It really has been forever, please forgive me. I will be getting back into the swing of things now ...
It really has been forever, please forgive me. I will be getting back into the swing of things now I have got used to having my baby Daniel around! Hope you are all well and I'll be catching up very soon x x Fanks!
Member since:28.12.2001
Reviews:46
Members who trust:25
You know what it’s like on a Sunday, pretty dull and only a roast dinner to look forward to, you also have the dreaded feeling that you will be at work the next day! That was my one day off as I had to do some overtime on Saturday and I wanted to make the most of it, as usual my bf comes up with 20,000 idea’s and I um and ah about all of them. He’s losing his patience a bit when he comes up with the idea of doing a booze and fag run to France!! ‘Hmmm, good idea!’ I say. At this point he collapses with exhaustion as it’s taken him most of the morning to get me to agree to something!
It was 11am and he quickly logged onto the Internet to book us a ferry ticket. It doesn’t take long, one stop at SeaFrance and we have a ticket for 2 people and a car for £31 what a bargain! He also quickly checks out for the opening times of the local shops, you have to be aware that not all shops will be open.
We jump in the car and fill up at the local petrol station (and I fill up with lots of newspapers and magazines – bf is obviously going to have a very
quiet journey!) We leave our little village in Cheltenham and we’re on our way, we’re booked onto the 16:15 ferry and the 22-15 for the way back (‘what!’ I say ‘I’m at work at 6am tomorrow! – Never mind’!)
We get to Dover at 2.45, a very good clear drive that only took 2 and a half hours. We got to Dover far too early for our ferry so went to collect our tickets from the SeaFrance desk, taking the confirmation slip with us that we printed out on from the internet. While we were there we asked a very helpful (not bad looking!) man if we could change the times to come back earlier, he advised that we could go on any ferry at any time as long as there was room! Brilliant, we got a wriggle on and instead of having to wait an hour to get ours we got on the 15.15!
We drove straight onto the ferry and left the car to go on deck. The ferry had a duty free shop selling cigs, wines and spirits. There was a café, a brasserie, a pub, a kiddies play area and a games room, plenty to keep you occupied for the 70 or 90-minute journey. Our journeys both took 90 minutes, there is just one of their ferries that will do it in 60 and that is the newest and largest – The Rodin. The other ferries are The Cézanne and The Manet. The crossing was calm and quite pleasant, I have never been on a ferry before but I much prefer it to flying.
We arrived in Calais at 16.45 our time (France is an hour ahead) got off with no problems and preceded towards the wine and Beer places! We had seen a program on TV once about a guy who had set up a warehouse selling alcohol and was now a millionaire! We stopped off there first the place was called Eastenders! We left the port and took sortie 3 (Exit 3) from there we took the last turning on the roundabout (not forgetting they drive on the wrong side of the road!) About 5 minutes away and not a problem find.
The prices in there were better than the Wine and Beer Company which is the first shop you come to, just go round the corner and you will find them.
We bought plenty of lager. 24 cans of Kronenberg was £9.00, better than the £15-£20 you pay here! We also bought 24 cans of Coca cola (for my mixers) for £5, that’s nearly half price to here. 24 cans of Woodpecker for £7.50 (the cider and lager were all the large cans). The cider is mine I’m afraid, my taste buds have not yet matured enough to appreciate the more finer, quality wines! But they are there, the average Ernest & Gallow wine is from about £2.20 - £3.50. When you think they are over £5 a bottle here you could save a fortune. Asti was another purchase, £11.00 for a box of 6, the Asti was the proper stuff too! (You can tell by the paper label stuck on the bottleneck) These once again are about £5.00 in the shops another great saving.
If you were getting married or having a party this is well worth a visit, you could save an absolute fortune.
Now we move on to cigarettes. Eastenders have another shop in Belgium where they sell cigs, about a 35-minute drive from Calais. We just got on the A16, which was next to where we were and got off at Exit 36. It couldn’t have been easier. When we arrived we found that cigs were not much different from on the ferry, tobacco is though so if you want that it’s worth the extra drive. I didn’t mind it was my way of having a little peak round France and liking what I saw. The drive was lovely, greenery everywhere and the sun was shining, can’t wait for my next holiday, France it will be… by ferry!
If you would like to find out further information about SeaFrance or book you can call 08705 711 711. For group reservations you can call 08705 301 301 or visit seafrance.com to book or for further information online.
Was the journey worth it? Absolutely, a nice day out and a saving of about £250. We paid £31 for the ferry and about £30 on diesel. Not forgetting you could actually save more money by filling up in France, as diesel was only 50p per litre.
We got the 20.45 ferry back and were home by midnight, this could have been much earlier had we thought about this first! So if you’re thinking about this try to go earlier than we did!
I would recommend this to all, good fun and money saved too!
I've just come back from there (Using the P&O ferry Dover to Calais) and find Auchan good value. There's also another one, at which i bought a massive block of Brie, which would of cost about a tenner over here, for 4e50 (About 3 quid). And it tasted better too!
andymcf 04.04.2003 16:44
Blimey! What a long day. Living only 20 minutes or so from Dover, I guess I'm spoilt! Andrew
Alison3 30.11.2002 12:29
good op. My husband and I make this trip on a regular basis, and have always found Auchan to be the best value. Everything you could wish for under one roof. One year as we went through the checkouts two people came up to us and presented me with a huge bouquet of flowers because we were the 1,000 people (or something) through the till that day!! We've even taken our bikes there and stayed a couple of nights in Calias cycling round the surrounding area. The countryside is just outside Calais.
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