Cheapest way to get a car and bike to the Pyrennee's

Dr Nic

Hi Guys,
Im planning to climb some of the Tour de France Mountains this august and id like some help if possible!

Id like to get my banger car and my bike to the Pyrenees as cheap as possible.
One Ferry company quoted my 850eur return, cork to roscoff...
What a joke?

Does anyone know of any cheaper options? Id would def consider ireland-uk- channel tunnel.

What do you think?
Thanks
John

Alun

If you add everything up for a ferry journey via Dublin Port -Holyhead, and ferry or Eurotunnel Folkestone - Calais, plus fuel costs and tolls in France, then I think you'll find €850 is actually quite a bargain.

Work out the ferry costs, fuel costs (3600km round trip) and tolls in France (€100) and don't forget accommodation and food costs en-route.

Empire o de Sun

That seems quite steep, I've used Irish ferries before from Rosslare to Charbourg, and drove to Spain. It was about 3 or 4 years ago but it wasn't that expensive.

For the tolls to the Spainish border ,your talking about 30 euro -ish. It's a full days drive from Cherbourg so either stop somewhere for the night, or get off the Ferry and hit the Autoroute as soon as.

Alun

Sorry, I think my brain wasn't operating fully within parameters there, I thought you were getting the ferry to somewhere in Spain for some reason

Anyway, when working out the total costs, don't underestimate the fuel costs (esp. if your car rally is a 'banger'!) plus the extra drag the bike rack will cause won't improve fuel consumption.

If you do decide to go via the UK, check out the 'landbridge' deals rather than booking each leg separately.

corktina

I suppose it depends how vital it is that you take YOUR banger.. You could go over foot passenger with the bike and buy one the other side, abandoning it (or selling it if you are lucky) on your return.

robd

You need to shop around.

Celtic Link Ferries (Cork to Roscoff) is coming up at 338 return with a seat (rather than cabin). Perhaps the route you got a quote for is almost full and you were quoted for a remaining cabin (which may have been a 4 berth for example).

Dublin-Holyhead is roughly 200 return. Dover-Callais is 100-200 depending on specials etc. Tough drive though.

Google is your friend.

Gvillage

I got a savage good price going back to France in September, I got it for €89 with Celtic Link Ferries. Now I did not have a cabin, I was on my own and had my car stuffed with loads of things to bring back. If you have the patience, def. go with these lads. I could not speak highly enough of them. When I went with CLF the route was Rosslare to Cherbourg.. Unless it has changed since

The Swordsman

I did the UK landbridge thing a few years back and I reckoned it saved me a couple of hundred euro.

Journey was as follows:
Boat from Dun Laoighre to Holyhead
Holyhead to Dover (with an overnight in Canterbury)
Dover to Calais.

The advantage that Calais has over a lot of the other ports is that it is very close to the motorway network (and there are more sailings into and out of it). Cherbourg is a fair way away from the motorway and AFAIK so is Roscof. On the minus side, Calais is further away from where you're heading and it will cost more in tolls (and possibly fuel too).

In relation to fuel, when I went (in a Toyota Picnic), a full tank of diesel got me through the UK. I filled up in Ireland and didn't have to fill up until I got to France. The UK is more expensive for fuel than Ireland or France, so put in as little fuel as you can in the UK. Avoid buying fuel in motorway service areas (both in France and the UK) if you can. In France find a supermarket with a petrol station as they are usually the cheapest (some are unmanned and you will need a credit card to use them).

Check out http://www.autoroutes.fr/en/homepage.html for info on routes and tolls due in France.

Whether you go the direct route or the landbridge route your journey will more than likely involve an overnight. Make it count and get a good night's sleep. Don't try and save money in this regard - get a comfortable bed whether it's in a cabin or a hotel room. You do not need to have to face into a long journey to the South of France knackered.

ForiegnNational

I did the Rosslare - Fishguard and then Poole - Cherbourg crossing, then drove down the West Coast of France to the Pyrenees.

