Cycling UK Forum

Hello - I know this is a bit late for the original poster but I just did Paris-Calais-Dover via TER and DFDS yesterday (01/11/22) and thought my experience might be helpful to others. TLDR: I did not find it easy to find my way to the bike passenger ferry check-in!

Firstly, for the train Paris-Calais Ville: I booked this easily by going directly to the TER Hauts-de-France website. Originally I looked on the main SNCF ticket site and it had refused to show the bike-friendly TERs for some reason.
The TER bike rack was a bit odd: you have to tie your bike to it using provided fabric straps with velcro. The straps on my bike rack were quite shabby and held on by threads in places. The rack itself was not suitable for my D-lock, but a chain lock would have worked.

At Calais-Ville I rode through the town centre to avoid the busy/fast main road to the port.
I personally found DFDS’s online bike arrivals advice pretty useless, and the signage in Calais is terrible.
Eventually I found a port worker who told me to follow the signs for CAR FERRY and then “Billetterie” (ticket office), and essentially just act as if I were in a car.
I had seen and used some of the bike paths but I saw no specific signs for bike passengers. I understand that they don’t get many of us, but I had been worried about accidentally ending up on a motorway or dual carriageway if I had blindly followed the car route.

You’ll know you’re in the right place when you see the boxy yellow basket-weave type port HQ building which will be to your left.
Just cycle through the check-in lanes by the yellow building, using the one marked for cars. After that it’s very simple, you keep going through the lane system to French passport control then UK passports.
At the first check in booth, DFDS will give you your ticket- a barcoded hanger type tag that would normally go over a car’s rear view mirror. On this you have a lane number, watch out for this after UK passport control and just take care as you cycle into your lane as HGVs are also driving around this area, turning into their lanes etc.

My ferry was delayed so I didn’t wait in my (uncovered!) lane. I took my bike into the duty free shop, where there were nice and helpful DFDS assistants who kept us advised about the departure/delay info. There are loos in there too, and a bit of a sad-looking waiting area with vending machines for drinks and snacks. There was nowhere to buy sandwiches or anything more substantial, so be prepared in case of delays.

For boarding: you’ll know it’s time because DFDS workers in hi-vis will appear by the boarding lanes. I and the other cyclist cycled up most of the boarding ramp, dismounted and walked for the final section as advised, then DFDS staff lashed the bikes with ties and we went up into the ferry. As others have said, note your deck no. and stairwell to find your way back.

Disembarking: go down when you hear the overhead speaker announcement. Again, a steward will tell you when you can disembark, and you can cycle everything except for the bit of ramp that connects the boat to the dock. Follow the red painted line to get out. You’ll come to a locked gate where you ring a bell to be let out, then follow the red line again out of the port.