Retro Rides Summer Holiday is GO!

[hairnet]

35 ish from calais 12-15 from caen for tolls

there is no race (its in june)

speak to ld lines or p and o from calais brittany from caen

tunnel is tunnel - ferry is cheap in the summer

if you live south of brum don't worry about petrol

www.viamichelin.co.uk/ if you wanna do routes and it works out petrol costs and tolls too

[HoTWire]

Dec 4, 2014 20:43:45 GMT charliecroker said:

Can anyone give a break down of actual costs involved here. Far enough 60 quid for camping, but how much petrol to get there and back, tickets for the race, ferry, toll roads, ect ect.

I don't know how much your fuel will be, we filled up before we left the UK and filled up again when we left the chateau, I still had some spare when we got home. I was delirious by the time we got to the third toll, so no idea how much it was in total, however : www.autoroutes.fr/en/routes.htm?itiFrom=62100+Calais%2C+France&itiTo=72000+Le+Mans%2C+France should give you a better idea .. It is possible to avoid the toll roads, indeed a few years ago you'd have had no choice as the autoroutes didn't go direct. So if money is tight you can make allowances.

The Ferry/Tunnel is the thing that we need to get our best prices and approach sorted, so I'm going to be doing some MoneySavingExpertEsque reading up on the best time to buy. It is also possible to avoid tolls and save fuel by going to a different port, but it seems the ferry is more expensive... comme ci, comme ça...

This doesn't co-inside with anything at Le Mans although we can make a trip to the track and museum

[HoTWire]

Or what hairnet said

[charliecroker]

Cheers dude, shame the race isn't on but still a great idea and I'd be well up for this if the costs are realistic. I've asked a travel agent friend about ferries, waiting to hear what she says.

[wagoneer]

Don't shoot me, Halfords do kits for touring abroad. The breathaliser thing is no longer required though. The company that made them was owned my Francois Hollande I think.....

The trip sounds fun so I'm going to convince a friend to join me for it. Bring on La France!

[charliecroker]

Just had a quick look at P&O ferrys and a route finder. Based on 1 person, 1 car, (cheapest ferry is from Dover to Calias) comes out like this...






Ferry roughly 90€ 
Petrol & Tolls roughly 120€
Camping 60€

Total = 270€

So roughly 300-350€ and then what ever spending money you want to bring.

[georgeb]

Dec 9, 2014 13:31:17 GMT charliecroker said:

Just had a quick look at P&O ferrys and a route finder. Based on 1 person, 1 car, (cheapest ferry is from Dover to Calias) comes out like this...

Total = 270€

So roughly 300-350€ and then what ever spending money you want to bring.

How does that compare to Brittany Ferries Portsmouth - Caen? Straight drop down from Brum, no tolls Caen - Le Mans, shorter driving route with associated fuel costs.

When we did Le Mans every year from Cheshire, it always worked out cheaper overall to do the Portsmouth route and saved the hideous run to Dover.

edit to say that given the time difference, the BF site down for daily maintenance.

[charliecroker]

I looked at Brittany Ferries, Portsmouth - Caen, and the price was hideous, scary in fact. If you know a better easier route then I'm all ears, I've never done this trip before so I was just trying to find out a rough idea of costs involved. Cheers Charlie :-)

[boffer8]

Really looking forward to this, going to book everything over Christmas i think.

Going to get the Eurotunnel due to the low nature of my car and knowing that ferries are quite steep to get on and an original Mini Cooper Sport scrapped its exhaust getting on i don't fancy getting beached. Looks to be around £112 return also so quite cheap considering.

Whats the plans on the other side, all to meet up at the Centre Commercial Cite Europe (big shopping centre on the exit of calais) or something?

[georgeb]

Dec 10, 2014 11:09:52 GMT charliecroker said:

I looked at Brittany Ferries, Portsmouth - Caen, and the price was hideous, scary in fact. If you know a better easier route then I'm all ears, I've never done this trip before so I was just trying to find out a rough idea of costs involved. Cheers Charlie :-)

Had a look now they're up and running and yes, they've gone bloody expensive. If money's no object, then the Portsmouth-Caen is the easier trip and a top quality crossing as well.

