Calais to Perpignan

cherokee

cherokee

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Ok guys advice needed,in july 5 bikes going to perpignan.The problem is do we get the ferry from portsmouth to bilbao then ride across,or take the train to calais and ride down? The mileage calais to perpignan is 574,from bilbao its 297.The ferry is pretty expensive this year £360 each sharing a four berth cabin and one of the lads on his own over the £400 mark.I guess what im asking is would it be more cost effective to ride down taking into account the tolls and a one night hotel stop over,or do the ferry and ride across?Id prefere the ride but im tryin to sell it to the others so any help would be real welcome TIA.................:Motomartin
 
Why an overnight stop riding to Perp ? :nenau

Leave calais at 8am and you'll have 300 miles under your belt before lunch.
 
Thing is steppers one of the guys coming is a bit of a born again biker he's got himself a 1700 fcuking cruiser and i dont want to push him to far,that mileage is kinda what im hoping,do you think riding down is the way to go rather than cruise with the chavs.
 
Why are the only two ferry options Calais and Bilbao? What about Caen for example, and a daytime sailing? Just over 600 miles to Perpignan.
 
Right....

(a) Why have you excluded the Portsmouth to Caen and / or the Portsmouth to St Malo options?

Of the two, the St Malo option may be better as it will kick you off the boat in good order for a reasonably early start. Two days from St Malo to Perpignan is doable, for sure.

(b) Maybe have a look at a thread I did in the Pyrenees section (the one with all the prices, hotels etc.) http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=197540 as it may give you some ideas if you just want to train over. You will need to amend the bottom of the route as you are going to Perpignan but that is not difficult with a half decent map.

I might suggest a train over on the afternoon or evening before, staying in a cheap hotel say 30 to 50miles into France in the direction you want to go. Then an early start the next morning. This will save you at least an hour due to the time difference, plus whatever time you will have lost buggering around on boats or trains from Blighty.

There are lots of threads asking for info on how to get to the SW Med coast from seemingly all points of the compass.... The answer, as they say, is out there....... :beerjug:
 
Recently did the sums on the journey to Northern Spain, and for 2 bikes with riders sharing a cabin it was considerably cheaper than riding form Calais with a one night stop on the way. Don't forget to add in the Peage costs if you plan on using them. It's not a difficult sum to do.
 
Gipsy said:
Recently did the sums on the journey to Northern Spain, and for 2 bikes with riders sharing a cabin it was considerably cheaper than riding form Calais with a one night stop on the way. Don't forget to add in the Peage costs if you plan on using them. It's not a difficult sum to do.
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I can tell you the exact cost of riding from calais to bayonne ( spanish border) in a day last april using the autoroutes. Fuel and toll costs total £132 . Add the cost of a hotel at the end of the day, another £30.

Don't forget to factor in the cost of getting to the ports/terminals and any hotels needed on the Uk side.
 
Have you considered riding to Paris and then the overnight train to Nice?

Can't give you any costs I'm afraid but when we did it a few years ago I seem to recall the cost was comparable with riding it. The train was fine but not much sleep. If I did it again I'd look at loading the bikes at Paris in the afternoon and then getting a train down to Nice and sleeping over in Nice, then bikes ready to collect 8.30am next day in Nice. I can't remeber how the charge for a berth on the train compared with a budget hotel in Nice. We did it this way because we originally thought the bikes were on the same train as us. In the end it is a diferent one.
 
MotoRail

I had actually used that about 2 years ago for my honeymoon

rode to paris, popped the bike on the train (Gare D L'est) then down to Nice

it was 313 euro for my bike me and the missus in a 2nd Class couchette

the bikes arrived in about 10:30am-11:00am. a very pain free way to get down there all right...
 
Steptoe said:
I can tell you the exact cost of riding from calais to bayonne ( spanish border) in a day last april using the autoroutes. Fuel and toll costs total £132 . Add the cost of a hotel at the end of the day, another £30.

Don't forget to factor in the cost of getting to the ports/terminals and any hotels needed on the Uk side.
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That sounds pretty good steppers,we're only an hour from the train here,so riding down looks like the way to go,the nice train was something id considered but its as pricey as the ferry so not much in it.
 
Perpignan is easily do-able in 2 days from Calais Cherokee and although the A75 over the Central Massif from Clermont Ferrand is a major autoroute it can be fun on the high speed twistys. A good road, plenty of scenery and of course the bridge at Millau. :thumb
 
cherokee said:
the nice train was something id considered but its as pricey as the ferry so not much in it.
Click to expand...

Plus the fact that it's the best part of 300 miles from Nice to Perpignan which is half of the Calais to Perpignan mileage. :)
 
Santander

Why not go Plymouth- Santander I have just booked 5 bikes 5 bikers 4 berth cabin and a 2 berth cabin in May for £790 which is £158 each one way, we are crossing the Prynees to Perpignon up to the Grand canyon de Verdon then back up to Calias-Dover which is £17-50 one way !!!!!
 
Just had a look at St Eptoe's bill for non-stop which was £132 on the motorway.

Waiting for some activity at work this evening, I compared it with a similar (not quite so far, but not much less) two day jaunt - avoiding most toll roads - but with an overnight stop in a reasonable hotel, with an evening meal. That came to about £180.

Let's say the difference is £50. That would probably be about right. Neil hit the payage but saved the overnight hotel. I avoided much of the payage but copped an overnight hotel bill and a pretty good evening meal and breakfast. I had a single room, a shared twin would reduce the per-head cost a bit.

I can guess that Neil eat lunch etc. on the hoof, as I did, so our incidental costs were probabaly similar.

£50 is either a lot or a little depending on how you look at it. Doing it in a one day hit is fine (but you say your mate ain't going to) but two days of reasonably progressive riding, mostly on non-toll roads, with a half-decent overnight stop isn't vastly more.... Switch the hotel for a Formula 1 and a pizza and the £50 diffrence might well vanish.

Penny to a pound says that Neil has no idea what he spent the £50 he 'saved' on... just as, as he always quite rightly points out, he has no idea what people who save 30p on fuel spend that on :D
 
Thanks guys,Looks like the plan is gonna be,early train,then ride 300 miles give or take then do the rest second day,that will give village people guy an easy run on the cruiser,we should hit the villa near perpignan in time for the ladieeeeeeez to have arrived on the train from paris hairdryers straighteners and handbags in tow,and if we time it right cold beers by the pool...Happy dazzzzze.........:Motomartin
 
Last Summer I got into Calais at 1:30pm on a Friday and made Perpignan by teatime on Saturday. I did a lot of tossing about on small roads too.

Wrote about it here :thumb2
 
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