From Portugal up to UK, Scotland, Ireland - Advice?

[soundsk]

Hi there!

This year we did our first long trip in our Cali - total was about 3400 miles in 17 days, from Viana do Castelo in Portugal, our hometown, across Spain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. It was a blast, and we're very much hooked...

We were planning on doing the UK next year, I'd like to visit Scotland, and my other half wants to visit Ireland and any beautiful places along the way. We love nature: beaches, forests, we tend to avoid busy cities and mainstream locations that might be very crowded.

While I appreciate any suggestions and advice on beautiful stops along the way, my major doubts are about ferries and crossings with the Cali.

First there will be the Eurotunnel, which we've never done before, and then the crossing to Ireland, which I'm guessing is done by ferry, but I don't know where is the best place to make the crossing, if there is more than one, prices, any special recommendations because of the vehicle being a Cali and LHD.

So any tips and information regarding the crossing to Ireland and must-stop locations are truly welcome!
Cheers!

 

[GrannyJen]

The best crossing is from Anglesey, Holyhead.

Whilst travelling to Anglesey to make the crossing, from the channel tunnel,you can have many options.

one of my choices would be to follow the South downs national park from East of Brighton to Winchester, take the M3/A34 to Newbury, the M4 to west of Newport and then the A470 through the beautiful Brecon Beacons, Snowdonia National park and then the bridge to Anglesey and Holyhead island.

A mix of fast and slow but a lot of scenery, and a degree of dross, along the way.

 

[Californiaman]

And the best crossing back is Rosslare to Fishguard (this one can get a bit choppy though if the weather is bad). Both ferries are dead easy but not cheap. That way you get to enjoy North and South Wales - you just need to make sure you do a full lap of Ireland (you'll have to come back another day to do the bit between the ferries - the Wicklow mountains are lovely..)

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[Hotel California]

Hi soundsk , love to go up to Ierland and Scotland to...
Been to the UK once with my LHD Cali and did not have to much trouble driving on the other side , only thing , it is good to have a co-driver who can be your back-up checking left and right at crossings becouse they are the hardest thing i found out....
Looking at the other direction then your used to and then turning off to position your car on the opposite side than your used to ....in busy traffic ....can be hard.

The Ferry chould be no problem just be sure you give you height details (2m if nothing on the roof and no bikes on the rack behind...)
We did go from Calais to Dover as we got a dog and wanted to be as short as possible on the ferry . Spending long time on the ferry to me is a waste of time as there is not much to do on deck ....holliday is spending time in your Cali and not on a ferry.
We did take many ferry's on a recent three weeks trip in Norway , but most ferrycrossings there are 15 to 20 minutes.

For must see and nice spots we have to ask our other freinds here....but the short stay we did last year in the UK visting COTF was defenatly not the last time we crossed the channel!

 

[SimonB]

There are some sites in Ireland recommended on this thread http://vwcaliforniaclub.com/forums/campsite-reviews.28/ Quite a few of us seem to have been to Wave Crest on the Ring of Kerry.

 

[greenfintry]

Brittany ferries does a service from Roscoff to Roslare in Ireland, so you could use that then cross from the north of Ireland to Stranraer in south Scotland.... Or do the same in reverse... It is also possible to go Roscoff Santander but not the reverse direction!

 

[soundsk]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.
Tomorrow I'll map out these routes, look for more information with the information you gave me, so we can plan a general route.