Guest Brian Kirby Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 Everyone will have noticed how much fuel costs have increased sharply over the past few months. This made me wonder how much overall journey costs might differ for Channel ports other than Dover. I therefore looked at costs and distances between Leeds and the Spanish border, near Biarritz. The routes I compared were via Dover – Calais, Newhaven – Dieppe, Portsmouth – Caen and Portsmouth – Cherbourg. Mileages are from Autoroute, which is not fully up to date with the French autoroute network, so are not definitive. Driving times are net, make no allowance for overnight stops or other breaks and relate to the Autoroute generated mileages. Toll costs were taken from Mappy.com, which calculates a route and the resulting toll charges. These are not necessarily definitive costs, so may vary in practice, but the same basis was used for all journeys. The assumed vehicle was a minibus, which is the closest approximation to a motorhome and should rate Class 2. The toll cost was given in Euros, converted to Sterling at 1.47 € to £1. All figures are the totals for return trips via the same channel crossing. No allowance was made for Ferry costs (too much variation) or durations of Channel crossings. Fuel costs are based upon diesel consumption at 25mpg with French fuel at £0.76 per litre and UK fuel at £1 per litre. Inevitably, the fuel costs will be wrong day to day, but all routes use the same underlying costs, so the comparison will be valid. The results were as follows. Leeds–Biarritz via Dover-Calais. 1926 miles. 27.75 hours. £306 fuel + £75 tolls = £381. Leeds–Biarritz via Newhaven-Dieppe. 1783 miles. 27.5 hours. £287 fuel + £46 tolls = £333. Leeds–Biarritz via Portsmouth-Caen. 1564 miles. 26.25 hours. £255 fuel + £59 tolls = £314. Leeds–Biarritz via Portsmouth-Cherbourg. 1637 miles. 28 hours. £265 fuel + £31 tolls = £296. Not perhaps entirely surprising, but they may help when comparing ferry fares and routes. Makes some of the Western crossings look better value after all, doesn’t it? Regards to all Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Yorkshire tyke Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 Hi Brian Have you looked at thr HULL - Zeebrugge route? We find a saing travelling that way For us Dover is 420 miles Hull is 199 miles Zeebrugge to Calais by road is only 60 miles Unable to compare using our prices as we always take a luxury cabin with the money we save on that journey Think Leeds - Hull is only about 100 miles Max Certainly the CC distance charts show the road miles to be less from Zeebrugge to Austria - Italy - Germany - Switzerland Than those from Calais Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Brian Kirby Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 Well, inevitably you chooses yer route and pays yer money! No, I didn't look at Hull, I was trying to pick somewhere fairly central to UK just for the camparisons. I live 7 miles from Newhaven, so it was mostly for fun! Good luck! Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Yorkshire tyke Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 Well i also do some ghost trips to test the system But based on MY Home location (North of Carlisle) As I said we save approx 200 miles on UK Fuel and an 8+ hour drive with a 4hr drive and 60 miles on Belgian fuel to get to the same place With that we have an overnight on the ferry So leave Zeebrugge at 08:00 hrs refreshed From home this way ROME os 1500 miles - through Germany (No Tolls) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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