tight fisted travel!

[andy230]

Hi All,

Any idea about the cheapest way to cross the channel?  2 folk, with a bike.  Preferably not overnight, as you then have to haemhorrage cash and eat crap food & coffee for longer than abolutely necessary.

Probably Dover to calais eh?  We're going to head south thru france, so Portsmouth  Le Harvre or Caen was looking good, but they're a bit pricey...

Anyone got the train??

Cheers
a

[guest27]

Dunno if it helps - but similar Q in this week's MCN - apparently more ferries now carry the MCN discount.

R

[Simon#83]

Hi All,

Any idea about the cheapest way to cross the channel?  2 folk, with a bike.  Preferably not overnight, as you then have to haemhorrage cash and eat crap food & coffee for longer than abolutely necessary.

Probably Dover to calais eh?  We're going to head south thru france, so Portsmouth  Le Harvre or Caen was looking good, but they're a bit pricey...

Anyone got the train??

Cheers
a

Andy,

Have you tried Motorsport Travel? ( http://www.motorsporttravel.co.uk/ ) They usually have discounts if you book early enough.

Similarly, with Eurotunnel if you book way in advance it can work out quite cheap. ( www.eurotunnel.com )


Simon

[Allan.]

we have just booked for june with seafrance for £37.50 return dov/cal

[mini-thumper]

Booked direct with P&O Dover-Calasis return for bike and rider £35.00 (June 2007 SRX Meet Germay). Motorsport Travel are very good and may be able to beat that!

BB

[bullet350]

i found norfolk line quite cheap, dover to dunkerque.

[Andy M]

Motorsport travel or ring round with about 3 months to go. Norfolk line, Channel Tunnel and P&O Dover Calais would be the best bet to me.

The overnight crossings work best for me though (it depends where you start):

P&O North Sea Ferries: £280 including a first class 5 course meal, plus maybe another £30 on beer and £5 to get to Hull. Total £315.

Fuel to Dover and back: £60
Motorway services sandwiches: £15
Campanile near Calais having got off the boat at midnight: £40
Meals on the boat: £30
Dover Calais cheapest: £30
Campsite near Calais on the last day, plus evening meal: £25

Total £200 or 2/3 the price. Upgrade the service station sandwiches to a sit down meal and have some beers and the extra £100 soon goes.

However, 12 hours of English motorway wasting precious days and crossings full of booze cruisers desperate to buy a BLT and Stella because they haven't seen english food for 3 hours just doesn't compare with an hour to Hull, a glass of port with the cheese course and a boat that moves me while I get 8 hours shut eye!

Enjoy your trip.

Andy

[andy230]

I eventually went for the channel tunnel.

2 folk, one bike, return crossing £74.

I reckon thats pretty good.  middle of july till mid august.  Hurraah!

Changine my (own) tyres this weekend, so I can be justified in carrying tubes with me....!

a

[Andy M]

That's not a bad deal.

Have you been on the Tunnel before with a bike? If not, you can leave your tie downs at home, the carriages don't have anything to tie down to. Instead carry a spare bungee for the sidestand. With the stand bungeed back and the bike in gear and up against the "kerb" in the carriage you can stand away from it with some confidence. I've seen a guy with a sportsbike have to hold the bike for 35 minutes after he didn't get the wheels in the right place and his stand tried to retract on the first set of points.

Andy

[andy230]

That's not a bad deal.

Have you been on the Tunnel before with a bike? If not, you can leave your tie downs at home, the carriages don't have anything to tie down to. Instead carry a spare bungee for the sidestand. With the stand bungeed back and the bike in gear and up against the "kerb" in the carriage you can stand away from it with some confidence. I've seen a guy with a sportsbike have to hold the bike for 35 minutes after he didn't get the wheels in the right place and his stand tried to retract on the first set of points.

Andy

Eeeesh!!  Thats what you get for having a bike you're proud of!!  Thanks for the info, the DR sits pretty close to the vertical anyway, even more so when its loaded up...

Quite looking forward to it now.  Re spares I'm carrying:

CDI
Coil (with caps)
Reg-rect
Wire, lecky tape & bullets
Plugs
Inner tubes
Cables (in situ)
Levers
Oil
Cable ties & gaffa tape

And tools.  That should do.  When I went over the alps last time on the Norton Dommi, I took valves and a head gasket!!!  And (worryingly) all the tools to do it

Cheers for now guys, thanks for all the info!  Yippeee!!  Holiday time cometh (in 6 months)

a