Route Napoleon - 5 day thrash or 7 day bimble, courtesy of RiDE

I'd rather ride for one to one and a half days through France heading for Spain than get the overnight ferry to Santander. At least I'm spending my time on my bike and enjoying (hopefully) the good weather and scenery at the same time.
 
I'd rather ride for one to one and a half days through France heading for Spain than get the overnight ferry to Santander. At least I'm spending my time on my bike and enjoying (hopefully) the good weather and scenery at the same time.

I did Portsmouth (on my doorstep) to Santander last year by ferry service and loved it. Nice cabin, comfy bed, beer all evening and a lie-in with a days chilling out before disembarking for the two hour dash into the picos de europa.

Doing it again one-way this year, riding back via millau, gorge du tarn, rdga which may become a slog but the group consensus is that the ferry home is too dull which I agree with (although its so easy).

EDIT: I forgot to say, one of our group paid to sign up with the ferry company as a 'frequent flyer' which gave us all good discounts on our group booking plus cheaper meals onboard.
 
Or trucking all the way to (insert continental destination of choice) and flying there?

Aye. We looked at trucking the bikes from the Midlands - Southern France because of severe time limitations last year. IIRC, it would have been £299 transport + £240 air fares each. Adds a fair cost to the holiday before you've even started.
 
IIRC, it would have been £299 transport + £240 air fares each. Adds a fair cost to the holiday before you've even started.

Can I ask what the ferry / tunnel, fuel, food, overnight(s) and wear & tear would total for the run down ?
From here I find it's difficult to save much by riding instead of shipping

And Midlands to Southern France must be two days each way (unless you're patzx12 :D ) ?
An extra 4 days in southern France (or 4 days less holidays for the same trip) would surely be worth 500 odd quid ?
 
I’ve never been entirely convinced by the “I want to ride it”. Bods think nothing of putting their bikes on a ferry to Spain (and bitch about the cabins) but don’t ever countenance the idea of trucking and flying. It’s almost as if the 24 hours spent on the ferry is the same as riding, proximity to their steed - even if separated by layers of steel decks - being vital.

It's great riding your bike everywhere if you have the free days available. I priced up a fly/ride trip to Malaga last week, for a trip in February. It would take me a day to get to Portsmouth, a day on the ferry to Santander, two days to ride to Malaga, then the same to get home. Taking into account the accommodation, fuel, ferry and food/drink costs, it was about the same as having the bike transported door to door, but the travelling from home is only a day each way using a low cost airline, so 6 days saved. I didn't go as far as taking tyre wear and servicing costs into account.
 
A simple but clear map, courtesy of Alpentourer magazine. It includes the (optional) excursions.

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It's great riding your bike everywhere if you have the free days available. I priced up a fly/ride trip to Malaga last week, for a trip in February. It would take me a day to get to Portsmouth, a day on the ferry to Santander, two days to ride to Malaga, then the same to get home. Taking into account the accommodation, fuel, ferry and food/drink costs, it was about the same as having the bike transported door to door, but the travelling from home is only a day each way using a low cost airline, so 6 days saved. I didn't go as far as taking tyre wear and servicing costs into account.
Who was that with?
 
I’ve never been entirely convinced by the “I want to ride it”. Bods think nothing of putting their bikes on a ferry to Spain (and bitch about the cabins) but don’t ever countenance the idea of trucking and flying. It’s almost as if the 24 hours spent on the ferry is the same as riding, proximity to their steed - even if separated by layers of steel decks - being vital.

I watched a Harry's Garage video this week where he had had his car freight-forwarded to Malaga. The cost was surprisingly expensive for a car but he explained that if you were with five friends who all had cars on a transporter, it becomes much more beneficial with shared costs and is actually a cheaper way to get there. I guess with a bike, it can be taken as part of a normal load - be interesting to find out how much it is.

I am thinking of doing precisely this route in July with Mrs Snelly on the back and short-circuiting this on the way to Grenoble sounds appealing to me.
 
This route (or variations of it) is pretty much what I do on my way down to Italy almost every year. Three riding days for me.

Once (years ago) I was in a rush and, on the way down, took the train to the French riviera from Paris.
I've used the train a couple of times over the years and, albeit expensive, it's pretty much the same of one night out and petrol + tyres squared on the motorway.

I do not think the autotrain is in service anymore in France.

For the bike, I'd suggest you look at groupage options, but you have to be fairly flexible with delivery dates (and have someone/somewhere for delivery).
I shipped a few bikes to/from Italy from London and it always costed about 4/500 euros. But, again, being flexible with delivery times, and pre-brexit, so less paperwork I guess.
 


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