If I was going to either Brugge or Paris, then I would take the eurostar for convenience.

 

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

if you live in or near London, that's a goer.

for those of us NOT on a mainline and four hours from London, it's not, just an expensive white elephant.

they PROMISED us Eurostar services north of London.
until it was built and they no longer needed our support.
they PROMISED us sleepers......then sold the stock to Canada.
Lying *****.

 

Fortunately I live near East Coast train line so it's a doddle.

 

The previous 30 posts covered all the items crossed them out then got right by the end , funny reading all though. The french sticks you can still get on the ferry are useful anyhow in case your not sure if you have had one too many.

I live in Germany and I have lived in France, I cross as often as I can in spare time back to UK . I don't use the tunnel as I like the atmosphere and my fish and chips on the ferry , before re-joining big brother is watching you M20 M25 and all city traffic in UK.

98 oct Fuel is cheapest at Calais next to the Eastenders Cash carry. Speeding in France on E40 you will be unlucky to see a police car. They tend not to bother these days but lift off before you pass the parking and Texaco before you reach the Belgium boarder. I have in Belguim been caught once on E40 just after the French side in 2005 doing 105 mph paid 300 euro with no info back to Germany, not sure if that would still happen, so these days I just look at the rev counter at 3k and forget the speedo , and listen to USB music. Belgians have a wierd music taste on radio.

Dunkirk Ferry is cheaper and ok if you want a longer break but a waste of time when you need to get somewhere quick, but you can get a nap on it at night , just getting to it from the E40 reminds you of no mans land.

Generally I would not do more than 140 kmh in France as 145 seems to be the trigger point for them. In Belguim you can do 130kmh an no one will blink at 140kmh however move to the left lane you will become fair game for the rear number plate radar cameras between the center road islands. You will be astounded how a nation can build a 3 lane motorway to Germany and only drive in 2 lanes , I giggle about that and tell them its for the D Plated Panzers. For the most part Belgians drive like your Grandmother and don't appreciate us louder Rex louts tearing around the place , my advice just enjoy the old town Brugge but do park the car outside the city wall and go drink the Belgians beer, that plus Spa F1 track and the dubious claim that they invented Pommes is about the only reason to go, while the food while excelent in Resturants it will cost you a Christmas bonus. If you get bored , Germany is only another 90 mins away , I normally get close to 6800rpm on the super tarmac just after Aachen before I reach Köln where you eat for half the price and drink German beer before the way back , your car will enjoy a drink too and try the ARAL 102 octane Now € 1.53 for 102 so its a good time to go.

 

Quick = ferry

A load of faff on a floating shopping mall = ferry

 

As mentioned, some of us have a horrendous often five hour drive to Dover/Folkestone, so the ferry trip is a welcome break with drinks and seats plus somewhere to walk about.....it's the motorwqay services, if you will, since the A1 has few stopping points now, Birchhanger Green is awful to get in and out of and farting Corner on the A2 is just dire..........

 

I'm the person who has to live in Scunthorpe.

To Doncaster is half an hour.
Wait for, then catch an East Coast train to KX, two hours.

Walk across to StP, queue, security, wait, board, an hour.

Then the journey to Paris, anywhere from two-and-a-quarter to two-and-a-half hours.

By this time, I'm up to six hours.
And I'm in Paris.........

On a decent day, four hours gets me to Dover, two more to Calais, and I'm free to go where I like, or stop the night for £40 in a cheap hotel and away the next day.

 

Sod that, I just kip on the ferry and then drive until I feel tired again and stop for another kip in the car, but I am a proper tight wad, also I just like the drive to be over as quickly as possible.

You must be giving it a bit to do it in 4 hrs it takes me about that long from Nottingham, but I don't speed as it's just not worth the hassle or cost, also at a steady 70 ish I can get 36+mpg from my WRX so another incentive.

 

This gets funnier:
its 300 miles from Nottingham to Brugge that's 5 hr 40 mins.
its even just 90 miles to Hull and that's 1 hr 40 mins.

Id never willingly get one of my truck drivers to do the drive from the north of England via Calais to Belguim . everyone goes via east coast ports to Rotterdam or Zeebrugge.

If you go to Belguim from Scunthorpe or Nottingham and like your sleep
Go from Hull to Zeebrugge on the daily overnight ferry. The only reason for using the Dover channel crossing is its cheaper in a car.

Anyway , I think the real question is :
Why would anyone want to live in Scunthorpe

 

You have a point...except for cost.

Scunthorpe to Paris, return, via Calais:
Fuel, UK : £60
Dartford crossing tolls )present day): £4
Fuel, France :£35
Ferry: £80
(Night in an Hotel), £80
Total: £179, (£259).

Scunthorpe to Paris via Zeebrugge.
Fuel, UK: £8
Bridge tolls: £3
Fuel, France, Belgium,: £40
Ferry: £400

Total cost £451

Extra via Hull etc: £192min, £272 max. That's AT LEAST one month's council tax, leccy, phone etc on my house over there. The larger sum is two good meals out extra on top.

