Getting to France via Scotland : camping

[manicmamma]

Anybody go to France via Scotland? We are in Edinburgh and considering the best/easy/afforable way to get there.
We really would love a French camping trip but doesn't seem as accessible as we first thought.
Please share your experiences

anyone? please....

This is my parent's experience rather than mine, and it's difficult to say what's "affordable" because they don't have to watch the pennies these days as much as they did when db & I were small and we'd drive through the night to Dover.

Recently, they've been getting a ferry from Rosyth to Zeebrugge and driving from there. Pros are not having to drive all the way down South and the petrol/time saving there. Cons are it's an expensive crossing (and may not even run now - not sure) and obv the longer drive at the other end, depending where you're going.

Another option is sailing from Hull, again a shorter drive than from Dover. I think they've gone to Zeebrugge again and driven from there.

You need to weigh up the ferry costs and the petrol costs.

Rosyth to Zeebrugge is freight only now.....

Ah right. That's out then.

I think you can go from Newcastle to Holland/Belgium as well, so that's worth checking out too.

Iirc, the longer ferry journey (therefore higher fare) used to make it a no-brainer to drive down South if you were trying to save money, but that might well have changed now that petrol is so ££.

What about Eurocamp or similar? I wonder how that would work out in terms of cost if you flew & hired a car?

Let me know what you find out btw. We've been thinking about doing the same as I've got such good memories of childhood camping holidays in France. Swimming pools! Sun! Frites!

Ok, I've done a bit of price comparing, and it looks like Dover-Calais is a lot cheaper.

Newcastle-Zeebrugge or Hull-Zeebrugge both come in at around £550 return, plus say £30 fuel.

Calais-Dover is around £100 return (or a bit less depending on what sailing you choose) and around £200 in fuel to get there and back from Edinburgh - according to Google Maps fuel calculator and I've no idea how accurate that is.

So, I guess your best bet is get up at a crazy hour and drive for 9 hours, get across the channel and book in at vvv cheap hotel for the night, and then stay somewhere cheap and local coming back then cross in the morning and drive all day back up the road.

So, not much has changed from when we first did the same as a family in 1983...

Well this is how I do camping in France keeping the costs down, from a location not far from you - I also have have a good view of a castle .
Brittany Ferries, North Sea Ferries are all prohibitively expensive even with rising petrol costs. We used to do Brittany Ferries when we could go in June, now that DDs are all at school and DH on set holidays (this year 28th July) peak English time, it is not an option at all.

We will drive down to Dover for an early evening crossing - Eurostar (free due to Tesco Clubcard points), check into a Hotel Formulae or other budget place for a relaxing overnight stay. Then we will ( actually not we as I don't drive on the wrong side of the road) the next day about 6 hours this year ready to pitch up about 2ish. We have our own tent but have used Keycamp in the past, too expensive now.

We were going to go to Norfolk this year, Burgundy is cheaper... Let me know what area you are considering and how you're are thinking of getting there. HTH

Thanks for all your replies....
ooh my head is so sore trying to work out the best way to get to lovely France.
Can totally understand why people opt for package holidays.But feel we need a bit of a French adventure. Ive been reading" Cool camping in France" and it's so what we all want to do.
In terms of area we never narrowed it down to anywhere. We were thinking more...where is most accesible with our 2 Dd? So so different to our prekids days of chucking a few essentials in a backpack and buying cheap flights and just going for it.
Will let you know where and what happens next.....
thanks

The Vendee and the Dordogne are both lovely, and a day's drive from Calais. If you did the evening crossing as Fuctifano (love the name ) suggests, then you could make an early start and be there by mid afternoon.

It's a lot of driving whatever way you cut it, but I can wholeheartedly say that it was worth it, for me as a child.