Ferries again - Calais or further South?
Hello all,
We're putting ideas together for a planned French trip next Spring. We aim to go round by La Rochelle, before other destinations, so could cross Dover -Calais and drive down, or, for example, sail Portsmouth - Le Havre and save ourselves some driving. (We prefer the boat to the train.)
Current quotes via the C&MC booking system suggest Calais would be about £100 cheaper on an equivalent crossing from the UK. Google maps reckons it's about 2-3 hours longer to drive to La Rochelle from Calais than Le Havre, but that's a Google maps prediction, so assuming a non-towing vehicle driven by someone with an iron bladder.
Lots of things might affect our decision, considering both quality of life and quality of wallet. Calais would mean more driving - our diesel consumption when towing averages 41/42 mpg, slightly higher on M-ways, so that needs factoring in. CaIais could conceivably entail an extra stop-over somewhere.So there are various balancing factors.
We're only one year into caravanning, and while we've travelled on Ferries before - though not recently - we've not done it with the van. Our past experience of ferries was that Brittany F's was a nicer place to be than those on the Dover-Calais stretch.
It'll surely work either way, but it would be good to hear from those who've tried both these ways, or others, of getting to the La Rochelle area, and your preferences, before we start booking any boats.
Incidentally, is there a price advantage in booking very early - does it change upwards, or downwards, as you get nearer the date?
Thanks as always for the helpful advice this forum can produce!
Comments
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Where do you live ? Isn't that the key question ?
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We've done most of the crossings now, if we were heading for La Rochelle it wouldn't be a Dover crossing unless we intended to spend time exploring the Normandy coast. We would more than likely choose to use Portsmouth to Caen or the overnight crossing to St Malo. These ferries are more expensive, however they do put you in the right area of France. If you play around with the ferry booking page, an afternoon ferry out of Portsmouth to Caen and the morning ferry back should give you a good price as on some days i believe caravans go free, if you add to this a few camping cheques this could also give a further discount. The staff are very helpful so you could also give them a call to see if there are any offers on.
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Lots of choices in your question. Yes, the quality of a crossing with Brittany Ferries is undoubtedly better than any Dover/Calais crossing, but three times (at least) the price, so if you paid £6 for a Wetherspoons meal you would expect better if you paid £18 at a French 'Brasserie'. Given then you live in Kent, why not just do the shortest crossing?
For us, it's a 'No brainer' - we used Portsmouth/Caen on two crossings, years ago, and on the first we were very late and only just arrived in time. The second crossing, despite setting off ridiculously early, we ran into motorway closures, Silverstone traffic queues, a diversion via narrow lanes, and other problrms, and were very late. We were told we were too late to get on our booked crossing so we'd have to wait two days for the next crossing at our discounted rate.................!! Only the intervention of a more sympathetic check-in clerk pushed us through and we were literally the last to board! Now we use Dover/Calais, where if you miss a crossing there's another along in an hour or so!
Why La Rochelle? The first year we were caravanning in France, we met an English chap who lived in France. We were looking for a good guide book in our local book shop, and got talking. He was interested in where we were heading, and advised us to avoid La Rochelle as it was the only place English people had heard of, and that people from there were the most unfriendly. Years later we made friend with a French family, with two lovely children, whilst staying at Les Peupliers in the Dordogne, and he said he loved his southern French holidays because the people where he lived were not 'Sympathetique'!! He lived in La Rochelle!
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Warrants a Victor Meldrew response doesn't it?
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as others have said, where are you coming from...unless its from the eastern side of the uk, and you are heading to the western side of france, i would use a 'western' crossing, as above.
just to add in another couple of choices....we live in Somerset and Poole/Cherbourg gives us the best combination of convenience/price/distance on this side, and places us (generally) where we wish to start our travels.
newhaven/dieppe also has advantages (depending on your location) in that it gets you much further 'west' tha. a Calais crossing but the price is usually pretty low...
when you've done a bit more 'planning', come back should you need a little more help...
good luck, H.
