France/Spain, to go or not to go?

[GMJ]

Haven't been home a week yet, but I'm already missing the coffee, cheese, wine, olives, bread, beer etc, etc. It always tastes better on the Continent. I'd set off again tomorrow if they'd let me back in and Mrs G would go.
Oh well, I'll just have to start planning for September.

I know exactly what you mean

We are off to the SoF for a month from mid May and then Italy for a month from late August. Can't wat....

 

[Canalsman]

Day one in France for me.

Traffic so light compared with UK, diesel now very cheap with the recent government subsidy, no potholes in the road. And on Sundays no lorries. That's a rule that should be applied in the UK.

I arrived at 5am in Dieppe. Very slow clearing customs and immigration. Clearly much slower now checking British arrivals who were the vast majority on board.

 

[barge1914]

Day one in France for me.

Traffic so light compared with UK, diesel now very cheap with the recent government subsidy, no potholes in the road. And on Sundays no lorries. That's a rule that should be applied in the UK.

I arrived at 5am in Dieppe. Very slow clearing customs and immigration. Clearly much slower now checking British arrivals who were the vast majority on board.

If you fancy some potholes to feel at home come to Italy. The Provincial roads in the south would make a Romanian feel at home. A sea of potholes joined up by strips of fissured tarmac. At least the effect on travelling speed is an aid to fuel economy. Most state roads are ok, they must get all the money.

 

[groyne]

I arrived at 5am in Dieppe. Very slow clearing customs and immigration.

We went via the tunnel, they just asked if we'd turned the gas off when where going and drove straight off at Calais. It was the same coming back, except they didn't ask about the gas.

If you want potholes, turn off any motorway in Portugal.

 

[Deleted member 86180]

Go for it, there’s no rehearsal. We’re currently at the Hill of Crosses in Lithuania, shortly we’ll be crossing into Poland through a gap less than 300 miles wide between Kaliningrad (Russian enclave) and Belarus which might as well be Russian. Therefore never more than 150 miles away from Russian influenced territories.

Traveled from the Isle of Man throught the U.K. Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway as far as the Arctic circle, back through Sweden, Finland, ferry over to Estonia, Latvia and currently in Lithuania. Some of that route was even closer to Russia. Highest fuel prices were in Scandinavia (obviously) at £2.15/ltr. It might be a long wait to see if fuel prices drop before travelling?

So far we’ve only met people staunchly defiant towards Russia’s ‘Special Operation’. When we crossed the border into Lithuania today a column of four Lithuanian military vehicles pulled into the fuel station we were using. Saw one guy googling our reg plate. In the shop they were buying hot dogs, one of them tried to get past me from behind and said in perfect English “excuse me”, I said sorry and he immediately said “no, don’t be sorry”. They were nice young lads and perhaps for my benefit all spoke English around me. Great memory.

As for the rest of Europe, still got just over five months to go. I’ll let you know if they announce the end of the world

 

[Canalsman]

We went via the tunnel, they just asked if we'd turned the gas off when where going and drove straight off at Calais. It was the same coming back, except they didn't ask about the gas.

If you want potholes, turn off any motorway in Portugal.

The immigration checks are done in Dover by the French so no further checks are necessary upon arrival in Calais.

 

[GMJ]

The immigration checks are done in Dover by the French so no further checks are necessary upon arrival in Calais.

My reading was that they didn't ask about gas in Calais on the route back, prior to boarding the train...

 

[groyne]

You are right GMJ. We just showed our passports for the immigration checks.
Coming back, we where asked if we'd like to take an earlier train, so after negociating all the bollards and traffic calming, we drove straight onto the train.