So many questions as we get closer!

[Privateer]

Hi Marto,

We’ve taken the Eurotunnel every time that we’ve driven to DLP. The first time that we drove we took cash (notes and coins) for the tolls. The second time we had the toll tag, which is worth getting as you don't need to worry about using a card or cash and you often don’t queue, in fact, I think that you can drive through at 30 km/h. We tend to drive around 110 km/h (around 70mp) even in the 130 km/h zones as it’s more comfortable in the vehicle that we took and by using the toll tag we would often come across vehicles that had overtaken us on the open road only for us to beat them when we went through the toll booth. Using the toll tag makes using the toll roads and booths a lot easier. Here’s a link to the Eurotunnel toll tag promotion:

eurotunnel/uk/promotions/emovis-tag/

We took a Land Rover Defender (no the fastest) which only has a safe (i.e. comfortable) range of 300 miles on a full tank of diesel. I normally keep a 10 litre metal jerry can full of diesel (extra 60 miles) but took it out as a precaution because while the Eurotunnel allows fuel cans, the ferries don’t allow fuel cans and we like to have contingency plans to get there and back. We live near Oxford and on the way filled up at the Asda fuel station just off the M40 Junction 8. We travelled via the Eurotunnel and reached the Disney Hotel on one tank of diesel. On the way back we stopped off at the Aire de Vemars Ouest Motorway services on the A1 that are near DLP, at which point we’d done around 300 miles from the last fill up at M40 J8. Our next fill up was 250 miles later at Sainsburys Folkestone.

As for cost, back in May 2017, the cost of diesel was around £1.16 per litre in the UK and €1.15 per litre in France on the A1 service station. Whilst it may be cheaper to go off the route you will lose valuable time so for trips to and from DLP it’s probably best for convenience to pay the higher prices. Also if (like me) you're not used to driving on the wrong side of the road then it's best to stay on the main roads and keep off the small country roads.

As for cash and cards. We take a fair amount of cash (pounds and euros), normal credit cards and the Halifax credit card for foreign currency. Generally, if an item was less than 20.00 (£/€) we would pay cash and if it was more then we’d use a credit card. All credit cards are fully paid off at the end of the month. Any euro cash that is not used goes into a cash box ready for our next trip.

Driving to DLP is much better (for us) than taking the train or plane. We can take more and the route is so easy. Next time we go to DLP we will definitely drive and take the Eurotunnel.

Hope this helps,

[Marto]

That's brilliant Privateer, thank you for all the info. I'll look at the Tags now 😊