Previously did the Rosslare - Cherbourg direct, but is several hundred more than going via the UK (or at least was at the time).

Bad bit is Bristol to Poole road (A350) in the UK. Cherbourg to Pau is nearly 10 hours driving, but I recommend stopping off in the Loire valley, as I have always found great value accommodation there (away from the beaches!)

John C

The Swordsman wrote: »

.....
The advantage that Calais has over a lot of the other ports is that it is very close to the motorway network (and there are more sailings into and out of it). Cherbourg is a fair way away from the motorway and AFAIK so is Roscof. On the minus side, Calais is further away from where you're heading and it will cost more in tolls (and possibly fuel too)......

Edited Quote

Roscoff is on the Brittany peninsula. It's 287 km via Rennes to Laval where the Autoroute begins. Cherbourg is 128 km from Caen which is served by an Autoroute or dual carriageway.

Driving via Le Mans. Cherbourg is 282 km from Le Mans. Roscoff is 440 km from Le Mans.
Saint Beat is a town in the French Pyrenees. From Cherbourg it's 1 015 km, From Calais it's 1 082 km.
www.viamichelin.co.uk

I second the above poster's tip of getting a good rest before driving.
There were some threads in motors and maybe travel about the legal requirements for driving in France. Search function is useful.

hinault

Dr Nic wrote: »

Hi Guys,
Im planning to climb some of the Tour de France Mountains this august and id like some help if possible!

Id like to get my banger car and my bike to the Pyrenees as cheap as possible.
One Ferry company quoted my 850eur return, cork to roscoff...
What a joke?

Does anyone know of any cheaper options? Id would def consider ireland-uk- channel tunnel.

What do you think?
Thanks
John

You should consider getting a cheap flight to Bilbao/Biarritz/Pamplona or some other airport close to the Pyrennees and then hire a car to drive to the location where you want to do some climbing.

It is far cheaper.

And you avoid a situation where if your banger broke down you'd have to pay for the repair job too:)

Cionád

Last year I did Cherbourg -> Montpellier, and the return route was Montpellier -> Roscoff.

Cherbourg is dual carriageway from about 3mins after leaving the port apart from a section near Falaise where there is around 20miles of single carriageway.
It is about 15miles of single carriageway from Roscoff port to the start of dual carriageway at Morlaix. The limit on the dual carriageway is usually 110km/h (speed cameras are mapped by garmin ;-), limit on the Autoroute is 130km/h in good weather, and 110 in rain/wet. All the roads in Brittany are toll-free.

On the drive down I went via Le Mans and on towards the A75 over the mountains (fantastic motorway, toll-free apart from the Millau Viaduct, although the almera was struggling over some of the hills, and the car ate the diesel). - Took a little over 10hours with a couple of stops.

The way back I went via Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, Rennes to Roscoff, this was a fair bit quicker than from Cherbourg, and the traffic was not as bad. - Took a little under 9 hours, with a few stops

If your planning on going to the west side of the Pyrennes Roscoff is the best option.

Tolls are roughly 50 euro each way. Planning a sailing that arrives in early will mean you can get down in a day easily, just get some sleep on the boat.

I went with Irish Ferries, in June got a return sailing for two + car with 3star cabin for just under 400 euro - August is going to be far more expensive, if you can wait until September it's worth it.

Carawaystick

roscoff is about 15km from Motorway, the D58 is under motorway regulations from the RAB junction with the D173 here

and it's motorway all the way to the Autoroute starts at the tolled A83 south of Nantes. From there to the border with Spain on the Med side is about 63 euros
with a bit of a saving if you cut through Niort to the A10

It's a bit cheaper to get to the border on the Atlantic side, there's a non-tolled, non-autoroute motorway for a good section south of Bordeaux

Mappy.fr has the toll charges if you want.

staying on the free roads will greatly increase your journey time.
It's about 12 hours driving to get to the border at le Perthus on the Med side from Roscoff, about 10 to Sa Sebastian. on toll roads