Otherwise it's contra-ing ferry v tolls and fuel, although on the Calais run you can avoid tolls to an extent, but at the expense of time. Horses for courses really.

[charliecroker]

Dec 11, 2014 9:08:20 GMT georgeb said:

Dec 10, 2014 11:09:52 GMT charliecroker said:

I looked at Brittany Ferries, Portsmouth - Caen, and the price was hideous, scary in fact. If you know a better easier route then I'm all ears, I've never done this trip before so I was just trying to find out a rough idea of costs involved. Cheers Charlie :-)

Had a look now they're up and running and yes, they've gone bloody expensive. If money's no object, then the Portsmouth-Caen is the easier trip and a top quality crossing as well.

Otherwise it's contra-ing ferry v tolls and fuel, although on the Calais run you can avoid tolls to an extent, but at the expense of time. Horses for courses really.

I've had another quick search and have found this route, could be a go? Newhaven to Dieppe, from what I can see £63 return! Not the very best option but a good alternative. Leave Newhaven at 9am arrive at 2pm on return leave Dieppe at 6.30pm arrive back at 10pm, 

[georgeb]

The run from Dieppe is nice and easy once you clear Rouen, but it still leaves you with the lovely M25 to navigate, which is the main thing I always wanted to avoid. You could by dropping straight down the M40, picking up the A34 to Southampton and then run along the coast, which would be my preference. Saying that, it's probably nearly ten years since I last drove seriously in the UK, so that run could be a nightmare now. At least with the ferry times you've got, it should be fairly quiet on the Blighty side!

[charliecroker]

Anyone in the west midlands going?

[adam73bgt]

Dec 12, 2014 18:59:35 GMT charliecroker said:

Anyone in the west midlands going?

Having a long hard think about it

[charliecroker]

Dec 12, 2014 19:12:46 GMT adam73bgt said:

Dec 12, 2014 18:59:35 GMT charliecroker said:

Anyone in the west midlands going?

Having a long hard think about it

Would love to go in convoy, safety in numbers and all that! Btw, I'm thinking the channel tunnel is the best option now, although I'm still undecided, it's the bloody big smoke right in the way, gotta get around that!

[adam73bgt]

Dec 12, 2014 19:26:16 GMT charliecroker said:

Dec 12, 2014 19:12:46 GMT adam73bgt said:

Having a long hard think about it

Would love to go in convoy, safety in numbers and all that! Btw, I'm thinking the channel tunnel is the best option now, although I'm still undecided, it's the bloody big smoke right in the way, gotta get around that!

Convoy would be cool, I just need to evaluate what car I would be able to do this in.. and whether it would be retro enough ;P

[Deleted]

I would love to do this if the 5 is closer to being finished by then.. or even the Mk2 Escort if by some miracle it has an MoT in time.

[charliecroker]

Dec 12, 2014 19:26:16 GMT charliecroker said:

Convoy would be cool, I just need to evaluate what car I would be able to do this in.. and whether it would be retro enough ;P

Didn't think it mattered what car you come in? I'm not booking anything until I know I can get a convoy going, I just think if there were any mechanical problems a team of petrolheads should be able to deal with them!

[adam73bgt]

Dec 14, 2014 17:29:15 GMT charliecroker said:

Dec 12, 2014 19:26:16 GMT charliecroker said:

Convoy would be cool, I just need to evaluate what car I would be able to do this in.. and whether it would be retro enough ;P

Didn't think it mattered what car you come in? I'm not booking anything until I know I can get a convoy going, I just think if there were any mechanical problems a team of petrolheads should be able to deal with them!

True, but it would be cool if I could do it in something vaguely retro

[crazycraig]

Dec 12, 2014 19:12:46 GMT adam73bgt said:

Dec 12, 2014 18:59:35 GMT charliecroker said:

Anyone in the west midlands going?

Having a long hard think about it

Me too, I'm in Shropshire