Best route home, Wurzburg to Wicklow

loobylou

Have taken the plunge and bought Euramobil in Germany. Have to go back next Tue to collect it and wonder can anyone advise me as to the best route home. Which is better, through UK or France/Rosslare.? Do you need to book ferries far in advance? Which is the best/cheapest ferry?
All advice welcome!!
Thanks,
Ian

peasant

Did the same trip only recently from Nuremberg (130 "extra" kms from Wuerzburg)

The most comfortable route (in my opinion) is via Rotterdam - Hull and then Holihead - Dublin.

Wuerzburg to Rotterdam should be about 7 hours, all motorway. The ferry boards from 5 pm until 8pm, leaves at 9pm. Travels over night (you have to book a cabin) and debarkation is a at 8am in Hull.
Driving time from there to Holyhead is about five hours which leaves enough time to catch the afternoon ferry easily

Tickets direct from Irish Ferries on the "landbridge" tarriff.

Because you have to book a cabin it is also one of the most expensive routes (esp this time of year), but IMO it's well worth it in comparison to the rather long haul from southern Germany to Calais (~11 hours) and then ~7-8 hours from Dover to Fishguard/Pembroke ...or worse ...Holyhead.

You don't need to rush, you have a good nights sleep and the chunks of driving are manageable and safe.

The direct Ferry from France only is really an option if you want to holiday in France for a bit ...otherwise the drive from Germany is just too far and can't be done in one go.

EDIT:
another advantage from coming in through Hull is that you avoid greater London and the dreaded M25 which is only really driveable at night and a carpark otherwise.

Problem for you is coming into Dublin then at rush hour and filtering your way through to Wicklow.
You might want to check out Stena (as they go to Dun Loghaire) if they offer the "landbrige" via Rotterdam as well.

loobylou

Thanks for that. I won't be picking up the van until Tue afternoon so I expect to overnight somewhere en route anyway. Being new to this and feeling somewhat daunted, I thought the single ferry option to Rosslare might be less stressful. The price for the crossing (over 300 euro), seems steep, is this normal?

peasant

That's cheap actually, for this time of year and a motorhome at short notice.

Have a look into an online route planner and see what it says about miles and hours of driving from Wurzburg to Rotterdam / Calais / Cherbourg / Roscoff.

Don't forget, you'll be doing well to get a 90 km/h average speed (including little breaks) you'll be driving during the week when the motorways are full of trucks and driving is tiring after a while.

Personally, I've done a good few marathon trips from southern Germany via Calais to Ireland. 17 hours on the first day (of which driving was a dangerous 15), very little sleep and then another 7 hours driving.

Can be done ...but I was young then ...wouldn't do it now unless I really, really had to.


Also don't forget ...you'll be at least a bit tired from your trip TO Wurzburg already ...


...and another EDIT

Just had a look at the Irish Ferries website.
The ferry leaves Cherbourg on Wenesday at 6 pm.

If you drive a good bit still on Tuesday afternoon/evening and then sleep in the camper, it should actually be quite doable.

The Rotterdam variant will certainly cost more than 300 euro and with you being from Wicklow, Rosslare is probably more convenient than Dublin Port.

peasant

Totally forgot to say:

whichever way you go, have a safe trip, enjoy your new toy, keep it between the ditches and crease free :cool:

Malta1

Another option instead of Irish Ferries from Cherbourg is Celtic Link which sails to Rosslare as well;) . This ferry is predominantly for truckers but they certainly take campers, cars and bikes. Ferry sails at about 8pm from Cherbourg and to the best of my knowledge it sails on alternate days to Irish Ferries.

By the sounds of it, youve got a long drive ahead of you......good luck