Driving to Euronat

Hi,
I drove to Euronat this year.
I left St.Malo at 10am and arrived at Euronat at 8.30pm
I took the route via Rennes, Nantes, La Rochelle and over on the Royan
ferry.
I incurred a number of delays and it took 2 hours of queing to get on
the Royan ferry.

I wondered if anyone have also done this route or tried any other
alternative routes, ie via bordeaux

It would be good to have other peoples views as if I went to Euronat
next year I would definately consider taking another route.

Thanks

Dave

On 5 Aug, 14:23, davefreedom <davefree...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> I drove to Euronat this year.
> I left St.Malo at 10am and arrived at Euronat at 8.30pm
> I took the route via Rennes, Nantes, La Rochelle and over on the Royan
> ferry.
> I incurred a number of delays and it took 2 hours of queing to get on
> the Royan ferry.
>
> I wondered if anyone have also done this route or tried any other
> alternative routes, ie via bordeaux
>
> It would be good to have other peoples views as if I went to Euronat
> next year I would definately consider taking another route.
>
> Thanks
>
> Dave

I'll give you a view, but it's from a different aspect. We went last
year and loved the place. We travelled by train from Aberystwyth. The
Eurostar and the TGV (to Bordeaux) you probably know about. There is
a line north from Bordeaux that goes very close. Outward we simply
caught a bus that goes to the gate of Euronat. Returning we caught an
early train (you can, just, do the whole journey to Aberystwyth in a
day) and needed to pay for a taxi. We booked him to Lesparre (a bit
costly) but the taxi driver kindly told us that next time Soulac would
be a better bet.

A semi-amusing add-on is that on the way back a suicide delayed the
TGV by one and a half hours and we were going to miss the last train
to Aberystwyth. Fortunately we have a daughter living in Llanfair
Caereinion so our son-in-law picked us up from Shrewsbury, we spent
the night with them and on the Sunday caught the Llanfair - Welshpool
tourist steam train for our connection back home. A century--old
Brtiish narrow-gauge railway bailed out the mighty TGV!

Keith

davefreedom wrote:
> Hi,
> I drove to Euronat this year.
> I left St.Malo at 10am and arrived at Euronat at 8.30pm
> I took the route via Rennes, Nantes, La Rochelle and over on the Royan
> ferry.
> I incurred a number of delays and it took 2 hours of queing to get on
> the Royan ferry.
>
> I wondered if anyone have also done this route or tried any other
> alternative routes, ie via bordeaux
>
> It would be good to have other peoples views as if I went to Euronat
> next year I would definately consider taking another route.
>
> Thanks
>
> Dave
>
It will possibly take longer to drive down to Bordeaux and then back up
than using the ferry. Just look at the actual distance involved, and
depending on time of day possible hold-ups round Bordeaux.

davefreedom <davefreedom@hotmail.com> wrote:

> I drove to Euronat this year.
> I left St.Malo at 10am and arrived at Euronat at 8.30pm
> I took the route via Rennes, Nantes, La Rochelle and over on the Royan
> ferry.
> I incurred a number of delays and it took 2 hours of queing to get on
> the Royan ferry.
>
> I wondered if anyone have also done this route or tried any other
> alternative routes, ie via bordeaux
>
> It would be good to have other peoples views as if I went to Euronat
> next year I would definately consider taking another route.
>
We're going down to la Jenny soon and to avoid too long a drive through
France we're taking the Autotrain from Calais down to Tolouse, then
returning from Brive.

We haven't done this route before but we've used the Autotrain several
times to either Avignon or Nice: it is a more expensive option, but
effectively extends your holiday by a day either end.

In message <1186324427.829410.125820@w3g2000hsg.googlegroups. com>, Keith
of Mid Wales <kwl@aber.ac.uk> writes

[snip]

>I'll give you a view, but it's from a different aspect. We went last
>year and loved the place. We travelled by train from Aberystwyth. The
>Eurostar and the TGV (to Bordeaux) you probably know about.

These days it seems to me that from the point of view of door-to-door
cost, door-to-door travel time, door-to-door comfort and door-to-door
convenience rail is always worth looking at.

As an example, I am going to Odessa in the autumn (yes the city does
have a c-o beach but October is a bit late in the year). *After* I had
booked the flights I found that the rail journey Eurostar to Brussels,
ICE to Berlin and sleeper to Odessa would have been worth serious
consideration on all four of the above points.

It is important to do your research before you contact the ticket agent.
As good a starting point as any for information is
<http://www.seat61.com/>
--
Mike Hopkins
Swim? Naturally with MADNAT
<http://www.madnat.org/>

marvellous

Keith of Mid Wales wrote:
> A semi-amusing add-on is that on the way back a suicide delayed the
> TGV by one and a half hours
A suicide forms part of your 'semi-amusing' add-on??

