When we lived in England (up to 2018) and holidayed in France we always used the tunnel - so much less faff - we could be across and driving in France by the time we would have queued on the dockside, boarded the ferry and battled up the stairs with a couple of kids like the pre-tunnel days. Tesco points made the crossing cheap.
Had driven from Sheffield, set off about 1am to get the first crossing at about 5:30am to ensure no hold ups on the M25. Usually drove down to Bay de Somme services and got my head down for an hour and then onto the Loire for our first overnight. Did this for 20 years or so until I was in my early 60's even when the kids had stopped coming with us.
Nowadays, livng in the Dordogne we use overnight Caen / Portsmouth to England and Portsmouth / St Malo to France - happy driving the 4 hours to the north on max 5 hours sleep, much prefer the 8 hours sleep on the St Malo crossing prior to a 7/8 hour drive home.
Living close to Folkestone/Dover we don’t need the crossing to provide a driving break.
Tunnel is easier and quicker however on the negative side the cost has shot up and I notice whenever you are coming back what time you book is irrelevant.
We have just done Dover/ Calais (return) on the boat . It’s also easy and cheaper but obviously longer.
Came back 01 July. Took an hour to get through everything in Calais! Heaven knows how that will be in a few weeks.
It was always the tunnel for us, when we found Frequent Traveller, but since that stopped we've still looked for the cheapest option, and this year that's been Newhaven/Dieppe with DFDS, with a 20% discount for over 60's. We paid just £57 each way for our March/April crossing, and are paying the same for July/September.
The last one was on a cat (yup, a long time ago) and the sea was rough, with people throwing up all around me, never again!
DK
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We did the Dover ferries for a few years until we discovered the Tesco voucher scheme for the Tunnel. This paid in full for our crossings for many years so was a no brainer. In recent years after the changes to the scheme, we still get some money off, but decided that we would continue to use the Tunnel anyway. It doesn't have the romance of the ferry, shops etc, but is so quick and efficient that to us it's worth it. We've changed our schedule over the years to suit our circumstances, so it suits us best now.
Tunnel every time
We travel from the north west leaving around 11.00pm and are usually booked on a crossing for around 5.00am. Often arrive at tunnel early and are offered the earlier train. Once across drive for an hour or so then get our heads down for a couple of hours before continuing south.
We have done this for the last 15-20 years and it works for us.
return tends to be a late afternoon/early evening crossing from Calais.
We find tunnel fast and convenient. Have done ferries on many different routes in the past but tunnel we find easier.
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I live in Kent.
The Government has turned the M20 into a lorry park and put speed restrictions on the remaining lanes.
I don't much like Dover.
So I usually go Newhaven to Dieppe if I'm taking a car, or Portsmouth to St Malo if I'm going by bicycle.
The Brittany Ferries Portsmouth to Cherbourg Sea Cat was quite good for cyclists.
The only problem with the Newhaven to Dieppe route is the awful food served on the ferry, get KFC in Newhaven in advance.
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Quote: Originally posted by Bramston on 05/7/2023
I live in Kent.
The Government has turned the M20 into a lorry park and put speed restrictions on the remaining lanes.
I don't much like Dover.
So I usually go Newhaven to Dieppe if I'm taking a car, or Portsmouth to St Malo if I'm going by bicycle.
The Brittany Ferries Portsmouth to Cherbourg Sea Cat was quite good for cyclists.
The only problem with the Newhaven to Dieppe route is the awful food served on the ferry, get KFC in Newhaven in advance.
KFC is better than the food on the ferry! 😳. What are they serving for heaven’s sake? I would rather eat swill than KFC! 🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮
Quote: Originally posted by Bramston on 05/7/2023
I live in Kent.
The Government has turned the M20 into a lorry park and put speed restrictions on the remaining lanes.
I don't much like Dover.
So I usually go Newhaven to Dieppe if I'm taking a car, or Portsmouth to St Malo if I'm going by bicycle.
The Brittany Ferries Portsmouth to Cherbourg Sea Cat was quite good for cyclists.
The only problem with the Newhaven to Dieppe route is the awful food served on the ferry, get KFC in Newhaven in advance.
The only time I camr Dieppe/newhaven I found the food quite good, would not touch KFC with a barge pole
In the days of Eurotunnel Frequent Traveller tickets that was the way I went. Now they are no longer available P&O ferries are a much cheaper option, particularly buying a season ticket for 3 returns a year. Just yesterday I priced-up crossings with my MH for late August, returning mid September and Eurotunnel was over £200 more expensive than P&O.
Slightly more complex question to answer than it might first appear, depends on where you are coming from, where you are going to, and your like/dislike of tunnels/trains/boats, also your outfit!
Been doing regular trips to France as a group for decades, always with Le Mans (the 24Hr motor race!) as our final destination, but with a few detours (WW2 related sites and historic areas) en route, and usually starting from N W London/Hertfordshire as our rallying point for those coming from around various bits of England.
I've done countless spreadsheets working out the costs (incl hotels/overnight ferry cabins etc. to break the driving), mileages, fuel stops, and time from A to B (via C if necessary). We've had a variety of vehicles to consider, from multiple solo cars to a LWB Land Rover towing a horse box (no Gee Gees, but stuffed with proper bar with barrels of English ale, freezers of English food, and camping gear for a dozen!).
Never yet made the Tunnel a viable option for us at any level, it used to be superficially cheap on the fare (but that's no longer the case!), but we'd spend far more on fuel with the extra miles both sides of channel, and the timings with the longer journey just didn't really work well for us! That's no disappointment to most of us as we consider the journey down to Kent pretty horrible!
Tried various different western channel ferry crossings and sailing times, with hotels in UK or France to break the journey (some of us are driving from Devon or the Midlands, so a break is necessary around about the Channel), pretty much exhausted every combination there is over the years, AND our favoured way from experience is overnight ferry with cabin from Portsmouth to Caen. Newhaven - Dieppe has it on cost, but the short crossing just doesn't give us enough sleep, we did it once and it was a bit of a disaster as we never recovered for the duration of our stay, feeling pretty tired out. TBF our itinerary doesn't have much time for 'days off' to relax and recover, we have a full agenda.
Justification for Portsmouth - Caen is whilst the ferry cost is high, we save on fuel because of the most direct route, we save on time because it's the most convenient journey, and for us, the timings work perfectly, allowing us to get to the port with ease, getting us to our destination at a reasonable time to set up camp, and we've perfected to whole journey to be as relaxing and stress free as possible. Despite the ferry being close to capacity for our many trips, we've never had any major delays at check in/passport control, which is certainly not something the Tunnel can claim! We're good sailors, so the pitching of the ship on a rough crossing doesn't bother us, and think there's only been two really rough crossings over the decades.
We've considered all the options, and IMHO crossing cost alone driving your decision can be folly, it's not to be ignored, but it's part of a much bigger picture, with all factors to be balanced.
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Kent France
via mobile 04/7/2023 at 7:51pm
