[account_inactive]

Not sure what forum this should be in.......

Norfolkline ferry from Dover to Dunkirk has a £5 off each way offer if you use the code EMF.  Also if you pay via paypal they don't sting you for the £4 credit card charge.

[GCW]

Unbelievable.

[lagerstarfish]

They will also slap on a fuel charge of about £8

Still only brought our return at times we wanted to £36 

[slackline]

Not sure what forum this should be in.......

Abroad maybe? 

Norfolkline ferry from Dover to Dunkirk has a £5 off each way offer if you use the code EMF.  Also if you pay via paypal they don't sting you for the £4 credit card charge.

Pretty good deal, I've been over with Norfolkline the last few times I went to Font and its not much further in time/distance (although the road in/out of Dunkirk was in a terrible state the last time I went along it).

[account_inactive]

Save the £5 and get the VIP option for £9.60 each.  You get priority boarding and exit (they put you on the front of the boat).  You also get to stay away from the Kosovan killers, get free drinks (including beer), newspapers and nice chairs 

That's how Saltbeef and I roll

The drive via Lille to Font is much quicker as you are only on the peripherique for a short time, plus there is only one toll charge instead of 2

[Scouse D]

I like the sound of the VIP area!
Dylan is spot on about the drive, quicker, easier and cheaper than from Calais.

[BB]

Google maps offers three routes. Is it best to go via Lille and Reims in order to avoid gay Paris?

[Jaspersharpe]

Depending on traffic / roadworks either A25 or A26 then A1, A104/N104 (La Francillienne) shennanigans round Paris, A6. BOOM.

[BB]

Cheers Jas. I'm looking at alternative routes as the prices for Portsmouth to Le Havre are getting silly. It's a great route for those in the southwest, but the increased cost doesn't justify the shorter drive times any more.

[Jaspersharpe]

Lagers showed me that route. It used to be a bit tricky but since they sorted the signs out on the A104 / N104 bit it's fine now.

[robertostallioni]

Pretty good deal, I've been over with Norfolkline the last few times I went to Font and its not much further in time/distance (although the road in/out of Dunkirk was in a terrible state the last time I went along it).

Old bastard.

[Sloper]

Lagers showed me that route. It used to be a bit tricky but since they sorted the signs out on the A104 / N104 bit it's fine now.

Spot on that's the route I've been using for years and now there's the A5bis going onto the A6 it takes you almost straight around to Milly.

[Jim]

Always go dunkirk via lille.
If you tell your sat nav to go via Mitry-Mory, you skirt around the east side of Paris and miss the peripherique altogether.
However if your in the middle of the night (ie no traffic on the road) then going through paris can be interesting to make a change, but apart from that, don't bother going throught Paris at all

[soapy]

slightly off topic, but does no-one do newhaven - dieppe anymore?

[nai]

That's a much longer crossing isn't it (4hrs?) so takes longer overall I think.  Been 10 years since I last did it though.

I'm thinking aboout taking the overnight ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge in May.  Much shorter on this side obviously, land 8:45am then it's only 15km further than the drive from Calais.  Anyone tried it?

[tomtom]

That's a much longer crossing isn't it (4hrs?) so takes longer overall I think.  Been 10 years since I last did it though.

I'm thinking aboout taking the overnight ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge in May.  Much shorter on this side obviously, land 8:45am then it's only 15km further than the drive from Calais.  Anyone tried it?

http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,10606.msg177473.html#msg177473

[Johnny Brown]

I seem to remember the last time we went through Dunkirk we swore never to do so again. It wouldn't be so bad if the baot was direct, but it isn't, you trog down the coast for forty minutes to get to the shipping lane. I went through Calais this summer and was amazed how much quicker it was - I reckon the best part of two hours.  If you're a banker from London, of course, you take the Chunnel.

[Duma]

The drive via Lille to Font is much quicker as you are only on the peripherique for a short time, plus there is only one toll charge instead of 2

???
How does that work? - it's further from Dunkerque to the A26/A1 junction than from Calais, and the routes are interchangeable from then onward. Plus the bit in and out of Dunkerque is a shit surfaced and slow road. Also +1 what JB said - the ferry journey is at least 30mins longer. Last week there was only one toll (E20.20) from Calais via A26/A1/BP/A6 - what's it cost from Dunkerque via A25/A1?

I am interested in this fabled route that misses the BP though - a quick look at google maps would imply getting off the A1 just after CdG then A104/N104/A5b/N105 to Melun/D607 to Barbizon - this correct?. If you've come down the N104 it seems a bit round the houses to go back to the A6, no?

Also while we're on the subject I was flashed by a camera on the D637 just before the D64 crosses it (Barbizon exit) last week, just a heads up - it's a 90KMPH limit there.

[Jim]

BP?

[Duma]

boulevard perepherique

[nai]

I am interested in this fabled route that misses the BP though - a quick look at google maps would imply getting off the A1 just after CdG then A104/N104/A5b/N105 to Melun/D607 to Barbizon - this correct?. If you've come down the N104 it seems a bit round the houses to go back to the A6, no?

You do kind of double back on yourself at CdG but the traffic just keeps moving.  Basically just follow signs for Lyon/A6 then pick them up for Melun when they start appearing.  It's a lot easier in practice than it sounds/looks on a map.

http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,10606.msg177473.html#msg177473

Cheers tomtom, reckon we'll give it a go.

[Duma]

cheers - so the bit round Melun isn't too bad for traffic then? It'd be nice to have a less congested way home - I often seem to spend time on the A6 going sloooowly when on the way home.

[tomtom]

I am interested in this fabled route that misses the BP though - a quick look at google maps would imply getting off the A1 just after CdG then A104/N104/A5b/N105 to Melun/D607 to Barbizon - this correct?. If you've come down the N104 it seems a bit round the houses to go back to the A6, no?

You do kind of double back on yourself at CdG but the traffic just keeps moving.  Basically just follow signs for Lyon/A6 then pick them up for Melun when they start appearing.  It's a lot easier in practice than it sounds/looks on a map.

http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,10606.msg177473.html#msg177473

Cheers tomtom, reckon we'll give it a go.

IIRC if you use google maps etc.. to calculate the total driving times, its alot less driving than heading down to Dover etc.. Thats the bit I hate - 3+ hours down to London then the shittest bit of the M25 to negotiate.. 

[nai]

cheers - so the bit round Melun isn't too bad for traffic then? It'd be nice to have a less congested way home - I often seem to spend time on the A6 going sloooowly when on the way home.

I see what you're saying now i've checked a map.  You don't go on the A5b/N105 to Melun.  Stay on N104 to join the A6 near Evry then it's straight down and if you're heading for Barbizon come of at the Milly junction.

[Jaspersharpe]

 Thats the bit I hate - 3+ hours down to London then the shittest bit of the M25 to negotiate.. 

  The French roads are bliss in comparison despite the mentalist drivers.