> A century--old
> Brtiish narrow-gauge railway bailed out the mighty TGV!
> Keith
No it did not. The TGV was, you report, delayed by one and a half hours.
You then chose to visit family and use alternative transport. Had you
have waited, the TGV would have continued it's journey. You decided to
leave the train.

Had the TGV broken down and all the passengers been transferred to the
steam train by the operating company THEN it would have rescued the
mighty TGV.

Simon.

On 6 Aug, 00:49, Simon <Heysf...@NotYahoo.com> wrote:
> Keith of Mid Wales wrote:> A semi-amusing add-on is that on the way back a suicide delayed the
> > TGV by one and a half hours
>
> A suicide forms part of your 'semi-amusing' add-on??
>
> > A century--old
> > Brtiish narrow-gauge railway bailed out the mighty TGV!
> > Keith
>
> No it did not. The TGV was, you report, delayed by one and a half hours.
> You then chose to visit family and use alternative transport. Had you
> have waited, the TGV would have continued it's journey. You decided to
> leave the train.
>
> Had the TGV broken down and all the passengers been transferred to the
> steam train by the operating company THEN it would have rescued the
> mighty TGV.
>
> Simon.

Simon, you are a puzzle to me. My understanding of you is about the
same as your understanding of me.

Out,

Keith

On 5 Aug, 14:23, davefreedom <davefree...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> I drove to Euronat this year.
> I left St.Malo at 10am and arrived at Euronat at 8.30pm
> I took the route via Rennes, Nantes, La Rochelle and over on the Royan
> ferry.
> I incurred a number of delays and it took 2 hours of queing to get on
> the Royan ferry.
>
> I wondered if anyone have also done this route or tried any other
> alternative routes, ie via bordeaux
>
> It would be good to have other peoples views as if I went to Euronat
> next year I would definately consider taking another route.
>
> Thanks
>
> Dave

Has anyone used the ferry at Blaye?

Keith of Mid Wales wrote:
> Simon, you are a puzzle to me. My understanding of you is about the
> same as your understanding of me.
> Out,
> Keith
I am sorry to hear that. I was just trying to separate what you actually
said from what you intended to say. After all, if what you say and what
you mean are in contradiction - how can I be sure what you said?

Of course, you wanted to make a joke about the old steam train and the
might TGV and you could still have made the comparison and it would have
been amusing. But, to state that the steam 'rescued' the TGV, that
plainly is not what happened! The TGV was held up by events beyond the
control of it's driver and would have continued the journey later, when
the body of unfortunate person was removed and police matters completed.

So, I think I understood exactly what you wanted to say, I was just
taking you to task for the way that you said it.

Simon.

davefreedom wrote:
> On 5 Aug, 14:23, davefreedom <davefree...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I drove to Euronat this year.
>> I left St.Malo at 10am and arrived at Euronat at 8.30pm
>> I took the route via Rennes, Nantes, La Rochelle and over on the Royan
>> ferry.
>> I incurred a number of delays and it took 2 hours of queing to get on
>> the Royan ferry.
>>
>> I wondered if anyone have also done this route or tried any other
>> alternative routes, ie via bordeaux
>>
>> It would be good to have other peoples views as if I went to Euronat
>> next year I would definately consider taking another route.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Dave
>
> Has anyone used the ferry at Blaye?
>
Yes, interesting trip and we were lucky one was sailing shortly after we
arrived, but they are less frequent than the Royan one and queues can be
worse.

http://www.uk.tourisme-gironde.cg33...._acces_cdt.asp

shows both timetables (open a pdf)
Suzanne

"Duncan Booth" <duncan.booth@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:Xns9983B05FBBE79duncanbooth@127.0.0.1...
> davefreedom <davefreedom@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I drove to Euronat this year.
>> I left St.Malo at 10am and arrived at Euronat at 8.30pm
>> I took the route via Rennes, Nantes, La Rochelle and over on the Royan
>> ferry.
>> I incurred a number of delays and it took 2 hours of queing to get on
>> the Royan ferry.
>>
>> I wondered if anyone have also done this route or tried any other
>> alternative routes, ie via bordeaux
>>
>> It would be good to have other peoples views as if I went to Euronat
>> next year I would definately consider taking another route.
>>
> We're going down to la Jenny soon and to avoid too long a drive through
> France we're taking the Autotrain from Calais down to Tolouse, then
> returning from Brive.
>
> We haven't done this route before but we've used the Autotrain several
> times to either Avignon or Nice: it is a more expensive option, but
> effectively extends your holiday by a day either end.

