Normally we drive to Folkstone from North east England and get an early morning ferry.
We usually set off at 8am and get to Folkstone site around 3:30 to 4:00pm.
I was wondering if instead of going to Folkstone for an overninght whether it would be feasible to use the tunnel and overnight in France somewhere about 1 hour from Calais towards Brittainy?
Any views gratefully accepted.
Thanks
------------- Best Regards
David
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Several sites come to mind as possibles an hour or so down the road, though at that time of day we used to stay at a site in Calais itself and go for a slap up meal at the Cote d'Argent restaurant in town to celebrate the start of the holiday.
If the tunnel is running ok you usually get through motorway to motorway in little over a hour, if you are a bit early they will put you on next available train if space is available so yes you could do that or just stop at nearest campsite on French side, theres a couple within 10mins drive.
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Yes it's worth doing. Camping La Fontaine des Clercs in Montreuil is less than an hour from the tunnel. This site is OK for an overnight and the village is good.
------------- Ollie
2016
Monplaisir - Provence
Camping Les Gorges du Loup
We always try to have our first night in France, and an early start the next morning extends the holiday by a whole day somehow. Once you've woken up in France you feel like you're on holiday.
If you can cross at 3.00 then you'll be in France by 4.45 with the hour time difference, and you could still get even further down the road before stopping - perhaps even as far as Neufchatel en Bray where there is a good site for an overnight stop at Camping Ste Claire.
We always go via the tunnel and normally book a mid-afternoon train. Gets us to France at around 5-ish, sometimes earlier if we get an earlier train than booked. We then only drive as far as Les Epinettes at Peuplingues, literally 10 minutes from the tunnel, for our first night. Next morning we're up and away by 9am.
We live about 290 miles away from the tunnel, so a longish journey for us as well. Although recently we have tended to break our journey by visiting friends who live in (to us) very convenient places (Enfield and Ipswich), for many years, when we didn't have the luxury of being able to have long trips abroad, we used to set off at about 6am to get a 2pm-ish crossing.
Another one for La Fontaine les Clercs the walk up to village can be a bi steep for some but the village itself is large enough to be interesting and small enough to be pleasent. You must take a walk around the ramparts
We have tried all of the above options and for this year our plan is to do the 360 mile drive to Portsmouth from our home overnight and then use a day time ferry to Caen. This will get us to Caen mid afternoon. There are excellent campsites around Bayeux. We will also "gain" a day and not have to drive across the top of France.
At the end of the day the decision is going to based on many factors, cost, time of ferries, how you and others feel about driving long distances etc. Maybe worth working out costs before doing anything else
------------- Tritonkid
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
We have used the Portsmouth route, in the past, from the north but gave up after the second time when we were almost refused boarding and told we would have to wait more than two and a half days for the next crossing 'in our price bracket'.
The first time going via Portsmouth we were late, no fault of our own, having set off early, but traffic was bad and we arrived later than we hoped. However, we were still in plenty of time for the ferry.
The second time, having 'learned our lessons' we set off much earlier but had a nightmare journey, with road accidents, motorway closures, sitting for ages on a closed motorway with nowhere to go, and even when we got going again had more traffic problems. This resulted in us arriving at the port just in time to see the ferry boarding, but we were refused entry. After such a nightmare journey this was the last straw and I burst into tears, especially when the 'jobsworth' seemed to delight in saying we would have to wait from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday before we could cross! Fortunately the intervention of the check-in clerk at the next booth allowed us through, and she radioed to the loaders to allow us two minutes to get through and get on board.
Basically the moral of this is to only go via Portsmouth from the north if you allow an overnight stop the night before - any other way you might face what we did, and with two children in the back believe me it isn't the best start to a holiday.
We leave from Teesside, for the 320 mile drive to the tunnel , around 7am.
Towing a caravan , we go A1M ,M11, M25, M20. We usually arrive at the tunnel about 1.30pm after 15minute stop at Grantham.
We have booked tunnel this April for 2.10 pm, if we are early or late it doesn't matter, they are very flexible.
We usually head towards Rouen ,then down the A75, so out first stop is usually at Camping St Claire at Neufchatel en Bray.It is a couple of hours easy drive in France, but it is a lovely site with a large supermarket with fuel a short walk away, or a McD if you are into fast food after a long drive.
John
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: From North through tunnel in 1 day??
