road trip to Spain next april/may- advice reqd pls

[kathyshack]

bilbao and santander routes are £400 single!


I think you will find its a bit cheaper than that, we [ the Picos trip] are paying about £550 with a cabin this coming 23rd to Santander and that's return [I'm paying a bit more cos I have the LWB T5] you save a shed load of fuel money and its a bit like a mini cruise [24 hours] and the weather in Spain along with the Spanish people are much better than the frogs....

That sounds great. I can't find anything anywhere nr that. I also have a lwb t5. Where did you book yours through, and did you have a discount code?
Thanks,
kathy

[fodtommo]

We have just been invited to a wedding in spain next june and are thinking along the same lines... bilbao / santander ferry is about £500 inc cabin one way - I think the cheap returns are for 'low season', Im thinking of going out on the spanish ferry, and back on a cheaper french one. Like you its all a bit can we manage the cash dependant! Although as Im best man, the groom offered to pay for our families flights / acc etc, and is more than happy to contribute to our ferries instead Im getting a bit excited already!

[texasuk]

I thin k the cheap returns are low season and booked a year in advance. Anything less than 6 months away and it is likely to be fully booked, it is a very popular route for freight/lorries. I've never found anything less than 400 each way.

I personally worked out the fuel was about £250 in fuel each way, taking it easy and getting about 250 miles to a tank each time. Add £40 for the quick ferry and it is slightly cheaper than the long ferry to Spain at the best prices.

Of course the other point is you miss all the sights and the adventure on the way, which is half of what a holiday is for me. I'm driving to Seefeld in the Austrian Alps for a weeks holiday in a few weeks time, would probably be cheaper to fly, but where is the fun in that?

[Taw Cottage]

Kathy

www.viamichelin.com Is a good site for routes, calculations for fuel, road tolls etc etc.

Also checkout with AA/RAC for things you need to carry with.

Steve

[kathyshack]

Thanks guys. We booked the ferry last night. Got rtn Dover - Calais £75. Pretty good really (thanks boltonlad for the discount code). Decided to do the longer drive. Just got to work out a route now.
If any of you have gone accross the channel, and down into northern Spain, I'd love to hear aboutyour trip. Any tips on routes places to stop at would be great too. Were going end April early may.
Thanks again x

[Bowton Lad]

I booked my ferry crossing with Sea France last week. I'm sailing out in mid May & coming home in early June. It cost me £90.00 but I could have paid less if I travelled home during the week instead of on a Sunday. Now I can start to plan my itineray.

[horns]

Thanks guys. We booked the ferry last night. Got rtn Dover - Calais £75. Pretty good really (thanks boltonlad for the discount code). Decided to do the longer drive. Just got to work out a route now.
If any of you have gone accross the channel, and down into northern Spain, I'd love to hear aboutyour trip. Any tips on routes places to stop at would be great too. Were going end April early may.
Thanks again x

We stopped over in Calais after a late crossing, then down past Rouen and Le Mans, stopped for the night at an Aire in Neuilly Pont-Pierre (useful halfway point, nice bakery in the town for breakfast, handy big Super-U supermarket with cheap diesel and camper-service point), then cut across to the east a little to go down via the Millau Viaduct (hilly, but spectacular), then stopped over again at an aire on the coast somewhere I forget the name of near Perpignan (I'd look it up, but it wasn't that nice anyway). Then we crossed over, visited Cadaques (lovely), down the coast to Barcelona, (aire in car park at the end of Diagonal near the Forum - handy), across the country via Zaragosa (Nice municipal camping, ended up staying extra night, lovely city) to San Sebastian (Aire in university car park. Awesome food) before taking the easier route up the left hand side of France, stopping at the same aire on the way home.

Spain in a camper is great - we're going back as soon as we can to head back to San Sebastian then carry on along the coast.

[kathyshack]

Thanks horns. That's really useful. Will get my map out later to get my bearing etc.
Cheers! X

[Merlin Cat]

Hi Kahyshack,

Sounds brilliant How far were you planning to travel in Spain? I have lived here near Almeria (Andalucia in South East Spain) for 6 years and have travelled back and forth to UK on a few different routes. We have done it mainly in T4´s but also a T2 in May I wil look at a map and try and find our different routes. Every time we travel we mean to keep a record and always either forget, or mislay it in the house some where! If you have any questions just give me a shout

[Merlin Cat]

I am a div and have just re-read your post properly. Are you going any further than the wedding place? I am hoping you havent written in another post further plans, apparently i skim read, and not very well!

[Cruz]

We're just going as far as the wedding venue Merlin. The majority of the trip will be in france......oh-ee-oh

[kathyshack]

Thanks merlin,
yeah, as cruz says, prob just as far as the wedding venue. Were taking a 5 yr old and a 2 yr old, so prob take a bit longer to travel, ESP if they're getting bored etc. Would be interested to hear which route you take through France tho, and any recomended stopoffs
cheers,
kathy

[Merlin Cat]

No problem. Been a bit busy today but will get map out tomorrow and spot a few of the routes we took. We generally tend to use mway as we are wanting to use up less hols driving and more in the UK. However, as i get bored! and my back seizes we tend to take a few days still. When we have been on A roads it is much nicer and you see some beautiful places, esp in France.

[kathyshack]

I reckon we will prob use motorways and a roads tbh, as there'll probably be times when we have churn out some miles, ESP if kids are getting bored of driving. Quite excited about the trip now!

[Ralf85]

Number one concern with small peeps is to stop at camp sites with playgrounds. The poor little mites deserve it after being cooped up all day. Get hold of a Michelin camping book and check out child friendly sites in advance. There is nothing worse than not finding a place where they can let off steam. Safe trip.

Patrick