First time driving from North West UK - Murcia

I am taking my car from North West Uk to Murcia end of February. any advice on quickest route and costs (2 litre diesel) also what do I need legally to drive through France/Spain?

Any advice/information would be much appreciated.

Best wishes

Sorry, I don't know the answer to this one but will watch (subscribe) with interest as we have a guest travelling from Durham next year.

Mark

Hello,

We live in Cumbria and drive every winter own to Costa Almeria - so know the route(s) well.

We avoid the toll roads BUT we do it as quickly as possible  We take the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to LeHavre and spend the first day motoring down to Pau where we spend the night. The next morning it is over the Pyrenees and down through Spain.  If  it ss very snowy  andt  the passes are closed you will need to take the coastal road.

With avoiding the tolls the only costs are petrol and one overnight stay.

Jo

Hello,

We live in Cumbria and drive every winter own to Costa Almeria - so know the route(s) well.

We avoid the toll roads BUT we do it as quickly as possible  We take the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to LeHavre and spend the first day motoring down to Pau where we spend the night. The next morning it is over the Pyrenees and down through Spain.  If  it ss very snowy  andt  the passes are closed you will need to take the coastal road.

With avoiding the tolls the only costs are petrol and one overnight stay.

Jo

I would recommend Portsmouth-Bilbao ferry route,whilst a bit pricy you save the amount spent in overnight stops/fuel,as it is only 540 miles from Bilbao,good fast roads,easily achievble in a day,so time saving is also a plus.

Good luck

if driving through spain and france for that matter you will need hi vis jackets for all available in the car so do not put them in the boot also 2 warning triangles one to put at the rear of the car and one at the front spare headlight,indicator bulbs and in spain a spare pair of glasses if you use them

Thank you all for your excellent helpful replies.

I have plenty of experience when booking flights, and when to do it. But do I book ferries in advance, or leave it to the last minute? do prices fluctuate, or rise as the date gets nearer? and is it different for each ferry operator? I am leaning towards Portsmouth-Bilbao route, but thinking it would be nice to make it a road trip via Le Havre.

What about headlight deflectors, if I am driving down to Portsmouth is it easy to fit them when exiting the ferry in France?.

Hi,

We drive back v often, and alough I drive with no over night stops, avoiding the tolls will add approx 9hrs to the drive from le harve down to murcia. However the fuel saving is not enough to warrent paying france our hard earned euro in tolls!!! Avoid the back way through the mountains as even in June there was still snow up there so febuary will be a big no no unless you have snow chains.

The best road to use would be the N10 through france,Le Harve- Le Manns and then down , a mix of duel roads and fast single roads. head to bourgos on the south west of france and then (with only one small toll) you can cross in to spain and then down with no further tolls (Madrid to Albecete then the A30/31 to Murcia. this road is better than the E15-A7 west coast road as there are mainly tolls and will take slightly longer.

We drive a 3ltr LWB Fiat van, fuel form torrevieja to portsmouth approx 200-230 euros and it takes us 25hrs (back non toll roads) from torrevieja to Le harve.

Ferry prices vary but i would book 4-6 weeks before

for over night stays check out F1 hotels, fair prices and pets welcome too or some nice b&b's along the route.

GEC

We go over the Dover Calais route after driving down from Warrington, usually around 3am ferry, bit of a sleep on the docks in Calais, shower in the main building, after the drive and being at work.

Then off to Abbyville, sorry for my spelling of some of these towns, orleans, on to Pointers, Tuors, down to Boarduex, N1 & N10 are the main roads without tolls, I use the motorways, Start looking for hotels around DAX or Bouyerne, F1 in Bouyerne, heading for San sabastion, this is around a 10 to 12 hour drive, so around 8pm in the hotel, meal & bottle vino. Morning set off spain, then san sabastion, up to pampola, this is were the snow can come in, I have been there March to may and met the snow, but they do have the ploughs out and keep it clear, on to zaragosa, all the way there is a toll road or the non toll road next to it, start dropping down to Trueal, then signs to Valencia, you can stay with the coast, I cut through IBI Alicanti to Toreveca, I'm at Cabo Roig, my Brother has a place in San Cayetano, 10hours for this.

I have a megane 1.5 derv, at 60mpg, I get there in just over 2 tanks of derv.

Jon Mellor

Thanks Jon & GEC (and all) for replies, feel really confident now and will give it a go.

Just need to get this neck injury better!!!!!!!!!!!!