P&O Ferries price

[alibongo]

I wonder if the ferry will be cheaper on the friday I've just noticed its the 13th?

[Steve Maund]

I have just booked 6 of us for the Classic in July with P & O, out on the 8th, back on 15th, Hull - Zeebrugge
£187.00 each, price includes cabins and 6 cars.
Steve

[keithk]

I have just booked 6 of us for the Classic in July with P & O, out on the 8th, back on 15th, Hull - Zeebrugge
£187.00 each, price includes cabins and 6 cars.
Steve

that's a good price.. Hull is a bit of a drive for me I'll stick with Dover

[mal]

I have just had our Porstmouth/ Cherbourg (fast Ferry) Caen/ Portsmouth ferries confirmed at £420.00 and that is daytime. I looked in my records and we paid £322 in 2003 but that included the overnight outbound to Caen.

We do prefer the portsmouth route as the drive is better (avoids Autoroutes) but it is getting really pricey

[BigH]

Oh, it all seems a bit too early, we haven't even had Guy Fawkes night yet, - but it's got me looking...
Brittany: Portsmouth/Caen or Cherbourg - nearly £400
Speedferries: Dover/Calais - £56
£300 or so buys a lot of beer and wine! It's a while since I've done the Calais to LM run, and I think a few autoroutes have opened up since. Without getting into speed cameras/gendarme pursuit vehicles or womens frilly underwear, it looks like the Calais option is a no brainer. It's a shame, the route from Cherbourg is a very nice drive, and sitting in a 40 year old car on the m-way for 5 hours from Calais isn't going to be much fun, mind you, who knows if I'm lucky I might get my mallory points scorched.
H

[Barry]

H you can get to LM in under 4 hoursfrom Calais without breaking the speed limits on the new motorways, but if you are in the Jag I would recommend allowing yourself more time and take in a few N roads, it's 4 hours of boredom on the A's.

[Piglet]

it's 4 hours of boredom on the A's.

Absolutely, I think that new road should get an award for the most boring road in France. 

[BigH]

4 hours!
That's a big improvement alright, maybe call it 5 and make a couple of detours into some of the little towns we used to stop in years ago.
Anyway, there's plenty time to think about it, but £300 is a pretty persuasive figure, - if there's 3 of us in convoy say, that's an extra £1000 in the kitty! I made the Brittany crossing this year on the bike, and I was almost the only person onboard, - well, maybe ten vehicles or less, - with those prices I can understand why.
H

[mgmark]

H, it might not be Bonfire Night yet, but the bloody Christmas stuff is in the shops.  Get the bookings done and paid for before the Xmas hit on the bank balance my man!  

I used to do the Portsmouth-Caen route every year, overnight out in the week and back on the Sunday night boat, when the extra cost was about the same as the additional fuel used by going via Dover.  Gave up on the route about 5 years ago because it was getting so pricey and the difference had risen from around £100 to around £200, and now is £3-400.  That is a lot of beer or, indeed, an overnight stop in a hotel on the way out, back or both.  

And don't worry about boredom on the autoroutes.  The section from Calais/Boulogne to Rouen (2 hours or so) is pleasant enough with some good rolling scenery (and it's cheap - I think that the toll for that comes to about 7 euros), and the run from Rouen to Le Mans is the most boring stretch imaginable.  So on the way out, I head from Rouen down the old route to Alencon and Le Mans, and only use the new autotroute from Le Mans to Rouen coming back.  

I do miss the old route - the proximity to Le Mans, the atmosphere, the convenience of the overnight cabin, stopping at Falaise for coffee etc etc..  But Dover Calais/Boulogne has plenty going for it too aside from price - Rouen is not a problem once you've found the back way way through it, the Baie de La Somme stop is delightful, and there are plenty of places to stop off enroute with hotels or campsites if you want to break the journey up.  And you can still drive the bit of the old N138 that remains atmospheric - between Le Mans and Alencon.

MG Mark

[nickliv]

You can also play a good game on the autoroutes, if you're in a RHD car with a snoozing passenger. Pootle along at 130 KPH and see how many times they get woken up by exotic tin.