Driving back to UK

[Kyle]

Good evening,

We are considering doing le grande tour , driving from here through France and Spain ( or just Spain) to the South Coast of England. We have no limitation on travel timescales etc and intend doing it in May.

Can anyone:

1. Advise on permutations of potential routes ( which ferries etc)

2. Offer advice if they have done something similar.

Ideally we'll drive 200 -300 miles per day.

Thanks in advance

Kyle

[jg]

My instinct would be to use ViaMichelin route planner at https://www.viamichelin.co.uk/  . Once the initial suggested route has been calculated you can add in all the deviations and overnight stops you like and it will recalculate everything for you.
I can play for hours trying out different possibilities.

[Windermeregolfer]

When family commitments permit we have considered doing this in reverse for the winter - Windermere to Fuerteventura making a holiday of 5 to 8 days out of the journey -  Chunnel to France drive through France, friends in France to visit, down to Spain down through Spain with possibly a detour to Portugal on to Cadiz for the 31hrs ferry crossing to Lanzarote, looking at web only one crossing per week,  and then ferry across to Fuerteventura.

Google Maps give directions and indicate a direct travel time of 64hrs for 2616mls so your proposed daily mileage would take 8 to 10 days

Will watch for other reply on this tread with interest for when we can make the trip.

[spitfire58]

Sounds like an adventure but I hate driving long distances. To me that would be hell on earth. The 4 & 1/2 hr flight is bad enough, I just get bored, lol

[moonraker]

Hi Kyle,
We have done the journey twice this year but in reverse. We have travelled from Yorkshire to Fuerte first on our Harley in June. We took the Euro Tunnel to Calais then to our first stop in Roussent. From there we rode to a place just outside of Le Mans, then down to Bordeaux, across the Pyrenee's to Pamplona, down to Cuenca then we made our way to just outside of Granada before we headed to Cadiz for the ferry 30hr ferry to Lanzarote. A short hop then on the ferry from Lanzarote to Fuerte. This trip was a holiday for us so we took our time and stayed in a variety of accommodation. We did the second trip in October but in our motor home, same starting point and ending but but a different route. We didn't book anywhere to stop overnight we just used various Aires on our way down. I have to say we met some really nice people both on our bike and in our MH. The scenery was stunning and both trips were well worth it. We are here for the winter now and we are already planning our trip back into Europe next year. It would be great if the ferry to Morocco has started by the time we leave as we would love to start our trip through there. 

If you want any more info just pm me..........

[Chris1965]

We did Fuerte to Manchester a few years ago, the only thing I didn't like was the ferry to Cadiz 28 hours ouch

[SheilaW]

When we came out on our one-way trip we came from our home near Montpellier and through Spain to Huelva. It's the alternative place to get a ferry. The Armas boat - back in 2012 - was quite new and very nice, even with a little pool, but the food was perfectly disgusting. It took us to Las Palmas then we just had a 4-hour hop to Puerto. May not be best for you but an alternative.

[warriors]

hi, we did the UK-Fuerteventura route at the end of September this year with our dog. We travelled from Portsmouth to Santander on the Pont Aven with Brittany ferries and can honestly say we thoroughly enjoyed the sailing, perhaps we were lucky as theBay of Biscay was like a mill pond and we were fortunate enough to see whales and dolphins, the ferry is very clean and wefound the food to be excellent. We then took 4 days to travel through Spain. We pre booked places aswe had our dog to consider but i think if you do not have a pet then stop where you fancy. We travelled down to Huelva and took the Amras ferry to Lanzorote, as Sheila says the food leaves a lot to be desired however we picked up some useful tips ie the food is usually warm at best but there are microwaves so you can warm things up, also you can get meal vouchers which allows you 3 meals a day for 30 euros each. again we were lucky with the weather and saw more dolphins and met some really nice people on both ferries
just our experience  of what you maybe contemplating in reverse!