Unfortunately I cannot drive, so it would be only one driving. That's why I said 3-4 days as we prefer to take breaks often. If you could give me your route and stops that would be very helpful, especially with regards to secure parking. We'll be having a look also by ourselves but it's always easier to know in advance, thanks. However we would need something bigger than a normal van, more like a truck in order to save trips.

Rather than by ferry to Calais... does anybody know if we could go via the Euro tunnel? I cannot see any mention of trucks and big vans in their website. Or maybe taking the ferry to Santander, so we could save time?

LYNN: thanks, good tip. We wil be numbering and listing contents of all boxes in all cases: packing and moving by ourselves or not.

ROSE, FIONA and FARGAS: thanks for the info about your movers.

BILLGATES: No, simply plain boring stuff, really . But delays are a pain and if it happens to a movers company it seems that we might have to pay extra for them to repack.
Could you please share the name of the company you used?

We wouldn't mind paying a bit extra to use a good company, but so far the quotes are very similar, only 300 pounds difference or so. If we were talking over 1,000 we would decide on the price, but so far that is not the case, we just want a moving company we can trust... if that exists!

Thanks so much for your help, our moving is several months away and I'm already getting nervious! Great forum!

I didn't post the cost because it is calculated on the amount of stuff moved and the distance of travel. We also had everything in storage for a few months so it would be difficult to make a comparison.

I can say that when we were planning the move Pickfords were the only company prepared to come to our house and discuss what we wanted to ship and how the process would work. There were several other companies that gave quotes over the internet. You ticked a list of boxes to give a rough idea of how much you wanted moving. As far as I remember the quotes I got were similar to Pickfords.

I know someone who is moving to Almeria from Birmingham in a month or so. She has also chosen to use Pickfords. I'm not sure how many other quotes she got.

I suspect that as they are a large international organisation with links in a lot of countries, they are able to come up with a reasonable price because they can move several clients belongings at once, which cuts down the fuel costs.

When we did the run we went from Dover to Calais via eurotunnel. Then down towards Lyon, Perpignan, Barcelona, Valencia ... all on the main motorway route

We stopped at Valencia Nord. If you take the Valencia Nord exit, through the toll, over the roundabout and head towards Valences, there is a hotel on the right that has a secure compound. http://www.kyriad-valence-nord.fr/en/index.aspx

We used a long wheelbase Luton Van, and you would be surprised what we got in there. It obviously depends on what you are taking, but we found this excellent for our needs

Don`t forget to leave a gap from the van roof so that the customs dog can get across the load, or you may have to unload if they pull you up for a search.

MITZYBOY and JDR: thank you so much for your help and tips. We'll start calculating cost and time involved. And will make sure that the curious dog will have space fo a good sniff.

Good luck
Dont forget the one way vehicle option HERE