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Hi we are leaving for Spain on saturday,and I wondered if anyone could reccommend any b&b en route poss nr Troyes or thereabouts,we know there are Campanile which are good but as we will have all our belongings in the car we need security,I have heard of the odd place where you can also rent a garage for the night has anyone used one or know of one thanksXXX

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Sorry can´t help you myself as never done the drive, I was lazy and flew down..ha, Good luck and have a good safe journey

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As ive said on other threads, the easiest, most relaxed way of getting to spain is to do portsmouth to bilbao ferry. the cars locked in the car decks where no one other than staff can go for two nights whilst ur on the ferry, it breaks the drive up, you dont have to touch french soil :), saves fuel, road tolls and hotels in france too.

Thats what im doing anyway :)

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Two nights on board with P&O from Portsmouth. One night on board with AT Ferries from Portsmouth - and they are alot cheaper than P&O.

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AT Ferries isnt an option as per their website:

Please Note: Due to continuing operational reasons that could not be solved in the medium term, we regret to inform you that Acciona Trasmediterranea will be cancelling all scheduled sailings between Portsmouth and Bilbao.

All customers are currently being contacted personally, given a full refund and if necessary offered the most satisfactory alternative option for their travel plans, through our agents in U.K.

For any further information please contact your travel agency or Acciona Trasmediterranea at:



Shame could of been cheaper and quicker :(

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Oh great. We usually use AT Ferries to go back to the UK as relatives are about 10 miles from Portsmouth. Had originally booked with them last year to travel back this Easter and they informed us all crossings had been cancelled until end April. It looks like they have major problems then if they have extended the cancellations. The P&O crossing takes too long and is far too expensive. We are now going Santander to Plymouth and it is still £250 more expensive than what we originally paid to AT Ferries. There are 5 of us (with car and trailer) and AT Ferries charged us £500 with two cabins. Britanny Ferries (with one cabin) are charging us £750.00. Big difference. Perhaps that is why they are having problems - undercutting their rivals too much.

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Didn't they have problems from the offset? I seem to remember seeing on the local news (I live in Gosport, just across the water from Pompey) about the ship setting off back to Spain and having to turn around and the passengers had to fly out to Spain. Can't remember too much about it as it was a while ago but the passengers - lots of them Spanish - were none too pleased! Doesn't look as though they have got it sorted then :huh:

Just asked hubby and he told me the ship didn't pass the inspection which is why it had to off load all passengers and then it returned to Spain empty - just crew onboard. Seems they still haven't got it right.

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Think its a good thing i dont go with them, got a quote for £290 to take myself and my car one way to spain with P&O. The two nights thing doesnt really bother me in a way, id be driving down to portsmouth from the north of england which will take a about 4 hours, so i can spend the morning packing and stuff, drive down in the afternoon, board ferry in evening, sleep. spend day on ferry whale watching etc. sleep again then do the day long spanish drive when it docks at 8am, then im there.

All good :) Its a more stressfree way of doing it thats for sure.

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I can recommend the Hotel Val Moret, Magnant
Cost us 137 euros for room and evening meal & wine and it was a VERY good meal
It has secure parking and is just off the main route through, up on the side of the hill off the motorway and easily seeable

http://www.le-val-moret.com/uk/

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Thanks mitzyboy,just looked at web site look lovely,and as it`s Mothers Day Sunday might just get hubby to get me one of those fancy dinners!!

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It was desperation when we went there as I was knackered, and it just appeared on the side of the motorway. You'll like it for sure, its a really pleasant place.

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Question for Mitzy boy,roughly how long did it take you from Calais to the hotel you recommended nr Troyes.

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We caught the 11 am ferry from Dover to Calais, and iirc we stopped at the Hotel around 6 pm, so I guess we left calais around 2 pm.

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if its not to nosy how did the rest of the journey pan out,and did you have another stopover?

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No, that was it. The rest was done with regular breaks and we arrived Oliva around midnight so it was a fairly hefty drive but all motorway and relatively easy.

The other time we did the trip we used the tunnel and drove right down to the South of France on the first day stopping at Montpellier overnight and driving the rest the following day.

By far the easiest route to drive was Portsmouth / St Malo and via Bordeaux.