Getting to Dover from Buckinghamshire

[TheAngryDog]

Would I be pushing my luck leaving Buckinghamshire at 5pm on a Friday night and aiming to get to Dover for 9pm? I am trying to decide which ferry crossing to take, whether it is a 10pm crossing or 12am crossing as I need to check into a hotel when I get to Dunkirk, but need to arrive early enough to be able to check in.

I know the M25 isn't going to be much fun, but hopefully with the Dartford bridge now not having tolls it should make life easier?

[Stephanie Plum]

Why would you go via the crossing if in Bucks? Go round the south. It'll be slow around the M3 but unless you're unlucky it'll me ok after that. Slower 6 to 5 but not awful normally. You should do it easily.

[Bluebarge]

You should easily do it provided it's not a Friday at the start of school holidays. However, a 10pm crossing on the Dunkirk route, with the time difference between UK and France) will land you in Dunkirk at 1am, so by the time you reach your hotel it will be earliest 1:30am. Maybe better to get the tunnel and crash at one of the many hotels just outside the Tunnel in Coquelles - a 10pm crossing would have you at your hotel at 11:45pm local time.

[mrsshpub]

All you need is some sort of hold up on the M25…..

Why not stay in a hotel in Dover on the Friday evening & get an early morning ferry? That way, you won't risk missing your crossing because of traffic problems.

[BrabusMog]

TheAngryDog said:

Would I be pushing my luck leaving Buckinghamshire at 5pm on a Friday night and aiming to get to Dover for 9pm? I am trying to decide which ferry crossing to take, whether it is a 10pm crossing or 12am crossing as I need to check into a hotel when I get to Dunkirk, but need to arrive early enough to be able to check in.

I know the M25 isn't going to be much fun, but hopefully with the Dartford bridge now not having tolls it should make life easier?

Whereabouts in Bucks? M4 or M40? I ask as going just one junction in really heavy traffic around the M25 can add on 30 minutes on a bad night. I wouldn't want to be stressing out on the M25 knowing I had to get all the way to the M20 junction on a Friday night.

[TheAngryDog]

Stephanie Plum said:

Why would you go via the crossing if in Bucks? Go round the south. It'll be slow around the M3 but unless you're unlucky it'll me ok after that. Slower 6 to 5 but not awful normally. You should do it easily.

It's the way my route planner suggested, but I was considering going on anti-clockwise as well.

Bluebarge said:

You should easily do it provided it's not a Friday at the start of school holidays. However, a 10pm crossing on the Dunkirk route, with the time difference between UK and France) will land you in Dunkirk at 1am, so by the time you reach your hotel it will be earliest 1:30am. Maybe better to get the tunnel and crash at one of the many hotels just outside the Tunnel in Coquelles - a 10pm crossing would have you at your hotel at 11:45pm local time.

We are going during term time. Yeah I know about the time difference and it is being factored in with our plans .

I can't use the tunnel as the pressure difference causes me horrendous issues with my ears. Also the cost is hideous!

mrsshpub said:

All you need is some sort of hold up on the M25…..

Why not stay in a hotel in Dover on the Friday evening & get an early morning ferry? That way, you won't risk missing your crossing because of traffic problems.

We did consider a hotel in Dover but there weren't any ferries sailing early enough for us to not waste our one day in Bruges.

BrabusMog said:

Whereabouts in Bucks? M4 or M40? I ask as going just one junction in really heavy traffic around the M25 can add on 30 minutes on a bad night. I wouldn't want to be stressing out on the M25 knowing I had to get all the way to the M20 junction on a Friday night.

Traveling from Aylesbury. I was considering going via the A41 to the M25 from there.

[Ynox]

If you're just going to Bruges for 1 day - take Eurostar is my recommendation. Doing it next weekend and it couldn't be easier.

[TheAngryDog]

Ynox said:

If you're just going to Bruges for 1 day - take Eurostar is my recommendation. Doing it next weekend and it couldn't be easier.

We are going to Bruges, then Brussels for two days then Amsterdam for two days.

I can't use the eurostar because of the pressure issue it causes my ears. Same reason why I can't fly.