Club Arnage

After JP's note about always Portsmouth / poole and me trying a new route this time, just thought i'd ask.

Really i am secretly doing market research for the ferry companies and getting paid loads ( ??? - No just bored )

As my co-pilot lives near Dover, and the rest of us drive down from East Anglia, Dover / Calais (or Boulogne) is our obvious (and cheapest) route.

The closest port to us is Newhaven, so our prefered route used to be the Newhaven - Dieppe crossing. This also give a good drive to Le Mans by cutting out the long motorway section from Calais.

The problem with this route is that it is prone to disruption and the sevice even stopped for a few years. Now Hoverspeed have pulled out, only the slow TransManche ferries do the route, these have a poor record of service so we will use the Dover Calais route as a second choice.

Added - DONT NEED TO we just drive / WALK

Forgot about the continentals

Where's the   ----   "I get pissed on the ferry, go to sleep in the car, let someone else do the driving and wake up at Le Mans and hav'nt got a clue which route I've just taken" section?

I know some who can vote for this.

Portsmouth - that includes St Malo, Cherbourg, Caen  & Le Havre (plus Bilbao and Santander) - all a bit different.

Caen has the best boats and is shortest, but Dover is cheaper, and has the best drive - the N138.  Difficult choice.

On a bike, it's got to be Portsmouth/Caen, intresting roads and the slog down from Calais on a bike is a pain in the a*se (literally).
By car has to be via Dover on cost grounds, and with the new motoway should only take 3 hours, or less if you don't mind the fines.

mine is to cherbourg - the roads to/from are absoultly fab eg the d1 & d2 - and hence making the "commute" a large part of the weeks experiences.  tend to have less police around too...

Got to be Pompey for me, as Barry says any Journey that long from Calais is a P.I.T.A.   Although Dick Turpin sees a bike coming for miles!!
Lots to do culture vultering on the way down there or back too.
I'm booked already R U!  £101 THIS YEAR....... ;D

Being noted for getting the most for our money (or other peoples money preferably) tend to use which ever of the western channel routes that gives us the best combination of time of crossing and price. Varies from year to year so have used Portsmouth , Southampton (for those with long memories0 and Newhaven this side and Dieppe, Le Havre, Cherbourg, Caen and St Malo tha french side.

Did Dover-Calais once when I was living in Bedforshire but it took forever to get there from Calais

Andy,

how did you get it for that price?

N.

Personal preference is from Poole, with Pompey a close second, the route from Calais seems to take all day, which it probably is.

There are some fantastic country roads running through the Cherbourg peninsula and down to LM.  With plenty of stop offs for food and a drink.  Not many Gendarmes either as it is all country roads, however this year came up a long hill and pushing on a bit as we were in tandem with a black 'vette only to find lots of Gendarmes!!!  Fortunately, they were looking at the traffic coming from the opposite direction.

Another favourite route is LM to Deauville, but you only go there for a night on the tiles and just use the hotel room for somewhere to change.

Much as I prefer Pompey  (Straight run down A34 and M40 etc...) our lot will insist on travelling by mechanical worm via the ragged end of Kentshire, not a straight run at all...

But satisfyingly cheaper than the old P&O prices from Pompey.
 ;)

I was really happy with the price from Poole - Cherbourg, return Caen - Portsmouth this year. £200 per car, Half of last years cost, so a nice saving. I did the run to the ferry port last week on my bike and it was easy to get to, so the SPS convoy should be ok, and a bit of fun as no cameras to keep the TVR's reins on.

If you would like a scenic route from Cherbourg, try this one from Aysedasi's website,

 http://www.aysedasi.co.uk/2002/directions/lmcherbourg.htm

Beautiful roads through the French countryside, plenty of places to stop for food and drink, LE TEILLEUL being my favourite.