Dover Calais...... Thoughts?

professorben

heading to Czech Republic to show off the result of one of my more impressive ejaculations. 
( taking new son to meet G/parents ) 
so driving as, well I can't recall why it was a good idea at the time but it's all booked now, any tips? I've done the crossing once before but it was a while ago. 

Jalapeno

Tunnel ?

Moe_Zambeek

They'll do the rowing for you, all you have to do is drive onto the boat.

professorben

Jalapeno said:

Tunnel ?

Yes she's coming along too. 

professorben

Ferry is booked, I'm not sure why I didn't even look at the tunnel, it's waaaayyyyy more expensive I assume? 

richh

If you can change your route to avoid driving through Calais that might be a good shout right now.  Even if you've got to pay extra and drive a bit further?

professorben

richh said:

If you can change your route to avoid driving through Calais that might be a good shout right now.  Even if you've got to pay extra and drive a bit further?

Basically hitting the motorway asap and then through, Belgium, Germany through to CR. 
I call it the ISIS biggest hits collection. 

martinw

I'm going to Germany via Dunkirk....(hmmm there's a joke there somewhere)....in September. Was cheaper than Calais at £75 return. Tunnel was approximately double.

Jalapeno

Dunkirk is about the same distance to the Belgian motorway if not closer IIRC.

EricTheWeary

Having done the tunnel both ways in recent weeks  (3 for 1with Tesco vouchers and massively better than a ferry if taking a pet) there were no issues. I'm on a couple of motorhome Facebook groups and there are loads of updates re Calais on those.  You should be fine. Most of the motorway rest areas near Calais are now closed to stop trouble and the ones beyond that consequently mega busy. So,  just keep on driving as far as possible once you get off the ferry. If you just need the loo use one of the aires without services,  they all have parking and toilets just not petrol and cafes, etc, so are much quieter. 

EricTheWeary

Oh,  yes,  lot of people recommended Dunkirk. Lot of freight only going that way now. 

dogload

professorben said:

Ferry is booked, I'm not sure why I didn't even look at the tunnel, it's waaaayyyyy more expensive I assume? 

I always thought so, but we used it to drive to France this year, and it was no more expensive than the ferry. Much quicker, less hassle and more flexible.
Worth looking into in future.

Jalapeno

Tunnel is painless if there's no hold ups - unpopular times of day have no or little queues

FX_Munkee

The tunnel is about the same price as the ferry and when it works much quicker. That's the important bit though, because when it doesn't work you'll be delayed for (many miserable) hours.

lloyd

Going on the boat is more of an adventure surely, I've not been on the tunnel and I'm sure it's quicker but I've always enjoyed the ferry, seems a more civilised way to travel.

Roland

Yeah, but some adventures don't need repeating. At one point I was visiting a factory in Calais every other week. I tried all the methods including foot passenger on the ferry. Tunnel was by far the favourite, and competitively priced compared with car ferry, or even foot passenger and lots of taxis.

lloyd

Roland said:

Yeah, but some adventures don't need repeating. At one point I was visiting a factory in Calais every other week. I tried all the methods including foot passenger on the ferry. Tunnel was by far the favourite, and competitively priced compared with car ferry, or even foot passenger and lots of taxis.

For business yeah I'd want to take the quickest route.

chrispy108

@lloyd You drive your car onto a train! It's like being James Bond or something. Plenty of adventure on the tunnel IMO. (At least the first time, if you're 11).

EricTheWeary

Although once you are on it basically it's just being parked for 40 minutes. Disappointingly you can't see fish out the window. 

FX_Munkee

Or ... you drive into the terminal in time for your pre-booked journey. Then you're informed that due to a "technical issue" you will be delayed 30 mins. After waiting for 60 mins you're then informed that you will be delayed a further 60 mns. 2 hours later and still waitng it dawns on you that if the tunnel isn't working there's not a damn thing they can do to mitigate it as it is in essence a giant bottleneck. Five hours later you get on a train and decide that you'll take the ferry next tme.

Drew_TNBD

Dovakia.