they only let cars through with a certificated LPG install i could understand but not the blanket ban. Tempting to box the LPG tank in or something (its hidden in my car now!) and try the tunnel anyhow.
There is a warning about sleeping at the aires as there have been a number of robberies from caravans that have involved gassing the occupants. The current recommendation is to only use official camp sites.
This is an old chestnut which comes up again and again in the caravan/motorhome fora. Up until the recent cases, there wasn't one which stood up to proper scrutiny - either genuine illness or the after-effects of cheap booze, or a scam behind an insurance claim for lost jewellery or something. It seems the French authorities are taking the latest cases more seriously, so I will reserve judgement until I have seen how it turns out. But I have read a post from an anaesthetist (proper doctor, like) who said that gassing someone like this is basically impossible. I'll try to dig out the link if anyone's interested. If it's a real concern, install a gas alarm for a few quid. I'd be far more worried about pikeys with firearms in isolated locations.
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