ferry or drive ? please help

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peterspark

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hi we are going to spain in the end of may to costabrava with are 5 th wheeler . It will be are first time in europe so can any one help with this , should we drive down through france or should we get the ferry from portsmouth to bilbao ? thanks for any advice
peter:thumb:
 
Greetings...

Obviously I don't know your mpg but in general I have always found driving to be more economical than going by sea... I also enjoy the touring rather than the leaning over the rail being ill...
 
jjwagon said:
Greetings...

Obviously I don't know your mpg but in general I have always found driving to be more economical than going by sea... I also enjoy the touring rather than the leaning over the rail being ill...
Click to expand...

maybe about 15 mpg
 
4 years ago, with a caravan, we booked to drive through France to Spain and then to return by sea, actually from Santander. When we arrived at Santander the ferry had been canceled. We had no option but to drive back through France, but this time in about a day and a half, to get a ferry from Caen instead. It was like going to Inverness to catch the ferry to be told it was leaving from lands end.

So now personally I would stick to driving through France. I am sure it is more economical, and unless you are in a real rush probably more enjoyable. And if there are any problems with the ferry, then there are lots more options than there are on the relatively few Spanish crossings.
 
ferry or drive?

many thanks for that , i have allowed 2days travel to spain and back again and three weeks in spain
peter:BigGrin:

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peterspark said:
many thanks for that , i have allowed 2days travel to spain and back again and three weeks in spain
peter:BigGrin:
Click to expand...

That's a fair drive with a 5er in two days .. shortest route around 750 ml .. doable but I would plan for at least one more stop rather than arrive late at night knackered..
 
hi Peter,

depends on how much time you have and your finances.
portsmouth / bilboa isnt cheap. work out your ferry cost and your fuel cost for both options bearing in mind you still have to travel across spain anyway. for online maps try Via michelin....excellent mapping.

we drove down through france to the south coast then followed the coast to castellion.....fantastic scenery and roads, once you get past paris. the further south the more dramatic/rugged it becomes.
we used the N roads to the west of paris, via Reims, Troyes, Nevers, Claremont ferrand then took the free motorway (A75/E11) then the A9/E15 to Perpignan then the AP7/E15 all the way to Benicassim.
a couple of tolls on the AP7 but we werent charged for some reason:Cool:

BTW....we took 4 days but only drove 200mls per day.

if you take the A75 you pass over the Millau viaduct, one of our main stopping points on route....amazing bit of engineering but not good for the vertigo....nearly 800ft (240mtr) above the valley floor at its highest point.
 
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just done a calculation on the ferry price....

assuming a 2mtr high towcar, 4 mtr high X 9mtr long 5er.
end of may return 3 weeks later.....
2 people....inboard cabin.


that'll be £1055 thank you, plus fuel for 500mls through spain each way.
 
we be going on friday travel down to dover stay near (any good sites near dover?)then get the ferry saturday then travel to leon stop there and get to spain on the sunday night this is :Doh: does this sound right or am i bit to keen?
many thanks peter:Eeek:

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peterspark said:
we be going on friday travel down to dover stay near (any good sites near dover?)then get the ferry saturday then travel to leon stop there and get to spain on the sunday night this is :Doh: does this sound right or am i bit to keen?
many thanks peter:Eeek:
Click to expand...

616 miles...in one go....:Eek!::Eeek:

i reckon that will be around 12 to 15 hours non stop bearing in mind the speed restictions on your rig.

personally id stop off elsewhere as well.....the drive is part of your holiday after all,
 
Hi Peter
We've done calais to Barcalona in one go, and our advise is ''Don't do-it''
Personally i'd aim to do 400miles straight off the ferry, then finish the journey the next-day.
In the past we've been fixated on getting-there so we can have more time diving and less time driving, in the future we intend to take longer getting-there and returning because we've seen nothing of france :Doh:


regards....nige
 
ok thanks for that :Smile: i will try a work out a route and the best time to catch the ferry
your p:thumb:eter
 
peterspark said:
hi any ideas where on the way ?
Click to expand...

the good thing about the french.....they love motorhomes.
nearly every town and village will have somewhere to park up for the night...even small villages have a municipal campsite somewhere close by.
they dont seem to have the "idiot" element that we do....no drunken yobs banging on your van walls during the night, no "boyracers" revving engines at all hours.
normally quite and civilized....and cheap.
Oh!! and not many height barriers.

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Don't know if this will help but not all campsites are open this time of year.
This link will let you search for an aire in the departments you are going thru where you can stop overnight.
CAMPINGCAR-INFOS. Click on the department. Don't ever stay on a motorway aire- it's too risky. Look for an aire in a small town village near to the motorway.
There are two nice campsites we used on the way down and back up. One was in Beaune, Camping Les Bouleaux, quiet new toilet block heated, good for overnight stop. I loved this as it was in wine country.
Camping Les Bouleaux , Beaune Campsite review I put in campings beaune and it came up with this review.

