As I live about 280 miles away from London I have no idea what the traffic situation is, apart from the obvious guess that it'll be *BAD* (no doubt with a capital B.A.D)
If I were to finish work at around 4.30 to 5.00pm, on a Friday evening, what is the realistic travel time from the Euston area of London (say Euston railway station) to Dover?
TIA Fred
Give us a clue - by car, motorbike, bus, foot?
In a car I reckon probably two and a half hours minimum, maybe three.
Peter.
Sounds about right - though highly variable from week to week.
But - he knows somewhere to leave a car parked in the Euston area????
A better option would be to tube it to somewhere in South London where your vehicle is parked - even just doing that to cream off part of the journey across central London will make quite a difference.
Doh!! What a plonker I am - sorry. By car.
I'm in London for a three-week placement and I'm just toying with the idea of spending the weekend in Belgium. Dover - Calais ferry and then a short drive up the coast. Cheaper than staying in London for the weekend and easier than the 7 or 8-hour drive (or at least it was last time) back to the north-east.
And, if anyone should suggest going on Eurostar, that's a non-starter. £229/person to go out on 28th, return on 30th.
non-starter.
As others have said - the car will be an embarassment near Euston - park it up in the SE suburbs near a train (no tubes go very far SE). Youll want the A2 so somewhere like Kidbrook
AWEM
And how much are you going to spend on fuel and vehicle ferry fare? Migh= t not be much in it.
Or other routes on a boat Ramsgate or Harwich? Driving to those or Dover= is very similar distance wise, I don't know what the roads are like mind...
'Shudder'. 5pm on a Friday the traffic around Euston will be horrific. Don't even think about it. It will take you 2 + hours just to cross London.
From SE London, say Blackwall Tunnel on a Friday I'd allow 2 hours to Dover. The A2 backs up due to sheer volume of traffic from Blackwall until around Gillingham (J4, M2), then more or less plain sailing.
You can take your car on Eurotunnel from Folkestone - 35 min crossing time for about the same as the ferry cost.
Route planer says two hours, so realistically on a Friday at least four. And that's assuming no accidents or major road works to FTUC.
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OK, thanks for that Dave.
Well, first of all, it's dual-fuel (LPG) and they aren't allowed in the tunnel - but more importantly, The tunnel (even if they allowed LPG) is
*far, far* more expensive than the ferry. We went via Seafrance for our summer holiday mid August to mid September - £85 return - the tunnel was more than three times that, if not four times that.The 19.20 P&O ferry Dover - Calais, this Friday (28th) is £30 return (coming back at about 14.00 on Sunday). Eurotunnel outward £95, return £72.
The wife is with me so that's £458 on Eurostar as foot passengers, for a weekend. £30 P&O ferry return ticket (see my reply to The Medway Handyman for details) and £30-worth of LPG gets me about 200-220 miles.
Ramsgate - Ostend is ideal but they only do 4 crossings daily (I think IIRC we'd arrive in Ostend at about midnight) and costs much more - but thanks anyway Dave :o)
Fred
I'd be tempted to get to the M25 by the shortest route, and go round that. Of course, ten there's the Dartford Crossing to contend with, but I don't find that too bad at 6 p.m.
I agree. Gillingham (Rainham to be precise) is commuter land. Most cars peel off there.
Thanks Andrew, good point.
Walking? allow at least 2 days..
Ah well..wheres the nest place to pick up the M2...park in SE london as far out as possible with a train to get back in, and take the train back to were you parked the car.
Do NOT use the M25.
i wouldent want to be anywhere near london between 5pm and say 10pm on a friday personaly :)
i used to live 100 miles from london, right on the A1/A52 junction, took my motorhome to dover a fair few times, i always catch the early morning ferries, as they are the cheapest (unsociable hours) prolly cos i drive at
60mph most of the way (the speed i should be doing anyway as motorhome is a 4.5 tonner) but it always seems to take more time than i expect.prolly about 2 and a half to 3 hours for me to get to dover from Grantham, going the most direct route (A1, M25 over dartford xing, M2 A2, but i am never in a rush, i set off about 9pm, get to dover about midnight, park up on the quayside and sleep till time to board the ferry.
i've always used norfolk line for crossings, my motorhome is large, but 29 quid single is very cheap for this kind of vehicle, i even paid that price last year for a return last day of july, was a tenner more to go back out a week later in august. they were doing a return crossing with a car and 5 passengers for 20 quid last year, dunno about this year as moving into a new place put paid to any continental touring this year.
did the tunnel once (motorhomes with fixed lpg tanks are allowed on the chunnel!!! so why lpg cars arent i dont know, same tank just different way to take the fuel out (vapour as opposed to liquid, but liguid take off tanks still have a shut off valve like vapour tanks)
tunnel was ok if your in a real hurry, half an hour and your there,
norfolk line ferry goes to dunkerque, handy if you want to go to belguim as i always do, as i like to go to germany when ever i get abroad, takes 2 and a half hours to cross i believe, i always get the 04:30 sailing from dover, arrives at about 08:00 local time, just right for a days drive, there is an earlier sailing at 02: something, but i'm not a fan of driving abroad at night the first day i'm there.
But basicaly what ever route you take to get abroad, if you can, get an early morning sailing, as in after midnight and before 07:00, you can easily save 3/4 of the price people pay to go in daylight hours,
There's no shortest route to the M25 from Euston. ;-)
Kidbrooke !!! FFS ! Leave car in morning, return later and there's a gap !
Further afield would be less "Pikey" and not a lot of difference train wise.
Bexley would be far enough, leave car in side road, travel up and back from Lundun for the important work stuff and return on the evening and drive down. Car travel time approx 3 hrs from Bexley in rush-hour.
Hear, hear.
Bedford to Canterbury has taken me 5 hours on a Friday night before now. The M25 was stop-go all the way from M1 to the Dartford Crossing.
i use to commute to brussels once. gave up on the ferry to zeebrugge. Which was good, cos a few months later it sank.
used to drive to calais instead. quicker.
or drive to dover and catch a train back to london?
;-)
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