Our route to la Jenny was cheap Flybe flight Southampton to Bordeaux then
cheap hire car from Bordeaux to La Jenny. Takes about 2.5 hours and is a lot
easier than other options, I think, and overall less expensive too.

Have you tried using the Interactive Route Planner on the Euronat webpage?
http://www.euronat.fr/en/plan-euronat/plan.asp
Might help to give you some alternatives.

Julie and Phil

"davefreedom" <davefreedom@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1186320213.784951.162200@22g2000hsm.googlegro ups.com...
> Hi,
> I drove to Euronat this year.
> I left St.Malo at 10am and arrived at Euronat at 8.30pm
> I took the route via Rennes, Nantes, La Rochelle and over on the Royan
> ferry.
> I incurred a number of delays and it took 2 hours of queing to get on
> the Royan ferry.
>
> I wondered if anyone have also done this route or tried any other
> alternative routes, ie via bordeaux
>
> It would be good to have other peoples views as if I went to Euronat
> next year I would definately consider taking another route.
>
> Thanks
>
> Dave
>

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

	#1
davefreedom	Driving to Euronat Hi, I drove to Euronat this year. I left St.Malo at 10am and arrived at Euronat at 8.30pm I took the route via Rennes, Nantes, La Rochelle and over on the Royan ferry. I incurred a number of delays and it took 2 hours of queing to get on the Royan ferry. I wondered if anyone have also done this route or tried any other alternative routes, ie via bordeaux It would be good to have other peoples views as if I went to Euronat next year I would definately consider taking another route. Thanks Dave

	#2
Keith of Mid Wales	Re: Driving to Euronat On 5 Aug, 14:23, davefreedom <davefree...@hotmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > I drove to Euronat this year. > I left St.Malo at 10am and arrived at Euronat at 8.30pm > I took the route via Rennes, Nantes, La Rochelle and over on the Royan > ferry. > I incurred a number of delays and it took 2 hours of queing to get on > the Royan ferry. > > I wondered if anyone have also done this route or tried any other > alternative routes, ie via bordeaux > > It would be good to have other peoples views as if I went to Euronat > next year I would definately consider taking another route. > > Thanks > > Dave I'll give you a view, but it's from a different aspect. We went last year and loved the place. We travelled by train from Aberystwyth. The Eurostar and the TGV (to Bordeaux) you probably know about. There is a line north from Bordeaux that goes very close. Outward we simply caught a bus that goes to the gate of Euronat. Returning we caught an early train (you can, just, do the whole journey to Aberystwyth in a day) and needed to pay for a taxi. We booked him to Lesparre (a bit costly) but the taxi driver kindly told us that next time Soulac would be a better bet. A semi-amusing add-on is that on the way back a suicide delayed the TGV by one and a half hours and we were going to miss the last train to Aberystwyth. Fortunately we have a daughter living in Llanfair Caereinion so our son-in-law picked us up from Shrewsbury, we spent the night with them and on the Sunday caught the Llanfair - Welshpool tourist steam train for our connection back home. A century--old Brtiish narrow-gauge railway bailed out the mighty TGV! Keith

	#3
Suzanne Piper	Re: Driving to Euronat davefreedom wrote: > Hi, > I drove to Euronat this year. > I left St.Malo at 10am and arrived at Euronat at 8.30pm > I took the route via Rennes, Nantes, La Rochelle and over on the Royan > ferry. > I incurred a number of delays and it took 2 hours of queing to get on > the Royan ferry. > > I wondered if anyone have also done this route or tried any other > alternative routes, ie via bordeaux > > It would be good to have other peoples views as if I went to Euronat > next year I would definately consider taking another route. > > Thanks > > Dave > It will possibly take longer to drive down to Bordeaux and then back up than using the ferry. Just look at the actual distance involved, and depending on time of day possible hold-ups round Bordeaux.

	#4
Duncan Booth	Re: Driving to Euronat davefreedom <davefreedom@hotmail.com> wrote: > I drove to Euronat this year. > I left St.Malo at 10am and arrived at Euronat at 8.30pm > I took the route via Rennes, Nantes, La Rochelle and over on the Royan > ferry. > I incurred a number of delays and it took 2 hours of queing to get on > the Royan ferry. > > I wondered if anyone have also done this route or tried any other > alternative routes, ie via bordeaux > > It would be good to have other peoples views as if I went to Euronat > next year I would definately consider taking another route. > We're going down to la Jenny soon and to avoid too long a drive through France we're taking the Autotrain from Calais down to Tolouse, then returning from Brive. We haven't done this route before but we've used the Autotrain several times to either Avignon or Nice: it is a more expensive option, but effectively extends your holiday by a day either end.

