Travel to Northern France

[ANTONISH]

Back in January I booked a gite with " Gites - de - France " in Northern France - it's about 40 miles from Calais and we intended as usual to take our bikes in the car.
I booked a week at the end of June.
The lockdown in France ( confinement ) has been extended to 11th May.
It looks like our lockdown may extend a little beyond that - and for over 70's like me it may extend indefinitely
I have to confirm the booking by 21st May.
If I survive the present situation and we can continue with our plans I was intending to use the Channel Tunnel rather than the ferry because we don't need to leave the car during the crossing.
Does anyone have any idea if I would be prevented from travelling in these circumstances?
I don't particularly want to cancel but it may be the wise option.

[Jdsk]

Eurotunnel advice:
https://www.eurotunnel.com/uk/travelling-with-us/latest/covid-19/

Foreign Office advice:
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/france

Jonathan

PS: I'm missing France but I'm not expecting to get there until way after June 2020.

[ANTONISH]

Eurotunnel advice:
https://www.eurotunnel.com/uk/travelling-with-us/latest/covid-19/

Foreign Office advice:
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/france

Jonathan

PS: I'm missing France but I'm not expecting to get there until way after June 2020.

Thanks for the links.
It doesn't look promising - I'll hold on until 11th May and see what the situation is then.

[RobinS]

We spend half our time in France so keep informed of what is happening there. The government are not anticipating opening "tourism" until the middle of July at the earliest, and even then it is likely to be for French Nationals only. From our reading of the situation, and plans of various governments it is looking like we may be able to travel for tourism from September/October at the earliest.

[simonineaston]

Who'd do the preventing? Commercial agencies, eg Brittany Ferries. Or governement agencies, eg border control? Might be worth finding out & asking them... I'll ask my chum who moves between here and his French home a lot. Meanwhile, I see this page on the gov. website...

[simonhill]

Might be worth following this at EU level, Schengen and all that.

I read a report (albeit in The Sun, via Google feed) that European tourist ministers were meeting to discuss opening up tourism this summer. It said UK not invited to meeting. It also reported that UK would be at the bottom of the list of allowed countries in some places, Cyprus and Greece were mentioned.

Fortunately we are big spenders on the tourist front, so that may help a bit, but given the UK stance to the EU I don't think we can hope or expect too much help from them.

[Cyril Haearn]

There is talk of a second wave, could be worse than the first, countries make their own rules, no more carefree border crossing for a while
Poland still has closed borders, two weeks quarantine

[st599_uk]

UK Government have mentioned 2 week quarantine on entry. Can see other countries doing the same.

So you may need to do 4 weeks in quarantine to go abroad.

[nsew]

Things are moving quickly, I mean it’s only economic survival on the line. While we’ve all been in a tizzy about our actual lives the financial system apparently almost collapsed back in March. I imagine high speed testing will be available at borders / airports within weeks. For my part the crisis is allowing for me to work longer into the year and dramatically increase my funding. I’m planning the big ‘ain’t coming back’ journey. I’ve done 18 months, 4 years and 12 years before. The last few years I’ve been stuck in six months off six months on. That’s already become a pain as the 6th month off is near full of dread. The kit is ready.

Meanwhile.....

The lead professor on the vaccine team at Oxford University has a “high degree of confidence” for a vaccine by September.

“The vaccine takes the coronavirus' genetic material and injects it into a common cold virus that has been neutralized so it cannot spread in people. The modified virus will mimic COVID-19, triggering the immune system to fight off the imposter and providing protection against the real thing.”

“Professor Sarah Gilbert's team hopes for an 80 percent success rate, and plans to produce one million doses by September, with the aim of making it widely available by the autumn if successful.”

https://www.sciencealert.com/oxford-uni ... 19-vaccine

[roubaixtuesday]

I've a holiday let booked in france last week of July. I'd rate our chances as about 20-1 against, but not completely inconceivable yet.

May - no chance.

June - 100:1

August/September - 10:1

Just my personal speculation, not informed.

[ANTONISH]

Well we're speculating that we may get a few days in Belgium in October.

[nsew]

Greece for example are one of the countries whose economy is highly dependent on tourism. They were broke before the crisis. They are already looking at ways of getting tourists in by the start of the peak season. I can think of worse options than cycle touring the Greek islands. Croatia are also a highly dependent tourist economy, look for them to open up too. Spanish islands etc.

[De Sisti]

I was due to take part in the Semaine Federale in Valognes, travelling from Portsmouth to Cherbourg.
The organisation (ffct) has sent an email advising those who have entered that the event has been
cancelled. They are currently dealing with refunds. I booked a ferry crossing with Britanny Ferries
back in January for the event in August. I took out holiday insurance at the same time. On the .gov
website it states that all non-essential travel to europe should be avoided. I don't think the ferry
company has taken that on board yet (see what a did there? ). I think they are waiting for things to
improve and are only giving a month-by-month sitrep.

[TrevA]

Greece for example are one of the countries whose economy is highly dependent on tourism. They were broke before the crisis. They are already looking at ways of getting tourists in by the start of the peak season. I can think of worse options than cycle touring the Greek islands. Croatia are also a highly dependent tourist economy, look for them to open up too. Spanish islands etc.

It’s not touring itself that I suspect will be the problem, it’s getting there and getting back. Would you really want to sit in an airplane for 3 hours with 150 strangers?

[nsew]

Greece for example are one of the countries whose economy is highly dependent on tourism. They were broke before the crisis. They are already looking at ways of getting tourists in by the start of the peak season. I can think of worse options than cycle touring the Greek islands. Croatia are also a highly dependent tourist economy, look for them to open up too. Spanish islands etc.

It’s not touring itself that I suspect will be the problem, it’s getting there and getting back. Would you really want to sit in an airplane for 3 hours with 150 strangers?

As things stand, no. But in two months time? It might only be for the brave or foolish - not necessarily mutually exclusive. Maybe there will be rapid fire testing available at borders and ferry ports and passports stamped accordingly. Driving to a touring destination should be achievable. Perhaps vehicles with VIRUS FREE FOREIGNERS daubed on them. Locals along the way may be an issue. In India What’s App mobs are attacking the grave diggers because they’ve been informed the virus spreads through the soil.