Not a frequent user, maybe once or twice a year but the level / quality has gone down hill in my experience, most recently went to Chimay for the weekend and outbound and return were a complete shambles, hours hanging around, join a line here and then another there, seriously thinking about the boat next time! Edit: forgot to mention the effing M20, what a joke this country is, operation stack in place with eff all traffic using it!
can relate to, and agree with the last bit on trip to Margate - hundreds of cones out/lane shut/50mph average, with no signs of any work or machinery, both directions and ditto two days later.
Operation stack is a fiasco. Frost and Johnson managed to make a shit mountain out of a mole hill. Got to say we use le shuttle regular, due to having the dog with us, easier than ferries. Been super efficient every time. We avoid main holidays and peak time travel though, just to be safe. French side, straight off and on to good flowing roads. England..?ffs, stop start traffic, speed cameras and average speed cameras. What a mess.
Labour will improve very little, if anything. very poor Decisions made during Covid have killed Europe and other for years to come
Edit: forgot to mention the effing M20, what a joke this country is, operation stack in place with eff all traffic using it![/QUOTE] You mean Operation Brock, put in place since Brexit. A means to hold freight and separate non-freight traffic in a bid to keep traffic flowing. During school holiday periods, it's implemented because the authorities predict a lot more traffic flowing to Dover docks and the Eurotunnel site but they don't know which days will be busy so it's left in place until September, usually, with reappearances anytime schools break up.
If we start with low expectations, any improvements will seem bigger ! I suspect the elephant in the room caused more long term damage than covid. The UK is now at the bottom of a big hole. With luck Labour will stop digging, there was no sign of that happening with the last lot. Back on travel thread though, anyone using the North sea ferry crossings recently? Assume no real changes in the last six years..
I'd take a standstill right now! No drama, no theft of public money and no lies/taking everyone for idiots. Theyve got a couple of elections in hand before we can even begin to compare the ineptitude and criminality of their predecessors though.
Not sure id agree with that, they havent cyphoned off billions of quid of public money and killed countless people and the economy with their gross ineptitude just yet. Its only been 21 days though, granted .... On a serious note im glad theyve decided to re nationalise the railways, my grandad worked on the GWR for 40 years and would be deeply ashamed of what theyve become. We used to get the overnighter/motor rail to france and further south when we were kids (and cornwall!)
I went on the Hull Rotterdam crossing in June, same as ever except it now costs twice as much as it did last time I went five years ago. Three bikes, three riders and one four berth cabin was £1014 return
Crazy. It would be like one big, joined up network, where one entity controls and knows what is happening…hold on a minute…
It’s clear the rolling stock is getting old along with the infrastructure. The debt was written off about twice so money shall be tight. I had delays coming back and no aircon. 8 bikes kicking out heat soon made the 22C ambient into 32 They need to address admin, on a previous big delay i finally got on to a half empty train. That all said I used the ferry once...nuff said
Did a late Spain trip a few years back, 1st week November. So lucky with the weather, sun, sun, sun…in Spain. Crossed back over in to France and rain. Loaded bikes in vans and up to Zeebrugge. Forecast was poor, very poor. But the sea was fairly calm. No problem.. Went to book a table, 8.30…’do you not want an earlier one…’? Why? Oh its going to get rough..and here..four of you? Four sea sickness tablets! Eh? It all made sense later in the night, curtains swaying next to the stage, bottles falling off tables. At midnight walking back to cabin the floor kept falling away when you took a step forward ( if you have done a rough crossing you will know what I mean). Lumpy. Around 3 in the morning there was huge bang, I assume from a huge wave. Engines stopped. Seemed like minutes and then, thrum….thrum…thrum. Low speed ahead. My guess is they were checking the ferry loading doors after the crash. Five hours late getting back to Newcastle. Just use le shuttle at that time of year
I went on the tunnel a few weeks ago. Apart from the usual trains running late, which has happened EVERY single time I’ve used the tunnel (well over 40 times, over the years), it wasn’t too bad. Have they now put the average limit in each way on the M20, as last time it was just for traffic leaving the tunnel? I’m looking at booking a 5-7 day break in early August, but am tempted to do the ferry again, as we’ll be in the car. The choice is that, or get up at 5am and try to get to the tunnel before everyone else surfaces.
Used it maybe a dozen times. On time, or, if checked in early…the train before. Like I said earlier, we do not travel at peak times.
Ferry. Not on the bike thanks. Only way I’d get on a ferry would be if I were heading to Spain. Otherwise it’s chunnel every time
