Belgian GP and Ring trip

[Lawsome]

Myself and the lady were planning on going to Spa for the GP this year. However, the situation with flights and volcanos has left us unsure.
She suggested, semi-jokingly that we could drive. I rubbished it initially as it wasn't worth the hassle. Then it struck me - we could tie it into a Nurburgring trip

The reason for the topic was to ask for any advice from those who have done similar and.... does anyone fancy it

(the GP race is the 29th of august)

[ian2144]

I did this with some mates three years ago. We went from Newcastle on the overnight ferry (DFDS) to Ijmiden (Amsterdam) A nice evening meal, plus some Superb entertainment on the ferry, the trip was worth it for this alone.

We arrived at the Ring about 5.00pm on the Thursday just in time for the two hour open session. Got some laps under our belt in the RS4, then headed off to Spa to get setteled in at the camp sight, ready for the F1 practice session on the Friday morning.
I would do this again, but not in a tent, getting to old for camping.

[VetteG]

Did the Spa 6 hours last year and took the ferry from Rosyth. Its a slower boat now so it didnt dock until 2pm, this set us up nicely for the Brussels rush hour on the Friday evening so instead of getting to Spa for mid afternoon we didnt arrive until 8pm. Also it's much more a truckers ferry in that passenger facilities are limited. When I do it again it will be from Newcastle.
The run down from Spa to the 'ring is a good one though.

G

[a11y_m]

VetteG said:

Did the Spa 6 hours last year and took the ferry from Rosyth. Its a slower boat now so it didnt dock until 2pm, this set us up nicely for the Brussels rush hour on the Friday evening so instead of getting to Spa for mid afternoon we didnt arrive until 8pm. Also it's much more a truckers ferry in that passenger facilities are limited. When I do it again it will be from Newcastle.
The run down from Spa to the 'ring is a good one though.

G

That's interesting to know about the ferry from Rosyth beign a bit slower and crappier now . We were tempted to give it a try next year instead of going from Hull or Newcastle, but looks like some sort of driving south of the border will still be necessary. Getting onto the continent with a full day ahead of you was what appealed largely about the Rosyth crossing to me, and now that it doesn't even do that...

[VetteG]

a11y_m said:

VetteG said:

Did the Spa 6 hours last year and took the ferry from Rosyth. Its a slower boat now so it didnt dock until 2pm, this set us up nicely for the Brussels rush hour on the Friday evening so instead of getting to Spa for mid afternoon we didnt arrive until 8pm. Also it's much more a truckers ferry in that passenger facilities are limited. When I do it again it will be from Newcastle.
The run down from Spa to the 'ring is a good one though.

G

That's interesting to know about the ferry from Rosyth beign a bit slower and crappier now . We were tempted to give it a try next year instead of going from Hull or Newcastle, but looks like some sort of driving south of the border will still be necessary. Getting onto the continent with a full day ahead of you was what appealed largely about the Rosyth crossing to me, and now that it doesn't even do that...

Yup I didnt even notice the change in time when I booked. It has a bar and a dining room and thats about it and the bar is not a lot of good when your driving later! Padding around in the morning for 4 hours when you were expecting to be driving is no fun and the Brussels rush hour was just nose to tail and a fair amount of sitting in static long queues, the big radiator and twin electric fans came into their own for sure! The drive to Newcastle is still very much worthwhile, I'm afraid!

G

[S2red]

Its a wee bit further than Newcastle but Hull Zeebrugge with P&O is a far better boat

And often as not has proved cheaper for long breaks than the other two for though shorts break especilly with Spa being on it may be different

TBH Rosyth I've always found extortionate would love to try it but not at nearly twice the price of Hull!

[kmm]

I would love to go although it is a little bit further than our Stirling runs? I would need to check dates, time off work etc etc. Have you priced up the ferry and worked out approx mileage. How many days are you going for?

After reading Ally7's trip to the ring last year i quite fancied something similar.

[istoo]

VetteG said:

a11y_m said:

VetteG said:

Did the Spa 6 hours last year and took the ferry from Rosyth. Its a slower boat now so it didnt dock until 2pm, this set us up nicely for the Brussels rush hour on the Friday evening so instead of getting to Spa for mid afternoon we didnt arrive until 8pm. Also it's much more a truckers ferry in that passenger facilities are limited. When I do it again it will be from Newcastle.
The run down from Spa to the 'ring is a good one though.

G

That's interesting to know about the ferry from Rosyth beign a bit slower and crappier now . We were tempted to give it a try next year instead of going from Hull or Newcastle, but looks like some sort of driving south of the border will still be necessary. Getting onto the continent with a full day ahead of you was what appealed largely about the Rosyth crossing to me, and now that it doesn't even do that...

Yup I didnt even notice the change in time when I booked. It has a bar and a dining room and thats about it and the bar is not a lot of good when your driving later! Padding around in the morning for 4 hours when you were expecting to be driving is no fun and the Brussels rush hour was just nose to tail and a fair amount of sitting in static long queues, the big radiator and twin electric fans came into their own for sure! The drive to Newcastle is still very much worthwhile, I'm afraid!

G

Agree done the Rosyth Ferry twice (in the superfast days) very nice ferry but doens save anytime and it always lands at a really bad time of day so you only get half a days driving in either way.

[Lawsome]

kmm said:

I would love to go although it is a little bit further than our Stirling runs? I would need to check dates, time off work etc etc. Have you priced up the ferry and worked out approx mileage. How many days are you going for?

After reading Ally7's trip to the ring last year i quite fancied something similar.

Not even looked yet mate but the more i think about it the more i want to do it.
Thought i'd put this up for advice before i started looking at anything.
All i know is i can afford it and the nurburgring for me is long overdue.
Oh and i've taken 2 weeks off starting monday 23rd of august - so plenty of room to play with

[ALY77]

The further down the country you go before crossing the cheaper it becomes, even taking a thirsty cars fuel consumption in to consideration.

Rosyth we tend to find is very expensive, a small boat (least it was with superfast in 2006, the last time we used that route) and after 2 hours of sailing, we could see East Lothian still out the window!

Hull is a much better boat and for obvious reasons a quicker crossing. It also docks pretty early so you can get a good run down to the ring for the middle of the day.

We've used the Euro tunnel the last two trips and we're away a week on Thursday again with the tunnel booked once more. Its a fraction of the cost and if you're doing a driving holiday, a few hundred extra miles isn't a big issue for any of the drivers on our runs.

The only advice I can give you is if you do end up booking a boat, don't be tempted to book the much cheaper lounge seats for an overnight sailing. We almost ended up in them due to being overly keen to get on a particular crossing and they looked grim when we checked them out. Think 52 seater coach meets budget airline!

[ALY77]

oh and on a side note, check the ring has touristfahren scheduled for when you plan to be there!
I know of a guy that went over and it was shut for the three days he was there. He got to watch some manufacturer testing briefly and spent the rest of the time mountain biking and walking, which he could've done a lot closer to home!