Hi Andrew
I'm sending you a pm.
Cheers,
Geoff.
Hi Andrew
I'm sending you a pm.
Cheers,
Geoff.
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:19pm
Helpful member
great post , always good to have different tried out routs.
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 9:38am
Very helpful member
Great post Geoff. I may have missed it, but how much in petrol are we looking at here- a few hundred pounds?
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 9:52am
I spend around £200 on fuel but it very much depends on what you drive and how you drive it. Fuel is much cheaper in Spain but don't fill up at first station after tunnel next one five minutes on is much cheaper. In France I use big supermarkets to fill up but still dearer than UK so fill up at Tesco outside Folkestone before getting ferry.
Hi Wilbur
Well, it depends upon how you drive and what car you've got obviously, but with steady driving, our diesel Focus does it on two tankfulls, so it costs us (very roughly) €120 to €130. Fuel is quite expensive in France now, so you might as well fill up before you leave UK. Try and buy as much as you can in Spain too.
If you know how many miles per gallon your car does, you can work it out. Calais to here is very approximately 1800 - 1850 km, so work on say roughly 1150 miles.
Send me a pm if you need any more info.
Geoff.
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 3:12pm
Very helpful member
Thanks fellas, for reply. I generally fly over but realise, when permanent move comes, the car will need to be driven. Far less expensive on fuel than I anticipated.
Cheers
Wil
Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2018 10:42am
Hi Andrew
We are planning to drive down on the 29th December. I think we could do Calais to Bordeaux in a long day. We also have 2 small Daschunds. What was the Hotel you stayed at in Bordeaux that accepts Dogs?
Kind regards
Steve Murphy
Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2018 12:09pm
Hi Steve
That will be a long day! We hve stayed at 2 Bordeaux Premiere Classe hotels always going back to the UK the one I would recommend is:
Hôtel Première Classe Bordeaux Pessac Becquereleasy to find just off ring road. All Premiere Classe are dog friendly. The furthest I have done coming down in winter is Angouleme and I can recommend:
Hôtel Première Classe Angouleme La Couronne.CheersAndrew
Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2018 12:14pm
Cheers Andrew that was very helpful
Regards
Steve
geoffllo wrote on Fri Aug 10, 2018 6:23pm:
From time to time, members ask about the best way to drive from Calais down to this area. Having just arrived back home this afternoon, having driven the route, I thought I would post my findings while they are still fresh in my mind!
Geoff.
Read more...
Calais to Costa Blanca South
Overview.
In August 2018 (for the umpteenth time!) I drove from Calais to the Alicante area. The route I took is the result of years of trying various options, and fine-tuning, and nowadays is very successful. It takes in fast motorways, fast trunk roads, good quality rural main roads and some spectacular scenery. I use a sat nav app on my smartphone, called “Waze” which I find is better than any of my previous TomToms, Garmins etc.
How I did it.
As I was leaving Calais I set the satnav to Évreux – paying tolls. This took me along to Rouen and over the Pont Mathilde bridge and down a shortish section of motorway before turning off towards Évreux. Shortly before Évreux, I reset the satnav to Tours – avoiding tolls. This took me down past Dreux, Chartres etc (look out for the spires of the beautiful Chartres Cathedral on the horizon in front of you) and onto the N10 (later D910) towards Tours. Then about 10 km before Tours, I turned round to the right – blue signpost “Bordeaux (peage)” and went out onto the A10/E5 motorway, joining it at Junction 19. I stayed on the A10 as far as Junction 30, where I exited following the green signs for “Angôuleme” and took the N10 trunk road right down to about 30 km before Bordeaux, where you go onto a free section of the A10 motorway. Approaching Bordeaux, I followed the green signs for “Bayonne”, which took me around the Bordeaux ring road and onto the A63 signposted “Bayonne & Mont de Marsan”. I continued on the A63 down to Junction 18 where I exited onto the D834 towards Mont de Marsan. As soon as I was on that road, I set the satnav to Oloron Sant-Marie, this being the town where you first see signs for places in Spain. Coming into Oloron Sant-Marie, I followed the signs for “Saragosse”/“Huesca”/”Tunel de Somport”. I followed this road up the lower slopes of the Pyrenees to an altitude of 1000 metres (stunning scenery), then entered the (8.6 km long) Tunel de Somport. At the far end of the tunnel, I followed the signs for “Jaca”, then “Huesca”. This ensured that I got onto the superb (toll-free) A23 “Autovía Mudéjar”, which passes Huesca, Zaragoza and goes right on down through Spain past Teruel and right down, nearly into Valencia. Once I was on the A23, I set the satnav for my home address – no tolls. This took me down the A23 and round the Valencia ring road. After passing Valencia, eventually the road splits – left for the AP7 to Alicante, or right for the A7 to Alicante. My satnav took me to the right, this being the toll-free route. (I would only recommend the AP 7 for folks who want to get to the northern Costa Blanca – Gandia, Denia, Benidorm etc). For the southern Costa Blanca, it is just as quick to use the free A7 – later A35 – later A31, and down towards Alicante etc that way.
Tolls/ Distance/Driving time.
I paid a total of €22.80 altogether for the whole journey – Calais to home. This is not bad when you consider that it is possible to pay at least €160 in tolls on some routes that people recommend. Distance about 1850 km. Driving time about 21 hours. Two overnight stops, this time at Angôuleme & Zaragoza. I just drive until I feel tired, then go on Booking.com and look for a hotel for around €50 to €60.
Speed in France.
There are speed cameras everywhere in France, and they’re not always all that conspicuous. Also bear in mind that from 1st July 2018, for any road which does not have physical separation between the carriageways, they have reduced the speed limit from 90 kph to 80 kph and they are enforcing it, despite not yet having changed the signs from 90 to 80!
Wintertime.
In the depths of winter, snow occasionally closes the Tunel de Somport. I would check ahead, and if it is closed, I would go from Bordeaux to Irún, Pamplona and then across to the A23, rejoining the route above.
Thanks for information
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