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as David says, stay close to the port to ensure youre on it....so, you can stay on the port itself....
weve stayed on the dock at Poole, Portsmouth, Newhaven....you wont be on your own....and no hassle of 'getting there' by a certain time...
of course, an afternoon crossing at Portsmouth might be a bit different (as opposed to our morning crossings) but just giving you a heads up on this as an option should it tie in with timings...
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Lots of interesting things to stir into our pot of decisions here, thank you all!
To answer a few questions - we're coming from Northampton. So Val, we know all about avoiding Silverstone, yes, it's a pain!
La Rochelle - not to stay in, and that's interesting to hear about the non Sympathetique denizens there. Some friends we met earlier this week were talking about a nice place a bit North of there, where the tourists don't go much, and it seemed an interesting idea to pause en route to perhaps Lot, Dordogne and/or other places further South. Maybe I should post a thread on "Where would you seriously avoid in France in the Spring?" !
I need to find more about these vouchers...
Tammygirl, when you say "the staff are very helpful" I'm thinking you mean the C&MC staff, is that right? That sounds good advice.
41+ mpg - honest, yes! Because of ill health this Summer we've had little enough chance to use our caravan since we bought it a year ago, but we loved our adjusted version of the Scotland 500 route in April, missing most of the tourists thereby. According to the car's reading, we averaged low 40's over the 2000 mile trip, so a mix of M-ways at 60mph where possible, and single track and hill roads going much slower. It's a 2004 Volvo V70 pulling a tiny Rapido pop-top, which helps a lot. And I try to drive smoothly. (Comes of years of being a freelancer travelling round schools & heritage sites, saving pennies!)
But this is to digress from the main point here, which is to learn more about ferry crossing possibilities
When I asked earlier about the Dordogne or not for May, advice was to not plan too much, more to read weather forecasts at the time. So we're aiming to collect nice looking places around the South in general, decide where to start & finish, and then be flexible.
... but maybe I should post that "Where to avoid" query as a thread after all...
Thanks again, and feel free to add more.0 -
From Northampton I would be looking to get to a ferry by avoiding the London area and the M25 - so my own preference would be via the Oxford by pass and the A34 down to Portsmouth or Poole. That gives you a choice of Le Havre, Ouistreham, Cherbourg and St Malo as landing ports on the other side. Your call !
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I have a similar choice as you Hedgehurst and if going to Portsmouth I agree with ET on the route. However, to me it is a no brainer and even though it means going round the M25 and using the Dartford crossing, going via Dover-Calasi must be far cheaper with the m.p.g you achieve. It is definitely far cheaper for me plus there ismore choice of crossing times and methods.
peedee
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We always use the Tunnel so a bit biased; so much easier and quicker. As for La Rochelle, a bit of an odd choice to stay and I would recommend crossing over to Ile de Ré which is often recommended on this forum and we enjoyed very much some years ago.
As you are going in the Spring I would be wary of locking in to Western ports like St. Malo because if the weather is really bad you are a bit trapped. Many, many, times we have got to Calais with appalling weather and just headed straight South until the sun came out. Of course, if you are ending up in Le Havre or Caen then you could also head South but not quite so easy.
I always prefer Dover which for us is the same distance as Portsmouth, partly because of the Tunnel but also it opens up the Italian lakes if the weather is bad in Northern Europe.
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I looked at return ferry crossings during sociable hours Portsmouth le Harve which would be over £500 for me while Dover Calais was £190 ish. Travelling to the ports is a mornings journey roughly the same distance what ever route is chosen and Calais is 130 miles further from La Rochelle than from Le Harve largely over a toll free route to Rouen,. I am guessing the Caen fare would be more expensive than Le Harve.
Like HG I use the tunnel. There are no penalties for vehicle size, it is quick and convenient and costs much the same as the ferries.
peedee
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From Northampton there would be no contest for me it would be Portsmouth every time. Less hassle to get there and far further south to start travelling in France whether you end up going to La Rochelle or further south straight off.
