Driving to Spain in January From calais ?

T

Tony50

Joined
May 7, 2017
Posts
2,163
Likes collected
2,579
Location
Suffolk
Funster No
48,544
MH
Chausson 788
Exp
20 years
We are thinking about driving to Spain from Calais, is Calais safe and what generally are the roads like that time of year ? please
 
Calais is safe, especially going from U.K. to France. Depending on the route you take through France, the roads will be pretty clear, as they always are. The only real traffic you will find will be in and around larger towns and cities.
If you go via toll roads, you shouldn’t have any holdups and travelling on a Sunday will be even easier. Very few lorries about on a Sunday.
 
Weather, no different than UK.. You could get rain, fog, snow or sunshine and cold..
Calais, we always stop at Cite Europe on first night following an evening crossing but there are other places not to far away if your not happy to be there, plus will depend on what time of day you cross over.

Tips.. Be aware of shorter daylight hours so you may want to drive only while light, no cats eyes and they dont have lights blazing away so driving in the dark is a little harder and tiring.
Water, lots of places may have water turned off so keep topped up when you can.
There are plenty of supermarket along the way so dont worry about food to much.

This may help and there are other routes posted in the resources section.
www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Tonka's Western route to Spain

My often used, mostly toll free, route into Spain and to Benidorm in particular.
www.motorhomefun.co.uk www.motorhomefun.co.uk

We hope to be along that route first week in January, not confirmed as yet as i always leave it till last min..

Good point about travelling Sunday. If you can do the first day on a Sunday it does take out a lot of the busier section. Once south of Chartes its a lot quieter.
 
How far would you expect to travel each day and where would you stop (Aires or Campsite)?

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Have done it quite a few times over the years but lately have used the ferry directly to Spain.
When we had the caravan we used to stop at Camping Acacia at Tours, then Larouletta at St John de Luz and then Aranjeuz near Madrid.
Used to take 4 days to get down to La Manga.
 
Aires if possible , possibly travelling into Spain via Biarritz southwest, France then to Costa de Sol and into Portugal again not sure what sort of weather we might get in Portugal in January
 
Have done it quite a few times over the years but lately have used the ferry directly to Spain.
When we had the caravan we used to stop at Camping Acacia at Tours, then Larouletta at St John de Luz and then Aranjeuz near Madrid.
Used to take 4 days to get down to La Manga.
 
Mikeco said:
Have done it quite a few times over the years but lately have used the ferry directly to Spain.
When we had the caravan we used to stop at Camping Acacia at Tours, then Larouletta at St John de Luz and then Aranjeuz near Madrid.
Used to take 4 days to get down to La Manga.
Click to expand...
We sailed to Bilbao last year on return in the Bay of Biscay I left my breakfast in the toilet in the cabin !! I'm not a good sailor, just hope I can manage the 1.5 hour channel crossing, wife won't go through Tunnel

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
We are planning the same trip late January and decided to head towards Barcelona then around Spain into Portugal. The weather in Portugal will be milder by the time we get there. Have driven both eastern and western routes. Northern Spain (Santander) can be extremely cold in January. We use Aires.
 
Tony50 said:
We sailed to Bilbao last year on return in the Bay of Biscay I left my breakfast in the toilet in the cabin !! I'm not a good sailor, just hope I can manage the 1.5 hour channel crossing, wife won't go through Tunnel
Click to expand...
It’s a doddle is she claustrophobic? It doesn’t feel enclosed at all just sitting in your van.?
 
We do this often, without rushing, and usually liked to be parked up by 4pm before it gets dark and we always have a plan B.
 
Speve said:
It’s a doddle is she claustrophobic? It doesn’t feel enclosed at all just sitting in your van.?
Click to expand...

Yes , I thought it would be helpful, we watched the Channel Tunnel 25th anniversary on TV. What did that do ? it really put her off. :(

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Tony50 said:
We are thinking about driving to Spain from Calais, is Calais safe and what generally are the roads like that time of year ? please
Click to expand...
Exactly what we have done for the past 10 years, and doing again this January..
Off the tunnel, straight to Cite Europe for the night.. Good nights kip and then south to end up in Beni ( this year .. but it has been for the past 5 years ! ) 2.5 days later :) Never use toll roads in France but usually end up on the AP7 toll for the last bit
 
Mikeco said:
Have done it quite a few times over the years but lately have used the ferry directly to Spain.
When we had the caravan we used to stop at Camping Acacia at Tours, then Larouletta at St John de Luz and then Aranjeuz near Madrid.
Used to take 4 days to get down to La Manga.
Click to expand...

Almost exactly my route. Arajeuz, Is worth a stop too, we spent a couple of days or so there going out and back too.

Must admit though the cost of, and the agro of French Winter travel got to us. Closed campsites etc; Too many nights hunkered down in the campsite gate or on one ocasion the local cemetary Car Park. So the last couple of years we went direct to Spain by boat. It was virtually the same total cost, especially after the Euro came in and Diesel prices where hiked up, at 12 to the gallon it makes a big difference. 20 years near enough as a Marine Engineer, I don`t have an issue with Ships, (one of the first places I look for is the "chiefs cabin", to pay my respects, and usually to get a look at the Machinery spaces, and Crew Bar) (y). SWMBO used to come away with me on some voyages so she too was a decent sailor. People go on about the "Bay of Biscay", but my opinon is that the North Sea can be far worse.
 
If you do plan to use aires on your way down through France just be aware that often the water has been turned off to protect against frost .
 
We take the toll roads all the way through France the weather is cold, we have a emovis tag on the windscreen this makes using the tolls so much easier. The toll roads are not cheap but we like to leave the cold behind as soon as possible and we can travel almost twice as far in one day using the motorways without the worry of speed cameras road humps etc. We do pull off the motorway to use aires and fuel at local supermarket we always buy a few bottles of water because as stated earlier the water is usually turned off. We take our time and meander on our return journey in April.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Tony50 said:
My concern is where to park up for one night near Dover, any ideas please ?
Click to expand...
We would get over to France and then stop over. If you have to stop near Dover, I think Canterbury P + R is people’s favoured stop.

Lots of Aires in towns about 30 mins to an hour outside of Calais to stopover. (y)
 
Tony50 said:
Aires if possible , possibly travelling into Spain via Biarritz southwest, France then to Costa de Sol and into Portugal again not sure what sort of weather we might get in Portugal in January
Click to expand...
We will be taking that route down to Spain next week
We did a similar route in January to Carcassonne and had temperatures of 25 degrees then in February we were basking in 28 degrees at Soustons Plage and temperatures in the mid 20’s across Northern Spain and into Portugal.
Just take as much water as you can with you and try to use as little as possible.
 
Agree with Tonka's western route. Here it is again with links to maps and routes for Spain too if interested. Safe Travels.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
In January the west route is best through France. If you use the Somport tunnel check the weather before you start, have an early start to get as far south as possible. We stop on the air at Carina
 
I think Dreux to Teruel is a long, long drive. Particularly, in view of the french speed limits, if you are over 3500 kg. :cautious:
 
bellabee said:
I think Dreux to Teruel is a long, long drive. Particularly, in view of the french speed limits, if you are over 3500 kg. :cautious:
Click to expand...

We have started to use the toll between Tours and Poitiers. By then I am sick of roundabouts and this seems to speed the journey up
 
Dont bother with camp sites most in France are closed and you're only stopping overnight to sleep. I always assume water will be off pretty well everywhere and a full tank will easily do us for 5 days. If you find water its a bonus.
Wish we were going to but swmbo is not well.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Join us

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Back
Top