Evening After ready chinzel adventures it got me thinking about doing Spain , I've been all over France , Germany , Switzerland and a few others but never Spain . I had a quick nose and a return ferry from portmouth to sanatander is £781 in august , is this right ? Seems a lot , an awful lot , I've done the Chunnel , ferry to France and once to the hook . I know it saves time but that's a lot of money . Cheers Chris
I think theres still a French train service that will take you and your bike down south if you are in a hurry?
Its what has stopped me from planning a Spanish trip. Seems mad cost. But then, saves a couple days riding, 2 nights b&b and fuel...
Thank you bazzer . It does seem really dear , from my house to where chin is staying is 980 miles , I could do that in a day and a half to get it over with . First time I've looked at the ferries , maybe the last at that ! I was hoping you'll all say , woah that's dear , should £200 odd . Sadly not Cheers
In October you can get a deal 2 bikes 2 people 5 night B&B in a Paradour 4 berth cabin £750 all in - total 7 nights away You need to wait til they do 20% deal on ‘holiday’ & book the right dates - calling them helps but you can get good deal on these shorter stays
When I use the spain boat prices fluctuate, or use the economy boat if possible, the cruise boat is always dearer, trouble is you have to have a cabin which you book separately, but to be fair I have a 7 metre van and I have had prices from a bit under £400 up to £550 one way but August will be expensive wait until September October onwards or March April etc
£504 return at the end of this month. August is peak period, so it will be expensive. It IS worth the cost, though. You get off the boat straight into the Picos, on nice fresh tyres and relaxed and refreshed. August is too hot for motorcycle touring, anyway.
Try the "Economie" service, which is slower & cheaper. LD Lines used to run a service which was a lot cheaper, but went out of business, so I guess this is what it costs. The road through France is a bore.
Brittany ferries a have a fixed number of bike spaces which get booked up early at popular times, maybe not August, and I believe prices rise the closer the travel date. Try booking for 2020
I paid 550.... although due to the fire I will get refunded some.. anyhu, it is expencive but as bradders says, if you want spain, the ferry saves a few nights hotels each way and fuel. its also a good start to a holiday, 24hrs on a boat with nothing to worry about... 781.00 is mad though!!!
Brittany Ferries not cheap on that route, usually around the £500-550 mark when I tend to go (May/June/early July). Refund policy was very good on the one failure we've experienced. We were on a one way crossing, Portsmouth to Santander. Problem with ferry on previous return leg meant it was four hours late and to catch up woukd be leaving from Plymouth instead. They contacted me the day before with option of cancel and full refund or re route to Plymouth. No difference for us so accepted the latter. Lady then said that half of cost of crossing would be refunded which I was more than happy with. Arrived and boarded at Plymouth to find letter in our cabin apologising again and saying at there woukd be an additional refund for each vehicle of £35 to cover extra fuel costs. As this was a one way crossing cost was something like £280 so this was down to almost £100 and we still got there on time to make our first hotel booking Not sure what they've offered you Chizel but if my experience is anything to go by it should be enough to make you happy with the result.
It's your fault chizel , what you're doing looks cool . August is the only time I'm free , I'm trying to do a bike trip each month this year , mainly 3/4 days but Spain could have been a biggie but not sure my budget would stretch to the ferry . Appreciate the suggestions tho .