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We are half an hour from Plymouth and Pont Aven sails on Thursday evenings to Roscoff. We usually book two or three weeks in advance.
Big ship, good stabilisers, smart restaurant, good menu, better than average cabin, comfortable beds, breakfast in the town in the morning, look at the sky and decide what to do and where to go.
Do some people try to plan too much?
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We live a bit further south than you in Milton Keynes and since 1992 have always used crossing from either Dover or Folkestone. I have lost count of how long we have been doing it but we more or less use the Tunnel exclusively now as it's so straightforward and quick. It would be easy enough for us to get down to Portsmouth for the afternoon ferry but prefer the Tunnel.
David
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Twelve minutes to Portsmouth Ferry terminal for me so a bit of a no-brainer.
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More and more choices :-) Thanks all - none of it's wasted.
For a start, more research backs your question of "Why go to La Rochelle?" But we're still aiming South, whether we visit that coastal area or not, so the original Ferries query was still relevant, and all this information helps. The tunnel is surely convenient, we just happen to enjoy the ride on boats 'cos we're still two big kids at heart!
While we've travelled and camped in France quite a few times over the years, it's always been specifically to & from a destination set by the Belgian organisation we used to work/holiday with, providing folk music for dance & workshop sessions, usually camping somewhere well off the tourist routes, so most times we'd go there, vanish into that part of the scenery for two high Summer weeks, then drive back in time for work. We loved it, but it didn't leave much time for exploration, hence our extensive ignorance of which parts are really worth the visit in April/May.
Again, thanks for all contributions, both of things to do and things to avoid.0 -
We live in East Anglia so we are a bit stuck with the M25 when travelling to France by ferry from the south coast. It is cheaper to use Dover but Portsmouth to Caen at the "right" times (early afternoon out, early morning back) are not too horrendous - especially with the "caravans go free" and Camping Cheque offers - and not quite so much more than Dover-Calais. Those are the sailings we use to avoid the long drag through Normandy etc. for our favoured destination of Brittany.
However, we have caravanned extensively all over France and we think La Rochelle is a lovely place for a few days. (Good job we don't all like the same places !!). La Rochelle can be tricky to drive into and out and to park, except at the large harbourside car park. As another David has said, a trip to the Ile de Re is a delight. We would certainly recommend a visit there.
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Hi Hedgehurst,
We now live not too far from you at Hinckley, when living just below Saumur we crossed every couple of months. I often did the calculations and concluded.
Leic's / Dover / Calias / Saumur cannot be done in one hit, we must stop somewhere.( anytime crossing )
Leic's / Portsmouth / Caen / Saumur overnight crossing with en suite cabin + breakfast. Leave Leic's 4pm, dinner in Portsmouth, on board a good nights sleep, shower and breakfast, 3 hrs driving each side, arrive midday.
Caen / Portsmouth. Overnight on Port at Ouistreham for morning crossing, free cabin.
The difference we found at the time was about £30 cheaper Dover.
We always plummed for the Caen / Portsmouth.
We were at the time members of the Brit/Ferries Owners Club and did get discounts, I believe it now called the Frequent travellers Club.
Who decides to travel past Silverstone on GP or F1 weekends !!?
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Eeee, doest'a mean as when theey're goin' raand that Silverstone place, t' chaps use Satnavs in them little tiny cars?
Not so very long ago we went for a walk in the country a few miles away from there, thinking it would be nice & quiet, but it turned out to be a practice day, so it was a very noisy walk! Luckily even on big race days there are countryside routes for those who know, but even so we tend to give it a wide berth then.
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Dover or Tunnel for us as we travel free (well sort of) thanks to Tesco. The likes of Newhaven-Dieppe saves nothing as far as I can see. As for La Rochelle we think it’s well worth a visit especially on a Saturday when the superb market is on.
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