I had set our sights on a longer trip next year once the Arsenal had secured victory in the (English) Premier League and my final game as a season ticket holder is on May 4th 2024. To make it worthwhile it needs to be three weeks or so.
Those sights were influenced by some Youtubers and bloggers I follow on er.. Youtube and the WWW. One of those led me to look at the Grand Tour of Switzerland.
Although I do like to be beside the seaside... I love the mountains almost as much. Over the years we have ticked off quite a few of the passes in the Alps on my motorcycles, but never in the car and certainly not in the motorhome.
I had even started to plan a route down there using non-toll motorways to the Swiss border near Basel, and then non motorway routes once across the border. The first part of the route would be through France, Belgium, Luxembourg and then Germany. No tolls but free to use motorways.
And then it all came crashing down.
Many of the passes I was hoping to go over - Furka, Simplon, St Gotthard are mostly all closed until June! Even the climate change that has seen forest fires in Switzerland this last week won't change that much.
So change the dates and go later? Or change the destination?
More investigation needed.
My sights then re-directed back to France and Spain. What about Brittany Ferries to Santander from the UK? It's a long ferry and bookings only opened on Friday for the period I wanted. I had a friends and family code from a friend (naturally) and logged into the booking site. At the top it shows a warning that the site might be slow due to the numbers booking.
My first attempt to look for a crossing on the first date after the glorious Premier League win, May 9th, produced a dog friendly cabin to Santander for £577 one way. I know, it's almost time to sell a kidney or two! When I got through to the payment it wanted the full amount.... Gulp. So I cancelled it.
I posted on the MotorhomeFun forum and someone came back to say that it was because I selected "early bird" booking. So later I logged back in and the website had remembered my details. This time I selected "standard" and it came up to say that there were no pet friendly cabins left on that sailing. I don't know how many they have but in less than two hours.... Darn it!
I clicked on the "alternative sailings" and selected Portsmouth to Bilbao. It sails on the 7th May at 1030pm. Two nights on the ship and an arrival time of 8am. Even though the initial standard crossing fare is more than the Santander "early bird" fare it's cheaper to go on this crossing. So it came out at £574. But at least I can pay half now and half automatically on the 8th March.
Portsmouth isn't that far away from us along the various motorways, although they do have low emission zone (LEZ). I have checked on the Government site and currently it shows that Molly is allowed into all of them outside London without charge. I'll check again nearer the time as they can't be trusted not to move the goalposts and catch thousands of drivers out!
We have to be there at least 90 minutes before sailing and so to avoid any problems we need to go in the afternoon. With the good news about the LEZ it means we can get there early enough to have something to eat. A 1030pm departure might mean embarking from around 8.30pm or so. A bit late to sit down to eat.
Of course we have Reggie to consider. They are pretty restrictive on where he can go on the boat and he does need to wear a muzzle in places where he might come into contact with other passengers. We do have a muzzle for him and I might bet omething less "obvious" as the current one stands out like a beacon on his nose! He can stay in the cabin and also go to the exercise areas to do his "business", as my Gran called it.
We aren't allowed to take meat and dairy into the EU, but surely that doesn't apply until we arrive in Bilbao? He needs to eat three or four meals on the boat. He can have breakfast at normal time in the morning and his dinner on the way to the port on the way down. Maybe consult with Brittany Ferries nearer the time?
So Spain it is!
But where to go when we get over? We have been extensively along the Mediterranean coast and around the classical sites around Madrid/ Toledo/Avila before. So this time I an thinking of going along the north and head towards Portugal before turning back and head up towards France.
Currently we have only a single crossing and no return booked. We can look at this later and see where to return from.
Claire is a little concerned about a longer strip away, but in the end it won't be too much different to this year when we have a total of 30 days in Europe over two trips and having to pay twice for crossings. Maybe once is the way to go.
