Recommendations for overnight parking near Portsmouth ferry

[Andy168]

Hi, newish to the motorhome life. Coming back from Le Havre into Portsmouth about 2130 (midweek).

Does anyone know of overnight parking within a hour of the port?. Any recommendations very welcome

Regards

Andy

[Derek Uzzell]

This enquiry was originally posted to to the Hints and Tips forum and I’ve moved it to the Motorhome Matters forum where it will get more exposure.

 

Just norh of the Portsmouth ferry-port is a small (free?) car-park that’s accessed from Whale Island Way. It’s GPS coordinates are 50.815810 -1.090677 but there’s no guarantee that there would be space there in late-evening (The GOOGLE-maps image shows the car-park full).

 

Probably the best bet for overnighting not far from the ferry-port is to stay on the large parking areas at Port Solent (example on following link) where there should be plenty of available space mid-week.

 

https://www.campercontact.com/en/united-kingdom/south-east-england/portsmouth/62645/motorhome-parking-parking-marina-keep.aspx?fromsso=1

 

(For recommendations for overnight parking further away from the ferry-port, Andy would really need to say in which direction he intends to travel as, if his journey will be northwards, there’s little point suggesting somewhere 40 miles east of Portsmouth.)

 

[yeo1]

I parked at the D Day Museum in January for 24 hours £12 no charge from 8pm to 8am N50 46. 782' W001 5. 37' PO5 3NT

 

[Andy168]

Derek Uzzell - 2018-05-22 7:09 AM

 

This enquiry was originally posted to to the Hints and Tips forum (Not sure why...)

 

The reason I put this into hint and tips is , in the ,Hints and Tips heading it says-- Pass on your favourite recommendations, hints and tips.

 

I was asking for recommendations for overnight parking, and not a effing keyboard warrior trying to put someone down for getting something wrong!!

 

Thanks for your recommendation, this could come in handy on our way back up north. Not exacty sure where we're going to go as we've 5 day to get to the NE Scotland

 

Andy

 

[Derek Uzzell]

Andy

 

For ages the Hints and Tips forum’s stated purpose was ambiguous and people (particularly new forum members) used to post enquiries indiscriminately to that forum or to the Motorhome Matters forum.

 

This situation was addressed a while back (after I’d bleated on about the ambiguity for years) and the purpose of the Hints and Tips forum is now stated as

 

"Pass on your favourite recommendations, hints and tips”

 

while the stated purpose of the Motorhome Matters forum is

 

"Log on for friendly chat and seek advice from hundreds of motorhome enthusiasts like yourself”

 

I (diplomatically) suggest that it should be apparent that Motorhome Matters is intended for enquiries, while Hints and Tips is for people proactively providiing “...favourite recommendations, hints and tips”.

 

If you look at the Hints and Tips forum you’ll see how the forum is used nowadays, and you’ll note from the Last Post dates of the entries there that activity is low. My experience as a forum moderator is that Hints and Tips is generally overlooked and that for maximum exposure and rapid feedback an enquiry needs to be on Motorhome Matters where it will get a much larger audience.

 

I’ve removed my perhaps unfortunate “Not sure why..” comment that I suspect led to you taking offence and please accept that I wasn’t trying to put you down when I moved your posting.

 

(Incidentally, I quite like the idea of being considered an "effing keyboard warrior “.)

[tugga]

We always stay at the C&MC site at Rookesbury Park, we are usually tired and want an easy life.

[Andy168]

Thanks.

 

Andy

[ColinM50]

We were outbound from Portsmouth last weekend and arrived at the port after midnight and parked up with half a dozen others in the departure area. Free and secure. What more do you want?

[Derek Uzzell]

Andy’s arrival in Portsmouth from Le Havre is schediuled for 21:30, so (if he’s lucky!) he should clear the ferry-port by 22:00.

 

Over the years I must have travelled between Newbury and Portsmouth over 100 times using the M27 & A34 route that would probably be logical for Andy as he is going north. However, I don’t overnight in (or near) Portsmouth and the last time I arrived there late-ish was in 2005 when I was importing a motorhome and I then drove straight home.

 

It used to be the case - years and years ago - that one could come off the ferry in the late-evening, clear Customs, re-enter the ferry-port, park overnight on the edge of the embarkation area and shove off early the following morning. I think we did that twice, but it wasn’t particularly civilised.

 

Brittany Ferries advice on parking at Portsmouth is as follows

 

"If you have an early morning sailing caravans / motorhomes can be parked in the check-in lanes after midnight. The vehicle is parked at your own risk and should not be left unattended. Please note that no facilities are open overnight.”

 

Nowadays, for congestion and security reasons, I’m wary that Brittany Ferries would be happy to allow motorhomers/caravanners coming directly off a 21:30-arrival crossing to ‘U-turn’ and overnight-park in the embarkation area.

 

There are service-stations on the A34 that Andy could overnight at, and I’m sure that one could ‘wild camp’ in villages or industrial estates just off the A34. But Port Solent is a known quantity and - although the road from the M27 to Port Solent is a mite wriggly - that’s where I’d go for a free overnight stay that should be quiet, before continuing north the following morning.

[Andy168]

Thanks for all replies, But change of plans. The wife would like to go a different route, we're booked onto the Deippe to Newhaven ferry with a midnight departure.

Thanks again for all replies

 

Andy

[Tony Jones]

So, are you going to sleep before, during or after the crossing? You'll probably need 2 out of 3.

There are two decent Aires at Dieppe if you need them.