crossing england ?

demosuzki

hi all,

looking for some navigation advice.

Dublin to Stockholm.


I'm due to drive to Sweden and can take a ferry from either Newcastle or Harwich.
price and sailing time is about the same from each.

just wondering is there any pros or cons to the drive from Holyhead to either


OR

I guess I can go north here and go to Scotland and on the Newcastle

any advantage to that ?

/ds

rossallan

Based purely on distance i would go to Newcastle rather than Harwich.

Using the route mapper on http://www.theaa.com

Holyhead - Newcastle is 265 miles (estimated time 4hrs 35 mins)
Holyhead - Harwich is 350 miles (estimated time 5hrs 56 mins)

The traffic would probably be worse on the Harwich route as well, as you have to go through/past Birmingham and Essex.

bbbbb

I did the Holyhead to Newcastle run a no. of years back on my way to Kristiansaand in Norway (same ferry I think?). Worked out fine, some points:
- The way over was a little tough, I got a ferry about mid-night, so was riding through North Wales in the middle of the night. (first long trip I took)
- I didn't even think about the Belfast to Stranraer option at the time. I would look into this as well and figure out which times are going to be most convenient.
- either way, plan the trip. I found the route planner on the aa (http://www.theaa.com/) excellent. Printed out the directions & had them on my tank bag. It also gives the service stations & which ones are 24hrs. Nice at 4 o'clock in the morning to know your breakfast stop is only another hr down the road!

demosuzki

looking at it a bit more

i need to get directly to stockholm so the best routes on the other end are important.

the Kristiansaand route is gone
the ferry now goes to Starvanger and on to Bergen.
but seems Esjberg (denmark) is better than Starvanger (norway) for a clear route to stockholm.

this is beginging to look very long !

thanks for the advice.

/ds

Garibaldi

I did the Dublin-Stockholm run on the bike about four years ago, but I went via France. It took two days of crazed riding (especially up the A1 autobahn), but I'm told it's quicker, and more interesting, to go that route than on the ferry. A lot more miles, obviously, but you tend to forget about that once you hit Northern Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, because the countryside is so beautiful.
Anyhoo, from Denmark (if you're thinking of going that way) I took the E45-E20 through the wonderfully named Middelfart, then on to Odense and Nyborg-Korsor, on to Koge and Kobenhavn (still on the E20), crossing into Sweden via that big-ass bridge into Malmo, headed north on the E6 to Helsingborg, and from there, it was the E4 all the way in to Stockholm. Took somewhere between 8 and 10 hours (including my one and only random breathalyser test stop), if I remember correctly. That any help to you?

demosuzki

thanks for all the posts/advice.

choice is narrowing : the newcastle to norway ferry seems to be booked out the week i need to go
so its
- harwich to esjberg/denmark (18hour ferry)
or
- across france/belgium/germany

pros of the ferry is less miles and a place to sleep
pros of the drive. belgium & german beers en route !


i'll let you know how it goes

/ds

murphaph

Cool trip anyway!