In article ,
(John Ray) wrote:

wrote:

Thanks for the replies. I will try the Croydon area when I can get
there,
(Sutton is more convenient, but Croydon is the nearest big town), and
of
course a local drop off point would be much more convenient.

The National Express service doesn't seem too bad as an alternative,
albeit it's having to travel to/from London. Not sure if it goes on
the
shuttle or by ferry - it doesn't mention that anywhere on the website.
Roger


Another suggestion: Consort Tours are based in Croydon and have a
programme of day trips to Boulogne, Calais and Dunkerque, with pick-up
points at Croydon, West Wickham, New Addington, Caterham etc. Their
brochure may be downloaded from
http://www.consort-tours.co.uk/brochures.htm

--
John Ray, London UK.

Thanks for that. That could be useful.

Roger

I know - and it was dirt cheap! Alas... Actually, I thought it was
withdrawn after the demise of duty-free, when there was a huge drop in
the numbers of people crossing the Channel, not realising that even with
French duty paid, wine, spirits, beer and coffee were far cheaper than
they are here. And tobacco is cheaper in Belgium, just an hour up the
road!

I was at connex at the time this service ran and I tried very hard to
persuade the publicity people to plug it more. Their response was
quite negative which can only be given a Gaulic shrug of the
shoulders. It stopped running because of a lack of passengers and
connex have gone now as well. Ho Hum.

I used the service on "privs" quite a bit, it was ony £2.50 !!

I regularly went to Calais to do some French diesel "bashing" as well
as using it as a cheap way to start other train trips in Europe, with
the added bonus of the Euro Shutle locos for interest.

One extremely funny trip saw us delayed for THREE hours on the outward
journey. I was with a friend going to Belgium via Calais and Lille.
There were only two other punters. We wanted to get out and get a boat
but were denied. The bus "HAD" to go to Calais. The rest of the days
service was suspended and as I say we got there late. I wrote a
standard whinging letter to Eurotunnel in which i was totally honest
about the priv fare paid and was surprised to be sent a voucher for my
car for a retur "whenever I wanted". Needless to say in mid summer I
took a weekend trip with the car, out on a Friday to calais and Back
Sunday Tea time. Face Value of the ticket was £180.00 for a £2.50
complaint !!!!

Now my circumstances are different I regularly join the booze cruisers
to satisfy my good laies taste in Wine. I get a day out in the car
doing the trains as long as i stock up in a local supermarche on the
way back. Still not bad value at about £25-£30 if booked in advance.

Fat Richard

I was at connex at the time this service ran and I tried very hard to
persuade the publicity people to plug it more. Their response was
quite negative which can only be given a Gaulic shrug of the
shoulders. It stopped running because of a lack of passengers and
connex have gone now as well. Ho Hum.

I used the service on "privs" quite a bit, it was ony £2.50 !!

That was for a single, though!


Fat Richard

After the first time, mine were priv fares (I didn't realise till one of
the other passengers told me that they did priv fares). A few that I spoke
to had privs, so perhaps Connex just wanted to keep it in house :-)

It is such a pity that it did stop. Whatever the price of the ticket (as
long as it's not too expensive) the concept is very good. From my
experience of the trips, most of the people were going out as a day trip
to do some shopping (rather than stocking up with lots of duty free) in
the same way that they might pop up to London to the day or go on a day
trip to Lakeside or whatever. The hourly service meant that you could stay
on the coach to Calais, have a wander round and then hop on a later one to
Cite Europe to finish the day off. Ideal for non car owners like myself,
or just for a relaxing day out without having to rush around.

I did lots of trips, some on my own, some with a friend and his son, some
with my/his family. All enjoyed it.

Now, who can we persuade to start it up again :-)

Roger

On Mon, 3 May 2004 at 16:56:48, Fat Richard
wrote:


Now my circumstances are different I regularly join the booze cruisers
to satisfy my good laies taste in Wine. I get a day out in the car
doing the trains as long as i stock up in a local supermarche on the
way back. Still not bad value at about £25-£30 if booked in advance.

It's not as good value as it used to be, though. Sigh. Ah well... last
time we went over for the afternoon, a colleague commented that "it was
a very long way to go to the supermarket, when there was one just down
the road!"

True, but then there's an awful lot of things you can't get in our
supermarkets that you can "over there".... (roll on the end of this
month!).
--
Annabel Smyth
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/index.html
Website updated 8 March 2004