Add to that, the ferry gets in at Zeebrugge at 10:00- 11:00, disembarcation can be as late as 11:45am.
That gets me to my house near Limoges at around 20;45, the last three hours being done in the dark outside the summer months.
I then arrive in the dark, have to set up the house in the dark etc etc, and it doesn't warm through before it's time for bed.
Sleeping on the ferry can be hit and miss, with rowdy drunks keeping you awake all night if you are unlucky...or school parties that are ten times worse

Doing it via Calais is more of a ball-ache drive with the UK part being God-awful now, whether at night, (road closures), or during the day, (queues), but I have the choice of what time I arrive, and can plan my whole journey to arrive in daylight.

Going via Hull-Zeebrugge there is ONE sailing. Miss it, you are there for another day. It sails from Zeebrugge at 1900, you need to be there for 1800, so leave the house at 0900 at the latest...hit any trafic, queues, or have problems like a puncture, you are well-fekked.
Go via Dover Calais, you have sailings every forty minutes via calais, and every two hours via Dunkerque. Miss one, you are on the next. I can leave the house at 10am, be in Calais for 1900, and on the 2000 sailing.
Simples.

I've left off food and autoroute tolls as they are similar.

Those are my reasons, so personal.

I would LOVE to be able to AFFORD Hull-Zeebrugge every time, but it's just NOt worth it...doing it five times a year adds nearly £1000 to my traveling expenses

 

You have a point too , except at the top of this thread

STi Scooby is living in Suffolk , "Going over to Bruges in Belgium" not Paris.

Unless you have car full of kids or Bordeaux
why would you want to drive Limoges Scunthorpe

As someone said ever heard of planes ?

Ryan Air from East midlands or Stansted in the summer from Leeds
leave a car in Limoges save a day each way.

I had a house near Fecamp , during the summer I used leave the car at Dieppe
or sometimes Le Harve never paid a penny of UK car tax and saved the car ferry too.

 

I go to Croatia so heading south east all the way, going across towards Germany then drop down through Austria into Slovenia then Croatia, it's the cheapest and fastest way for me, unless I go and see my best mate just outside Milan, then I'll do Switzerland and head for the Gottard tunnel, Also as Alcazar mentioned cheaper ferry and more sailings so if there's a problem I have options.

 

Do it in style - The Pont Aven to Santander; it's like a full on cruise.

Done it twice (well four times if you count each way) - awesome trip with amazing facilities.

 

Yes, I noted Bruges, I was trying to even out the travelling, since Zeebrugge to Paris is almost exactly the same distance as Calais/Dunkerque to Paris.

Why do I drive?

Because we are doing up a house there and LOADS of stuff goes down...it's usually cheaper to buy in the UK and transport it, than suffer "Gordon's Puny pound" as well as French inflation, making tools etc silly prices over there.

Add to that, the booze coming back saves us £££'s.

And without a car over there, stuff bought there, like sand, cement, plaster, doors, paint, chaux, timber, insulation etc that I can't easily transport from the UK, becomes a nightmare of trying to organise deliveries etc, then paying extra for delivery. Our local place charges €25 to deliver a door and frame...that adds 32% to the price. It's only 4 miles, so in my car, next to nowt.

And hiring a car is exhorbitant.

 

Same here with taking stuff over, but for materials I bought a Transporter T4 crew cab pick up which has paid for itself in the last 4yrs and still worth more than I paid for it.

 

We thought about it...but didn't have the initial outlay.

 

Urban "The ever heard of planes" that was a good laugh

but Alcazar would need a C130 / Hercules
he is building a Chateau in Limoges and needs materials from the UK

I used to bring all mine from Germany to Normandy in a Audi 100
so I know exactly what he means.

 

I bought it for £1800, it's a left hooker from Lithuania originally from Germany, I think people were put off by the Foreign plates and no MOT, registration etc, so I got it for a song, spent about £500 on it to get it through it's MOT and a couple of other bit's just to make it mint, still going 4yrs later been no trouble and it's 4x4

 

Even £2000 would have been better spent on our house.

 

I'm in the mountain region, well not exactly what I would call mountains but very hilly with narrow roads and dirt tracks, it's about 20 miles to the nearest builders yard and they will only deliver if I spend a decent wad and then they want £30 a pop and really don't like coming here because of the roads with a big truck, so I needed to get something as well as all the sand, cement and hardcore I have gone through that when I go and get a cubic metre costs me a tenner, if they bring me 3 it costs £70, it soon mounts up between the builders yard, the sand yard and the wood yard. Like I said it's paid for it'self and a guy here keeps offering to buy it off me for €3000, so I'm still good.

 

The main thing is driving anywhere in Europe but Italy (where everyone tries to kill you) is awesome and makes our roads look pretty dire.

 

Yeah, take your point.
Where we are is pretty rural, hilly but not mountainous, it's in the Parc Regionale Nationale du Limousin Perigord, mostly hardwood forest.

The builder's merchants is about ten miles but delivers free.
The woodyard is similar, larger quantities free, but he's a one man band so not always there, although I now have his mobile number.

It's the local Brico Sheds that are robdogs. Even if you spend €500, they want another €30 to deliver five miles!!!