Spain.......from North East Scotland in March!!

[BB103]

So.....a long way to travel (with an old doggo!)!

We are planning a 6 week trip in March and we're thinking about catching a ferry from Cairnryan ( 4 hour drive) to Larne, then after another 4ish hour drive get to Rosslare and catch the ferry to Bilbao.

As the pet friendly cabins from south England to Spain are fully booked, the only other option we've considered is the channel tunnel, but this seems like a long way to get to Spain as even to get to the tunnel is a 600 mile 10 hour drive !!

Anyone else done this route, or have any other cunning suggestions?

Thanks for looking at this post and thanks in anticipation for any suggestions.

ps. The tunnel option will obviously only be viable with no restrictions on travel.

 

[monzer]

So.....a long way to travel (with an old doggo!)!

We are planning a 6 week trip in March and we're thinking about catching a ferry from Cairnryan ( 4 hour drive) to Larne, then after another 4ish hour drive get to Rosslare and catch the ferry to Bilbao.

As the pet friendly cabins from south England to Spain are fully booked, the only other option we've considered is the channel tunnel, but this seems like a long way to get to Spain as even to get to the tunnel is a 600 mile 10 hour drive !!

Anyone else done this route, or have any other cunning suggestions?

Thanks for looking at this post and thanks in anticipation for any suggestions.

ps. The tunnel option will obviously only be viable with no restrictions on travel.

I've done it from Aberdeen. It's hard to give pointers as only you can know how much driving you want to do. I like to get the miles covered so hardly any stopping for me. Headed for Spain as soon as I got in to France and finally caved in and stopped 60 or so miles from the Spanish border.

Never regretted it. Remember you will have some challenging roads and conditions depending on what route you take. Expect snow, mountains etc....

 

[rnb100]

Have you looked at the DFDS 'party boat' from Newcastle to Amsterdam? I know that one of their vessels has dog friendly cabins (I believe there's a sand pit type of set up for a few cabins). That's only around a four to five hour drive from Aberdeen. I used the ferry before (no pets though, but I was speaking to people that did have a dog with them).

 

[flatpackchicken]

I think you best route for you is the Irish ferry to Spain as do far fewer miles and much quicker as only about 240 Miles drive in Ireland and your there !!!!

 

[BB103]

Thanks monzer, rnb100 and flatpackchicken for all your replies!

Monzer, it sounds like you like to do way more driving than we do!

Rnb100, we hadn't considered that route...but just looked and it would be an 800 ish mile drive from Amsterdam to Northern Spain so not really fancying that.

Flatpack, yes that's what we thought, and know it's expensive but would probably get us to North Spain at the same time as the drive to South England then through France.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[monzer]

I'd only probably do it again if I had a couple of 2-day stopovers on the way.

Take the easiest route and enjoy the ferry.

 

[Two of usI]

Not sure where you are, but, maybe drive to Plymouth/ Pompey ( whichever is closest ) and rest on ferry to Santander / Bilbao.....

 

[BB103]

Thanks two of us but there are no pet friendly cabins and we couldn't leave our very old dog in a kennel for that time.

 

[HugoBNB]

Thanks monzer, rnb100 and flatpackchicken for all your replies!

Monzer, it sounds like you like to do way more driving than we do!

Rnb100, we hadn't considered that route...but just looked and it would be an 800 ish mile drive from Amsterdam to Northern Spain so not really fancying that.

Flatpack, yes that's what we thought, and know it's expensive but would probably get us to North Spain at the same time as the drive to South England then through France.

Why not go down to Portsmouth for the Santander ferry? That way you will save yourself 3-4 days of your 90/180 allowance? That is if that is important to you.
Safe travels

 

[BB103]

Why not go down to Portsmouth for the Santander ferry? That way you will save yourself 3-4 days of your 90/180 allowance? That is if that is important to you.
Safe travels

Thanks but there are no pet friendly cabins available unfortunately.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[rnb100]

BB103 I was thinking of the pet friendly cabins, then you can then have as many stop overs when you're all on terra firm on the flip side.

 

[Massey16]

So.....a long way to travel (with an old doggo!)!

We are planning a 6 week trip in March and we're thinking about catching a ferry from Cairnryan ( 4 hour drive) to Larne, then after another 4ish hour drive get to Rosslare and catch the ferry to Bilbao.

As the pet friendly cabins from south England to Spain are fully booked, the only other option we've considered is the channel tunnel, but this seems like a long way to get to Spain as even to get to the tunnel is a 600 mile 10 hour drive !!

Anyone else done this route, or have any other cunning suggestions?

Thanks for looking at this post and thanks in anticipation for any suggestions.

ps. The tunnel option will obviously only be viable with no restrictions on travel.

We live in North East England, travel to Folkestone for overnight stop at black horse caravan club site. Take tunnel to France as have 2 dogs and not happy to leave in van on a sea crossing. Take about 4 days to travel through france then into Spain and the same home. It is lots of miles but find the road system so much better in Europe. But with 6 weeks should be fine, 1 week down and back, 4 weeks in the sun. Its part of the adventure, we love it

 

[tjay]

We have done it many times from Dundee too Murcia via the tunnel ( use that as we have 2 dogs)
Calais, Bordeaux, Pamplona cross country to the coast is our preferred route ,take our time and make it part of the holiday.
Have done the centre route via Milla Viaduct too south of France then follow coast down through Spain avoided toll roads except to bypass Barcelona.
On occasion also went via Toulouse ,another nice route ! It's your choice , make it and enjoy.