	#5
Mike H	Re: Driving to Euronat In message <1186324427.829410.125820@w3g2000hsg.googlegroups. com>, Keith of Mid Wales <kwl@aber.ac.uk> writes [snip] >I'll give you a view, but it's from a different aspect. We went last >year and loved the place. We travelled by train from Aberystwyth. The >Eurostar and the TGV (to Bordeaux) you probably know about. These days it seems to me that from the point of view of door-to-door cost, door-to-door travel time, door-to-door comfort and door-to-door convenience rail is always worth looking at. As an example, I am going to Odessa in the autumn (yes the city does have a c-o beach but October is a bit late in the year). After I had booked the flights I found that the rail journey Eurostar to Brussels, ICE to Berlin and sleeper to Odessa would have been worth serious consideration on all four of the above points. It is important to do your research before you contact the ticket agent. As good a starting point as any for information is <http://www.seat61.com/> -- Mike Hopkins Swim? Naturally with MADNAT <http://www.madnat.org/>

	#7
Simon	Re: Driving to Euronat Keith of Mid Wales wrote: > A semi-amusing add-on is that on the way back a suicide delayed the > TGV by one and a half hours A suicide forms part of your 'semi-amusing' add-on?? > A century--old > Brtiish narrow-gauge railway bailed out the mighty TGV! > Keith No it did not. The TGV was, you report, delayed by one and a half hours. You then chose to visit family and use alternative transport. Had you have waited, the TGV would have continued it's journey. You decided to leave the train. Had the TGV broken down and all the passengers been transferred to the steam train by the operating company THEN it would have rescued the mighty TGV. Simon.

	#8
Keith of Mid Wales	Re: Driving to Euronat On 6 Aug, 00:49, Simon <Heysf...@NotYahoo.com> wrote: > Keith of Mid Wales wrote:> A semi-amusing add-on is that on the way back a suicide delayed the > > TGV by one and a half hours > > A suicide forms part of your 'semi-amusing' add-on?? > > > A century--old > > Brtiish narrow-gauge railway bailed out the mighty TGV! > > Keith > > No it did not. The TGV was, you report, delayed by one and a half hours. > You then chose to visit family and use alternative transport. Had you > have waited, the TGV would have continued it's journey. You decided to > leave the train. > > Had the TGV broken down and all the passengers been transferred to the > steam train by the operating company THEN it would have rescued the > mighty TGV. > > Simon. Simon, you are a puzzle to me. My understanding of you is about the same as your understanding of me. Out, Keith

	#12
Duncan Heenan	Re: Driving to Euronat "Duncan Booth" <duncan.booth@invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:Xns9983B05FBBE79duncanbooth@127.0.0.1... > davefreedom <davefreedom@hotmail.com> wrote: > >> I drove to Euronat this year. >> I left St.Malo at 10am and arrived at Euronat at 8.30pm >> I took the route via Rennes, Nantes, La Rochelle and over on the Royan >> ferry. >> I incurred a number of delays and it took 2 hours of queing to get on >> the Royan ferry. >> >> I wondered if anyone have also done this route or tried any other >> alternative routes, ie via bordeaux >> >> It would be good to have other peoples views as if I went to Euronat >> next year I would definately consider taking another route. >> > We're going down to la Jenny soon and to avoid too long a drive through > France we're taking the Autotrain from Calais down to Tolouse, then > returning from Brive. > > We haven't done this route before but we've used the Autotrain several > times to either Avignon or Nice: it is a more expensive option, but > effectively extends your holiday by a day either end. Our route to la Jenny was cheap Flybe flight Southampton to Bordeaux then cheap hire car from Bordeaux to La Jenny. Takes about 2.5 hours and is a lot easier than other options, I think, and overall less expensive too.

	#13
Julie and Phil	Re: Driving to Euronat Have you tried using the Interactive Route Planner on the Euronat webpage? http://www.euronat.fr/en/plan-euronat/plan.asp Might help to give you some alternatives. Julie and Phil "davefreedom" <davefreedom@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:1186320213.784951.162200@22g2000hsm.googlegro ups.com... > Hi, > I drove to Euronat this year. > I left St.Malo at 10am and arrived at Euronat at 8.30pm > I took the route via Rennes, Nantes, La Rochelle and over on the Royan > ferry. > I incurred a number of delays and it took 2 hours of queing to get on > the Royan ferry. > > I wondered if anyone have also done this route or tried any other > alternative routes, ie via bordeaux > > It would be good to have other peoples views as if I went to Euronat > next year I would definately consider taking another route. > > Thanks > > Dave > -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com