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Was talking to a friend earlier today and the conversation rekindled the idea of driving to the UK next year. She tells me that if you book the tunnel at the start of the year you can do it for 10pounds per person per trip and if you book for ten trips. Has anyone heard of this?
She also said the ferry to Boulogne costs 40pounds. Does anyone know?
Quite like the idea of an 'adventure' and not having to hire a car and bringing back lots of goodies with no restrictions ( other than money!! )
BUT, not quite sure that I would like the practicalities of driving all that way OR the temper losing when we get lost !! 
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 ' Do unto others as you would be done by'
Now a non-smoker ! 
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Karen yes eurotunnel do a scheme
Click Here you must be one of the travellers though
we always drive over to the house in spain when we come out at summer and easter as we shop at Tesco's and spend enough to get the amount of clubcard tokens we need for both trips so it costs us nothing
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Hi
We've been driving down to North Africa via France and Spain for approx 30 years and usually do the Dover-Calais crossing. If you do early mornings it's cheaper not regular enough travellers per year to link into any discounts though.
Just came back having done the 'Pride of Bilbao' crossing for the first time. WHAT A RIP OFF!! We would rather have the extra days travelling though very pleasant French countryside, staying in a decent hotel with reasonably priced food. Didn't actually save any time by using the ferry and it cost more even taking road tolls and fuel into account.
As long as you've got a decent road map and european break down cover would thoroughly recommend taking the car. As you say can stock up on loads of goodies - and not just the alcoholic type.
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Sonia
I've just read your post and will show it to my husband later. He is hell bent on using this ferry route even though I am an extremely poor sailor.
He is convinced the extra we pay in fares will be offset by the lower fuel and toll charges not to mention we will arrive refreshed from a good nights sleep!!
My last overnight ferry journey was from Cyprus to Haifa and oh boy was I ill.
Thank you for the info.
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hELLO ALL
We drive down all the time now. We use the speedferry crossing from Dover to Boulogne every time. The crossing only takes 55 minutes, It gets us 20 miles further down the coast to Calais, Its easier to drive out of the port and onto the motorway or National Route for toll free mororing,and the crossing can cost from only £19 for the car AND PASSENGERS. What else can you say, it really takes some beating.
As far as the distance goes, its not at all like driving in the UK. The roads are not crowded like there and usually once you get going you do not get held up with traffic jams, just plain sailing really. A good set of maps or careful use of the sat nav is a must.
As far as hotels go there are loads of motel type places just off the road and prices vary from only 30 euro up to what ever you would like to pay. The cheaper ones give a good service, are clean and you usually get a good nights sleep. Continental breakfast is optional.
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i first used the "pride of Bilbao"a few years ago now and vowed never again after my first trip.
I have only ever drove back to the UK once and i chose to use the ferry,it is very expensive and if you think you are going to get a good nights sleep balnced on what they consider to be a bed then i would think again.
I was also persuaded to pre order my meals as i was told i would get them at a discounted rate!! i suppose the economics of that statement would have been true if i could have actually stopped my plate dancing around the table long enough to get any of it in my mouth,full english breakfast is not that great when you have to catch it first!!!!!!!for what i actually consumed i could have payed for gordon ramsay to personally deliver it to my cabin.
I was not allowed outside because of the extreme weather conditions in fact i am sure i passed George Clooney as one stage on the set of "the perfect storm".
The bar prices are extorniate,and as you walk around the boat you see rows of people standing in front of the tv watching day time telly!! and they are on a "mini cruise"!!!!!!!!
After being on there for 2 hours you feel like you are stuck in a bad cartoon,on your 3rd lap of the ship nobody has actually moved and it feels like perpetual groundhog day!!
On the way back to your cabin every night you have to negotiate the line of students sprawled out acrossss the floor asleep or unconcious on a budget crossing.
Apart from that i highly recommend it.
Georgia
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still here after all these years!
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We r considering doing this and driving to torrvieja
Would like to know wot r the best maps or if sat nav is a good one
So its seems ferry to calais or eurotunnel where does the eurotunnel bring u out
Definatley won't get the ferry don't have good sealegs
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Saznaz
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Saz the tunnel brings you out at Sangat which is just outside of Calais when you come out of the tunnel area you can get staright on to the A16 which takes you towards Paris.
Sat Nav will take tou round the boulevard Perepherique which is okay if you are okay with foreign driving if you are not the tell the Sat Nav to ignore the Paris section of the route and it will take you away from Paris.
