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Planning on leaving central Scotland to drive to Calais via the tunnel on Friday am. Leaving v early with a view to getting the tunnel around 1030am.
Route planner suggests either M74, A66, A1, A14, M11 to M25 and then down the M20. Alternative is via Birmingham M6 toll, M1.
Anyone aware of planned roadworks or other issues that would make either route better or worse?
Cheers
G
M6 has miles and miles of road works and subsequent 50 mph speed limits. Look on traffic England for the exact locations.
Happy driving.
option A, anything to avoid M6/M1 combo.
There's a 40 limit on the A14 for a chunk but i'd still go that way anyway.
Well I would actually go hull-zeebrugge .....
M6 is shit from Manchester to Birmingham
Sensible option? Leave Thursday night and pick a travel lodge somewhere on the way
Looks like I'll be avoiding M6 then. Unfortunately overnight stay isn't possible due to work commitments on Thursday.
Thanks all
G
To be fair for a 10:30am start, aim to get their 9:30ish, you should be well past the worst of the traffic blackspots before they get busy if you go M6, M25, M1 etc.
A14 is being heavily upgraded and may well be shut down to a single lane overnight. It's obviously a small part of the journey, but it's the bit I can comment best on. Essentially most of the section you'd use is set to 40mph.
Good luck!
Avoid M6 and the M1, too many overnight closures.
M1 has something like 20 miles of 50mph north of M25
Also to arrive there at 9:30 you'll be hitting the Dartford crossing at about 8am....eek!
There’s been a few overnight closures on the a14 as well lately
a few miles at 50mph on M20 before Ashford .
And then you'll get to France and you won't see a single roadwork the entire time you're there 😀
I did the tunnel a few weeks ago going from Leeds for a very early crossing. M1 is full of 50 zones and M20 wasn't much better. On returning at night we were diverted off the M1 for a few junctions but it was a poor route and added an hour to journey.
From previous crossings I'd set off earlier and even though you'll arrive sooner most likely they'll bump you onto the next train.
Watch out for the speed cameras entering the tunnel facility in France when you return, I'd seen a few UK cars flashed going through them.
And if you didn't already know France has reduced nearly all 90kph limits to 80kph this summer. Caught me out but only 45euros fine.
Dickyboy
And if you didn’t already know France has reduced nearly all 90kph limits to 80kph this summer. Caught me out but only 45euros fine.
And also you have to completely stop for 3 seconds at stop lines (which was the law anyway but they have suddenly started enforcing it)
If you're using the Dartford Crossing you might want to pay that toll in advance - I was away for a couple of weeks and was internet free - came home to a £30 fine which they reduced to the original charge after some discussion involving a dead rabbit stowaway
I'd let Waze sort it out.
France is closed today
No updates from the OP, still on the M25 waiting to get to the M20?
So.,, Left home at 0130. Drive to tunnel was ok and made it there with time to spare for 1020 tunnel crossing.
Spent a couple of hours in France picking up the wine and caught the 1500 return tunnel. No real issues other than M25/M11 junction on the return (over turned lorry)
Expect to be home by 2300. 200 miles to go and it’s 2000. A pretty decent way to spend a day, and a grand on wine. Just need to find space to cellar it all now.
cheers all, or should it be salut!
g
Sod all that driving for some cheap wine!
PS - On the road/go for 22 hours...not really the greatest plan?!
Saving made it worthwhile. Plus I’ve not been doing all the driving... I’m not that stupid.
Looks for Like button.
So what would £1k of french wine cost in the the UK?
Couldn't think of anything worse....22 hours in a car travelling.
Must have made a pretty hefty saving on the plonk.
Overall saving taking into account -
my and my mates time - no cost
fuel - 1.5 tanks of diesel £130
lunch in Calais €25
laighs and giggles with a friend on a road trip - priceless
overall saving should be approx £870.
What I found is that wine which costs £15 in uk costs £14 in France. However wine that’s £7.50 - £9 (an average bottle for just drinking for me) in uk is anywhere from £1.99 to 2.50 in Calais. Bought lots of that. For example cono Sur bicicleta at £2.45 a bottle.
most expensive wine was 4 cases of 2016 Saumur champigny at £6.90 a bottle. Can’t find it anywhere in uk close to that cost.
Felt worth doing the trip before Brexit makes it harder / impractical. It basically means that at a bottle and a half a week I’ll not need to buy wine for eighteen months and that’s just my share.
cono Sur bicicleta
Doesn't that translate to C n u t on a bike?
Doesn’t that translate to C n u t on a bike?
Dunno, it tastes nice in any case.
Hmm interesting, must get through at least 3 bottles a week in this house & live considerably closer to France too 🤔
One glaring immission from my costings was the cost of the tunnel- nil. If you buy more than £250 the wine warehouses will pay for your tunnel ticket.
The main warehouses are all within two mins drive of each other and approx ten mins from the tunnel terminal. Theres a big Carrefour supermarket a few mins away to stock up on raclette, rillette, tic tacs etc..,
Where did you get it from?
We go to Pidou,in Calais, near the other large wine sellers, though I'd expect them to only keep quite common brands in, but the OH likes one they do there.
Most of it came from Calais wine warehouse, some from pidou, none from majestic as I found their selection and discounts poor.