French/Belgian borders.

Author
Discussion

Silver993tt

9,064 posts

238 months

Tuesday 1st December 2015
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Iva Barchetta said:
I'm planning a trip to Brussels during my Christmas break and have watched this thread with interest.

Looking at alternative routes from Dunkirk,looks like heading to Lille then up to Gent only adds 1/2 hour to the journey.

Can't be doing with 3 hour hold ups.
There are checkpoints on the Belgian/French border between Lille and Gent. In fact all the major roads on the border will have checkpoints.

Iva Barchetta

44,044 posts

162 months

Tuesday 1st December 2015
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I'm hoping that the hold ups aren't as bad on this route.

Is this a quieter road than the coast road ?

gtidriver

Original Poster:

3,334 posts

186 months

Tuesday 1st December 2015
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The coast road added about 10 minutes each way to my trip last Saturday.If the D601/N39 are busy/shut try theD60/N386.

Iva Barchetta

44,044 posts

162 months

Tuesday 1st December 2015
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Thanks,nothings arranged yet but I need something to do over Christmas and fancy a visit to Autoworld.

br d

8,388 posts

225 months

Wednesday 2nd December 2015
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gtidriver said:
The coast road added about 10 minutes each way to my trip last Saturday.If the D601/N39 are busy/shut try theD60/N386.
That's virtually on the beach!

Anyway, I'm crossing early Friday morning so I'll update, thanks for everyone's info.
There'll be 4 of us in the car including an Asian Muslim, a Turkish Cypriot and a Romanian so we could possibly be in for a bit of attention!

gtidriver

Original Poster:

3,334 posts

186 months

Wednesday 2nd December 2015
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If your travelling by boat the police are checking most car boots at the french passport control,leave plenty of time for the outward bound boot as its very slow through the passport check,if TAP is on best not to do Jubilee way as its always backed up by trucks trying to jump the queue. Head for the castle and come out by the town, then head for the port.

gtidriver

Original Poster:

3,334 posts

186 months

Wednesday 2nd December 2015
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Maybe if people could add any routes out of France that is quiet or have any updates on the routes that I've suggested maybe you could post it up here to help the rest of us.

MX51ROD

2,731 posts

146 months

Thursday 3rd December 2015
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Most of the above related to going east , what are the delays westbound ,i.e. towards Calais?
We are out early Friday on the shuttle ,back late Sunday
All very useful information though

MX51ROD

2,731 posts

146 months

Friday 4th December 2015
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Now in Bruges ,the delay was about 15/20 mins not so bad after all
Let's see what the return trip is like

Rude-boy

22,227 posts

232 months

Friday 4th December 2015
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We went over last weekend catching a 5pmish boat over on the Friday night. We were staying near Poperinge in Belgium and headed straight there.

We crossed the French/Belgian boarder on the D948/N38 without sight of a single Le Plod on the way into Belgium and no sign on the other side of the road.

As it happened a trukie mate ended up swapping a load with another driver and found himself at the truck stop at that boarder (on the French side) for the weekend. This meant that we crossed that boarder about 6 times in the space of 2 days. There were never any check going out of France. Going back into France the longest wait was when we were joking with the CRS chap that it was the third time he'd seen us that day and that we were trying to work out if we preferred the French or Belgian side of the line wink

In fact we all remarked that it was the first time any of us could recall seeing a member of the CRS with a smile on their face, let alone enjoy a joke in a bit of broken Franglaise.

George7

1,130 posts

149 months

Friday 4th December 2015
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Went over last Sunday to stock up on booze for Christmas. All was fine, although I didn't realise how massive 'the jungle' was until we drove past it (same road as that Hungarian lorry driver video). Before we'd reached the camp, we were actually wondering why there were police vans every 100m or so on the hard shoulder. The border checks at the ferry terminal were fine really, the boot of the car and our passports got checked, but nothing too bad.

Rude-boy

22,227 posts

232 months

Friday 4th December 2015
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George7 said:
The border checks at the ferry terminal were fine really, the boot of the car and our passports got checked, but nothing too bad.
Honestly?

That was the one ball ache for us. We arrived there about 14:10 to get a 15:25 boat and it took us longer to get through the now two separate check points 100m apart, with boot checks by each side, than it has ever taken us to get through on Mad Monday after LM.

celestequattro

78 posts

170 months

Friday 4th December 2015
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We are meeting some friends in Bruges tomorrow and I sent them a link to this thread. Their reply following a crossing mid afternoon:

"Came off at Jn 62 then went D601, then D60 and into Belgium with no stop at border. Looked over fields at A16 and it was gridlocked - very satisfying! Thanks to Mr Pistonhead"

I will try to post tomorrow as intending to be in the square for breakfast so going for an early one.

V8mate

45,899 posts

188 months

Friday 4th December 2015
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lostkiwi said:
This was the reason we went Dover Dunkirk last time. No trouble at the time but its always just there waiting to happen.
There's a big migrant camp at Grand Synthe now too.


celestequattro

78 posts

170 months

Saturday 5th December 2015
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At 08:15 Saturday morning got to junction 65 so quickly forgot to keep an eye out for an early bail. All traffic taken off and on again. Nobody stopped. Time lost - maybe a minute or two to slow and speed up again. Absolutely no issue.

br d

8,388 posts

225 months

Saturday 5th December 2015
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celestequattro said:
"Came off at Jn 62 then went D601, then D60 and into Belgium with no stop at border. Looked over fields at A16 and it was gridlocked - very satisfying! Thanks to Mr Pistonhead"
Did exactly this yesterday morning, no problem, maybe a ten minute slowdown.

In a pub in Bruges looking forward to a good Saturday night drink!

celestequattro

78 posts

170 months

Sunday 6th December 2015
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Delay at Junction 65 from Bruges to Calais Sunday night at 16:40 around 20 mins. Friends of out went off just before. No delays going round.

MX51ROD

2,731 posts

146 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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Traffic on A16 not so bad after all , 15/20 delay to come off at the jct just before frontier ,then back on again without stopping the return trip much the same

Then you get to Eurotunnel terminal and the problems really start

Expect over an hour from check in to clearing UK border controls ,chaotic at best ,the area is devoid of any organization ,pushing and shoving cutting in lane swapping,and I understand the port is much the same.

We arrived at about 5pm and were given a 1807 departure and eventually got on the shuttle at 1835

Adenauer

18,564 posts

235 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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I'm in two minds whether to cancel the tunnel ticket and just get a Ferry from Oostend.

I hate Ferries.

5potTurbo

12,481 posts

167 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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Adenauer,
I drove back over to Blighty the weekend - using the Tunnel - and crossed the border in/out France/Belgium near Tournai/Lille on the E42. It was fine.
There are roadworks on that stretch of the E42 in Belgium (years overdue, so a good thing!) and there are police/army on the border, both sides, with 1 lane in either direction. There wasn't a delay really either on Thu morning or yesterday evening.
I guess if you were to head Aachen, Liege, and west all the way on the E42 (there are other roadworks on there in Belgium, but again, not an issue really) it would be OK for you?