Try www viamichelin.co.uk and put in your route from your house to Torrevieja and check it out
If you have a Tesco clubcard and do enough shopping the tunnel can cost you nothing
This message was last edited by conrad on 12/18/2007.
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Saznaz
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I have been reading this thread with interest as I am planning on driving from London to Fuengirola in a couple of months time. I have already discounted the Portsmouth to Bilbao route as I don't fancy being stuck on a boat for that length of time. Have considered the usual Dover to Calais or Boulogne but I am also thinking of the Portsmouth to Caen service. But the questions that springs to mind is how many miles / fuel / time etc will I save by going this rather then Dover to Boulogne or Calais? Has anyone had any experience of this route?
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Hi Everyone
I have to drive to alacante in the summer and i was stuck between thedover - calais or plymouth - santander routes, i am taking my dog does anyone know if i can take it across from dover as i know i can got plymouth route with it.
Also how many tolls are there if i drive through france? and what is the total approximate cost?
I do enjoy driving so i think i would prefer to take the long road trip rather stuck on a boat.
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As I've mentioned before we've driven down for many years and always used the Dover Calais route. I think it depends on where you live in the UK which route is going to be best. We're in London so Dover is easier than driving to Portsmouth. Our daughter who lives in Wales always uses the Portsmouth Caen services and can't praise the service enough. You have an overnight crossing and arrived refreshed and ready to go.
Regarding the costs although we drove down in November from Bilbao (after the horrid crossing!) I forgot to make a note costs of the tolls. We stayed in one hotel that was about 70€ with dinner and garaging for the car. Last June we went to Andorra and back paying a total of 82€ in road tolls and 418€ in fuel we did about 1500 miles.
Personally I like the drive through France as you are guaranteed a good meal anywhere. Sorry but I still find Spanish restaurants hit and miss. We usually take 3 days with 2 overnight stops. Of course it depends on how fast you drive!! and daylight. As we've got older we don't like doing too much night driving on strange roads and trying to find a motel/ hotel/hostal. We once work up to find a pig farm next door to the hotel. Very nice - NOT
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Should have said I used be 'Sonia El' then could get logged in so in frustration re-registered as Penguin! Doesn't make much sense referring to earlier posts when this looks like my first.
RG - I think we're neighbours in Don Juan
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2 seconds if you go to the site here and put in you start route and your end route it gives you a guide to the tolls total and the fuel costs whenever we have gone we always use the eurotunnel due to the fact that we use tesco's enough to make it a free crossing and the total spend there and back to torrevieja has been approx £500 we have a grand voyager 7 seater MPV which does around 35 mpg for the trip
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Thanks Conrad that was a great site, really helpful thank you.
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We drove last Summer from Glasgow to Mar Menor, Murcia for two months in an Audi A6 and took our time driving about 8 hours approx. each day with two boys and two dogs. We used the Channel tunnel so the dogs were with us all the time. It took us 4 days and 3 nights which we spent in Etap Hotels and we can take the dogs in.We stopped at Calais, Clermont Ferrand and Barcelona. This Summer we will shorten it and try it in 3 days. Cost? approx. £400 each way. The most difficult bit was finding a vet to do the inocculations between 24 and 48 hours before crossing back to the U.K. but we did it! This message was last edited by lifeline on 1/14/2008.
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Daveil
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No problem 2 seconds we can do the trip in around 24 hours which includes a 5/6 hour kip in the service stations(which by the way are much better than iurs and don't charge you for staying more than 2 hours) my wife and i share the driving I do the night part she does the day section.
We are in Milton Keynes.
If you do do enough shoping at tesco's and book early enough then as I have said the tunnel is free, although even without the tesco clubcard vouchers the crossing is still cheapish if you go at the off peak time
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Hi Sonia / Penguin, Yes you are right we are neighbours. Conrad thanks for the link having looked into it there isn't much difference between Dover to Calais / Boulogne or Portsmouth to Caen. As I am in West London Portsmouth is marginally easier for me to get to then Dover & from mid March they have a fast service taking about 3.5 hours otherwise its about 6 hours unless you take the last crossing of the day then its overnight. Dover to Boulogne is only 50 min crossing and the total journey (1 way to Fuengirola) including fuel ferry tickets tolls etc works out about £50 cheaper then from Caen but means driving an extra 230 KM odd. So as I say not much in it, I think I will either pick the fast crossing from Portsmouth otherwise it will be Dover to Boulogne.
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