Silverdorking wrote:Any experience of Brittany Ferries to St Malo? Also wondered whether there is cost benefit to early booking or should one retain flexibility and pay at travel time. (Never very confident that I'm going to retain by schedule when touring!)
Yes, as we live in the south west we mostly use Brittany. The bike is inside at the edge of the car deck on all the ones I've been on. We've definitely changed the booking when we've been in the car in the past quite easily (but haven't tried to do it recently) not sure about the bike, best to check their booking terms.
I have done the Plymouth to Santander run with a bike a few times too but not recently. Fabulous access to the mountains in Asturias, Cantabria and the Picos de Europa and I've also used it to cycle on down into Spain and Lisbon. There is also a logical route from Roscof to Santander using the ferry at each end but making an A to B journey.
Last edited by MrsHJ on 9 Mar 2016, 7:35pm, edited 2 times in total.
I use Brittany Ferries almost every year. Portsmouth - St Malo the bikes are in a side room right to the front of the deck where they are roped to rails. This means that you can usually get off quickly once the couple of cars outside the room have moved. Portsmouth - Ouistreham the bikes are roped to rails in the centre of the deck. Escape is not so quick but it is ok. I know of no advantage to booking early. I have already booked my summer crossings, but sometimes I leave it until only a couple of weeks before I go and I've seen no difference. One year I did not book my return and just bought it on the day I got to Ouistreham. That was expensive, about 50% more than a pre booked fare. When I queried it I was told that the afternoon crossing was popular and hence costly unless pre-booked. The only other times I bought on the day was on ferries to and from Dover (obviously not Brittany Ferries)where there was no premium.
I've used the Harwich to Hook ferry a few times in recent years, think it's great! You can get it cheaper if you book earlier, and only £30 for a cabin overnight. It's pretty quick from London Liverpool St and there seem to be lots of advance tickets for this route.
“My two favourite things in life are libraries and bicycles. They both move people forward without wasting anything. The perfect day: riding a bike to the library.” ― Peter Golkin
I would generally never contemplate flying to France or for that matter Eurotunnel – I have done the Eurotunnel – but it was out of curiosity and was a bit of a faff – all part of the adventure tho
For the trips to the med Ive used all of the channel ports so I get a different line south each time – and apart from three occasions used the bike bus back – two I returned to the channel and one I exited via Santander – twice Ive done trips that had both a start and finish on the bike bus. Brittany is a no brainer to use St Malo, Roscoff or Caen.
Similarly If starting/finishing through Holland the Hoek ferry is a no brainer.
It is rare that I bother to book the ferry ahead of arriving at the port. (applies equally well for Baltic, Med Adriatic and Santander/Bilbao ferries Ive used)
Eurotunnel or Eurostar? I can't think in what way anyone would consider the Eurotunnel service linked above as a faff. It was really straightforward when I used it.
Eurotunnel or Eurostar? I can't think in what way anyone would consider the Eurotunnel service linked above as a faff. It was really straightforward when I used it.
Sorry - Eurostar - The Faff was all of my own making - my habit when I was working full time was to have the bike packed and in the office on Friday before my leave started - 1600hrs out of the office and south to ferry or in this instance St Pancreas for first train out on Saturday to Paris - faff came about because I had to get the bike to ST P by 1930hrs so it could be loaded on the first train - leaving me a few a few hours to twiddle - Once I was on the train it worked really well
Before anyone gets the wrong impression, you only need to drop your bike off the night before if you book onto a very early eurostar from Saint Pancras. IIRC the people who load the bikes start work at 7.00 am so this applies to the first two or three departures. My recollection is that the eurodespatch office is now open until quite late into the evening. Sorry I can't remember the exact details (embarrassingly as I did this last April), but anyway it's probably best to check the current position with eurodespatch.
But If you want to avoid the faff, book onto a later departure (which unfortunately may mean waiting until mid-morning if you want one of the cheaper tickets).
All the transport options involve an amount of faff, and ultimately the choice of the best one comes down to the overall journey time which obviously depends on where you live and where you want to go. If you live in Kent and/or want to start your tour in Calais (or you're coming back from Calais) then eurotunnel is a good option, but if you''re travelling from London, and want to get an onward connection from Calais then you're looking at a train to Folkestone, then the shuttle, then another train which sounds like a fair amount of faffing to me. If memory serves the eurostar overall is quicker, but the eurotunnel option may be cheaper. Ditto the ferry.
