Glad it's not just me, I thought I might've been being a bit of a div or have a spectacularly uneconomical vehicle!
I made a big mistake this summer as I didn't clock my mileage but we went West London - Croyde - Puttsborough - Woolacombe - Ilfracombe - Doone Valley - Lynton & Lynmouth - Lyme Bay (various) - Durdle Door - Corfe Castle (various) - Studland - West London over the course of 2 weeks with various outings etc.
Even allowing for fuel being at least 10p more expensive in Devon/Dorset I was a bit shocked by my fuel bill, which I put on credit card, when I got home!
I don't think I can afford ferry prices plus hundreds in fuel
Its worth joining CSMA,it wil cost you £15 a year and you then get 10% off Seafrance as well as cheap Britannia Rescue and a substantial reduction on their UK sites- Whitemead in the Forest of Dean is superb.
Sarah we paid about £140 for a Calais return in June,stayed at Camping Cote de Nacre in St Aubin,Normandy.The site is outstanding with massive pools (even had live folk music)and the weather was sunny all the time,must have been in the high 20s.It took about 6 hours from Calais,not hurrying,though that wasnt really an option anyway in our 1.6 non turbo diesel.
I have checked the latest ferry prices from Sea France on the Dover - Calais route & D.F.D.S. on the Dover - Dunkerque route. Travelling out in May & home in June 2012, the prices for my LWB T4 Camper are:- Sea France £90.00 & D.F.D.S. £95.00. Last week P&O wanted at least £112.00 on the Dover - Calais route. The Western Channel routes ie. LD Lines & Brittany Ferries were all over £450.00. I will most likely book with Sea France this week using the promotion code:- EBOMOTOBVP
BOWTON LAD, CLUB 80-90 MEMBER No.2488
2013 VW PASSAT ESTATE 2.OL TDI BLUE MOTION TECHNOLOGY
Titus A Duxass wrote:DFDS have just sent me their latest email.
Prices start from 24€ each way (going from Europe to UK).
Sign up for their email offers.
When I went onto their website two days ago the standard return fare via DFDS was £80 for a van and four people in August next year even without additional discounts. I don't understand why people are wedded to the more expensive Dover Calais route when Calais is only 15 minutes away from Dunkirk on the coastal (free) motorway. Yes the crossing takes a bit longer but so what? I checked out ths site today. If you booked to travel tomorrow returning next Tuesday they are charging just £35 return for a van plus four people. They need custom.
As I said on a previous message I would not be surprised if the othere ferry companies started to reduce their prices as less people travel this year. Enjoy the trip however you get there.
Patrick
Ferry prices can be cheap, but yes petrol is dear. As you know I do a long journey to where I go in France about 600 miles one way. That works out at 30 gallons (x 4.55 to covert to litres) each way for me at 20mpg. I make that 136 litres x about £1.50 = £200 each way. So petrol is now a sizeable part on camper travelling. You can see why lpg conversion is so tempting.
However, for the moment you do not have to go so far South as there are plenty of sites with kids stuff on and other kids for Tabatha to play with both on the West Coast and inland. With my crew of 4/5 adults staying in France last year the total holiday bill was about £1800 for three weeks of holiday and total petrol costs for me were about £500. So petrol was a sizeable part of the total holiday cost. The cost also included 10 nights of eating in restaurants (cos we were lazy) and several dozen bottles of wine brought home. None of which is necessary so the holiday could have been much cheaper if we had self catered and barbecued more than we did. Shopping around for cheaper camp sites makes a big difference. Yes you could pay £30 a night if you wanted to, but many sites are very much cheaper than that particularly camping municipal sites (although in very popular spots they can also be expensive). Add to that there are two of you not four so site prices start to drop away. I suggest that you check out the AA journey planner from say Calais to different parts of France and work out the approximate costs of travel and with an up to date Michelin camping book check out the prices of sites. Also if you self cater the cost of the holiday drops away. Good luck with whatever you choose to do.
Patrick
