Has anyone used LD lines from St Nazaire in France to Gijon please. We now seem to have the villa sorted and as we have animals one major consideration is to get them safely to Javea from here in Brittany France.

Via Michelin says about 9 hours from Gijon via Madrid to Javea. Anyone used this route please

rdgs

alternative route via Biaritz/San Sebastian/ Teruel/ Valencia?, good roads, little traffic.

Normally very good, but I drove down a few months back and there were quite a few delays and slow moving traffic due to the upgrading between Bordeaux and the Border.

Anyone any updates on that stretch or how long it's likely to be affected ?

Indeed we too came back Biarittz to Bordeaux it took hours and hours.

So not easy

We were caught up in the Brittany Ferries strike last October and at the last moment we got space on LD lines Portsmouth to Le Harve drove down to St Nazaire and took the LD lines ferry to Gijon. The first leg was not good no cabins available so we slept in the cinema but at least we were on our way. We managed a cabin on the second leg and it was very acceptable and the food was OK and we managed to make our pre booked hotel in Salamanca for dinner. Our route would diverge at that point since we head for Sevilla and on west. Motorway all the way from the boat with no toll charges.

See posts #23 and #26 for the Gijon route (Xixon) on the following thread

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=691945

looking back I realise we must have just made the all new motorway it made the journey easy and quick although the tight corners and gradients would not be allowed on a motorway in UK.