On the opposite side of the country the campsite is good at La Souterraine; at the side of a lake, walk into town, own water electricity, restaurant that locals from miles around come to eat at. We had to book in November lunchtime!! If you have time you can get the train to paris from the station, Fairly reasonable walking distance from site. Have a good trip.
Lucille
 
Run to spain

Hi we did 8 weeks in france 2008, good roads, the viaduct was excellent, we hope to go to spain (Benicasson) 1st April Dover Dunkirk 1st stop in France then take it from there on the way down proberbly 2 or 3 more stops, but we are planning to go for 8 weeks again so have time to drive on or not as we wish, but we think this is the preferd way to go, so enjoy your hols. :thumb::thumb::thumb:. Peter & Lynn
 
many thanks to all ,roll on may spain here we come:Cool::Cool::Cool::Cool:
 
Ferry or drive

Hi
I have been from Bilbao to Girona Costa Brava,it is about 630 kms and took 8 hours,so as you arrive all refreshed from ferry,it is a possible day journey down through .I have also driven from Caen to Girona but that is about 1035kms and takes about 11 hours.Although ferry to Bilboa is more expensive you save money on fuel and possibly overnight stop.However you go have a great holiday!!
 
peterspark said:
hi we are going to spain in the end of may to costabrava with are 5 th wheeler . It will be are first time in europe so can any one help with this , should we drive down through france or should we get the ferry from portsmouth to bilbao ? thanks for any advice
peter:thumb:
Click to expand...

We chose Dover/Calais, the Bilboa prices nearly brought on a heart attack.

From memory Bilbao was £700+, D/Calais was £58.

I recon £250 fuel and camping and we get to see a load of France.

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hilldweller said:
We chose Dover/Calais, the Bilboa prices nearly brought on a heart attack.

From memory Bilbao was £700+, D/Calais was £58.

I recon £250 fuel and camping and we get to see a load of France.
Click to expand...

i priced it using a few assumpsions Brian......

pickup and 9mtr 5th wheel + 2 people, end may return mid june.....£1055
 
Hello,
me & my boyfriend drove down to Barcelona in 2007, we enjoyed doing that.
it took afew weeks, as we we're on a tour in a our 7 meter long motorhome.

we set out in may 2007, heading through france, andorra, spain, and then germany, other places along the way too, and back again. (Dover to Dunkerque) we sailed at 4am in the morning as thats cheaper than going in the daytime.

in Dunkirk there is a motorhome parking place, right on the beach (you follow the signs for the Casino, and there are usually a number of motorhomes parked next to where the War mormorial is.

where they park up is a carpark next to the sea with the lovely beach right outside your door. :)

it's also around the corner from the D-Day Museum, its a good place to park and there are toliets near by and a tap. (D-Day evac. beach)

(here's a website i found with it's location on, i hope this works)
Panoramio - Photo of View from the beach to the campersite

I love staying there, before we get on the ferry to Dover, or when we have arrived from Dover to. :Cool: nice area, phone boxes near by, wonderful long beach, shops, ice creams. ooh i miss it so much..lol
(there's a CORA supermarket not too far away)
(we use the norfolk line ferrys) Link Removed


But It all depends on how long you've got for a tour? and what places you want to see while on the way there.

france is a lovely country, long roads, nice food, good aire de camping car places.

I'm not sure of the prices, of how much it'd be to sail to spain? prob alot.

Once you get over to france, the price of diesel is usually alot cheaper than over here in the Uk. and you can get really cheap diesel from Luxemburg! :BigGrin:
100% Bio Diesel too, thats what we run our Iveco turbo daily engine on.. when we get over there.. hehe (still got some in the back fuel tank) lol

the van was built in 1997, had a new engine put in, a new motorhome body on the back in 2004, lol

but make sure you can run on Bio diesel before you try it..

in 2006 we brought 2 tanks of bio diesel, at 88 cents a litre! but that was years ago..
we also got the 2nd tank free,,full ..as she didnt take VISA! yey. so she let us have that for free. :thumb:

our website has lots of amazing places we visted while touring europe, the only thing is non of the photo's work, as Gazz needs to sort them out..

Euro Tour 2005 - 2007, if i remember rightly.. tells you where we stayed and that lot.

Home

our fab travel blogs are a great read, for anyone thinking of going to europe.
we could make them in to abook, i suppose..? :) but we cant be bothered... lol

hope this has been helpful, good luck, from Sam.
 
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live near perpignan

hi there
cant help much on how long it will take in a motorhome as we dont pick ours up until tuesday, cant wait.

but, we live near perpignan in the mountains, i have done the UK/France run many many times, don't try to do it to quick, you will spoil the fun, its very tiring.

depending on your route, try to get south of paris out of rush hour!

it doesn't matter to much which way you come across france, ie centre, west or east coast, the distance is always about the same... the route of the massive central is fantastic but mostly autoroute (although free as there is no route national running alongside), but lovely views and almost ZERO lorries (due to the up and down up and down nature of the roads, could be tiring in laden MH as well).

anyway, my only advice is avoid paris, skirt around the coasts and its more enjoyable.

We will be doing the drive on thursday next week coming back wtih our new MH :-)

good luck and enjoy your trip
D
 
thanks for the advace for our trip we look in to where stop and we will be using our GPS & map any good maps to buy?:Eeek:
many thanks peter:Smile:
 

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