Eurotunnel or Eurostar? I can't think in what way anyone would consider the Eurotunnel service linked above as a faff. It was really straightforward when I used it.
Sorry - Eurostar - The Faff was all of my own making - my habit when I was working full time was to have the bike packed and in the office on Friday before my leave started - 1600hrs out of the office and south to ferry or in this instance St Pancreas for first train out on Saturday to Paris - faff came about because I had to get the bike to ST P by 1930hrs so it could be loaded on the first train - leaving me a few a few hours to twiddle - Once I was on the train it worked really well
andymiller wrote:Before anyone gets the wrong impression, you only need to drop your bike off the night before if you book onto a very early eurostar from Saint Pancras.
or for those who don't live in London (or Paris) you can drop the bike off the night (24hrs) before in Eurostars secure drop-off, which is a great help as most cheap London/Paris hotels won't take bikes. I've used Eurostar a few times (Paris/London, London/Brussels) and it's really simple with friendly staff at the bike drop-off point. The only real hassle is having to remove removables (bottles, pump, etc) from the bike, and the cost.
MrsHJ wrote: Enjoyed reading your tour. Euro bike express looks good too but not so great for south west England,
yup - the bike bus for me over the years has been excellent - a pick up/drop off point an easy 10miles cycle - on paper it appears expensive - however it is low faff - There are no other costs - ie taxi, train or air fares - apart from bacon butties on board and road food at stops - for the most part it has just scooped me. my intact bike and my luggage up at the end of a tour and dumped me close to home - However it used to be better - more routes - Venice and Frejus were on the menu
andymiller wrote:Before anyone gets the wrong impression, you only need to drop your bike off the night before if you book onto a very early eurostar from Saint Pancras.
or for those who don't live in London (or Paris) you can drop the bike off the night (24hrs) before in Eurostars secure drop-off, which is a great help as most cheap London/Paris hotels won't take bikes.
A good point, and that's an angle I hadn't considered ("Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner" as the song goes).
Silverdorking wrote:Any experience of Brittany Ferries to St Malo? Also wondered whether there is cost benefit to early booking or should one retain flexibility and pay at travel time. (Never very confident that I'm going to retain by schedule when touring!)
Definitely book early - they seem to have a quota of cabins assigned to walk-ons and once these are used up they go to cars only. I booked in November for the Tour de France week.
Brittany are very helpful, no problems at all with them either St Malo route or Ouistreham, even with a tandem. If they book up you can also check Condor from Poole to St Malo via the Channel Islands.
Silverdorking wrote:Any experience of Brittany Ferries to St Malo? Also wondered whether there is cost benefit to early booking or should one retain flexibility and pay at travel time. (Never very confident that I'm going to retain by schedule when touring!)
Definitely book early - they seem to have a quota of cabins assigned to walk-ons and once these are used up they go to cars only. I booked in November for the Tour de France week.
Brittany are very helpful, no problems at all with them either St Malo route or Ouistreham, even with a tandem. If they book up you can also check Condor from Poole to St Malo via the Channel Islands.
I've used condor before with a quick hop into one of the Channel Islands. In those days it was still going frim Weymouth. As the Brittany peninsular is so large St Malo makes a better route down to the south and especially the central and south east of France for us and you still get to do the mostly pretty stuff (I wouldn't describe the pas de Calais as pretty on the whole although no doubt there are charming bits I have missed).
andymiller wrote:Before anyone gets the wrong impression, you only need to drop your bike off the night before if you book onto a very early eurostar from Saint Pancras. IIRC the people who load the bikes start work at 7.00 am so this applies to the first two or three departures.... But If you want to avoid the faff, book onto a later departure (which unfortunately may mean waiting until mid-morning if you want one of the cheaper tickets).
Also on weekdays there may be restrictions on taking your bike on trains into London at peak times (7am on the line I know); either you go in extra early or take a later eurostar. A wrinkle to consider.
If you live on the south coast newhaven dieppe is straight forward. Book in advance in the summer/spring as they only take a certain number of bikes. The bikes are tied inwith a bit of old rope. I was a bit unsure but both sailing I did were fine. This is a fantastic way to get onto the dieppe to paris cycle route. The first part is on a great section of cycle path built along an old railway line. It's about 4hours.
