Dover

[Neal]

Me and the crew are sailing from Dover 7.15 on wednesday morning, Thinking of travelling down to Dover Tuesday afternoon. Anybody know of a decent place to stay overnight near Dover

Cheers

Whitey

[jpchenet]

If you're going to be there Tuesday evening, I'd probably suggest you try to get the ferry over that night and grab a cheap as chips Formule 1 in Calais (25 Euros per room per night) and then you've got a head start in the morning.

[Steve TTTD]

Whitey,
I've just booked two rooms at the Travel Lodge in Ashford, Kent (about 30mins from Dover) for the Tuesday night at £26 per room, Rooms are Family Rooms that take 2 adults, rates are discounted web rates.

Worth looking at their website

http://www.travelodge.co.uk
Steve

[Evil Genius Zarse]

I would avoid Dover if I were you, it's not the most pleasant of places. I live in Ashford & would back up the Travelodge for a decent cheap night. There is a nightclub & various restaurants on the site aswell. Ashford town centre is about 5 mins drive from the hotel too, not that theres a huge amount to do!!!

[TonyT]

I'm with JP on this one.

We have been going overnight from Portsmouth for the last few years but before then we used to go from Dover first thing Wed AM (7:00ish). The problem we found is that we would arrive in Kent on Tuesday evening and then wish we could carry on to Le Mans.

One year we even tried leaving Dover around 11:00pm Tuesday night and driving through the night. We had three drviers and did 2 hours each and arrived around 5:00ish the next day.

If you do stay over night, stay clear of Dover.

[smokie]

Yep, the downside (upside for some) of overnighting in France instead of England is the temptation to crack on down to LM. I did exactly that for last year's pre-q and ended up sleeping in the car, as NONE of the cheapies around LM had any vacancies (and by the time I got there - sometime after midnight - I wasn't prepared to pay sensible money for just a few hours sleep.

Sleeping in the car was uncomfortable and cold!

I was queuing at Carrefour when it opened, and luckily was able to book into my hotel mid-morning Friday to catch up on the zeds.

Mind you, I was able to do the Mulsanne straight in the dark at high speed and low risk...  


Oh, and I used to work in Dover (for P&O) - also wouldn't recommend it for an overnight if you have any other choice...

[Neal]

Thanks for the help, have booked into the Travel Lodge for the Tuesday night. Will see you there Steve, maybe a beer.

[Andy Zarse]

I'm with JP on this one.


If you do stay over night, stay clear of Dover.

Her's what happened to my fellow Commer drivers Malcolm and Janet in Dover...

http://classiccamperclub.tripod.com/memberstales.htm

Down and outs soup kitchen indeed!

[BigH]

Andy,
I'm afraid I couldn't stay with it for the whole account, as I didn't have any valium at hand. Or ether, for that matter.
However, a couple of things seem clear. The couple in question seem to be suffering from some form of narcolepsy (do you get tse-tse flies in Romford I wonder?), and Malcolm seems to be on the wrong side of a textbook example of an obsessive compulsive disorder.
May I be so bold as to suggest that Malcolm is in fact a nom de plume, and you, yes you, Mr. Andrew Zarse of Sussex, is in fact Malcolm, and you're trying to lure us into your, frankly sordid, world?
It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
H

[Andy Zarse]

Andy,
I'm afraid I couldn't stay with it for the whole account, as I didn't have any valium at hand. Or ether, for that matter.
However, a couple of things seem clear. The couple in question seem to be suffering from some form of narcolepsy (do you get tse-tse flies in Romford I wonder?), and Malcolm seems to be on the wrong side of a textbook example of an obsessive compulsive disorder.
May I be so bold as to suggest that Malcolm is in fact a nom de plume, and you, yes you, Mr. Andrew Zarse of Sussex, is in fact Malcolm, and you're trying to lure us into your, frankly sordid, world?
It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
H

GRRRR!! Rumbled at last. And I'd have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids!

Malcolm is indeed my nom de spume but in mitigation, surely you realise hot hubs are no joke and are you surprised I got a bit anal about them? I blame society and the GKN Bearing Co. Ltd in equal measure.

PS The last paragraph makes interesting reading IMO, it's about three quarters of the way down the page, just before Colin's trip to Ireland in the Bedford...

[Steve TTTD]

Whitey,
Feel free to join us for a drink...
You won't miss the car in the car park,
It's a 1960 Ford Zodiac pulling a trailer made from the front end of a Pop...

Just look for the Le mans T-Shirts in the bar

[Jay (Team Cannonball)]

Team Cannonball will be staying at the Travel Lodge in Medway on the M2 on the Wednesday night. I got two rooms for 26 notes each. Not bad all the cheap rooms (webrate) at Ashford for the Wednesday were gone.

Anyone else staying there? We are going over on the 945 P anO from Dover on the Thursday.

Jay

[Mr. Invincible Mou]

Not too sure Jay. I have yet to get our paperwork from the travel company. However, we normally get a boat at around that time or earlier if we can get going properly without the usual return for something somebody has forgotten.

My brother lives very close to where you will be staying, and we plan on our second meeting point at his place at around 7AM on the Thursday. We will then be crossing over to the M20 for the trip to Dover.

So, we may well see you on the outward journey. I think our provisional list of transport this year is as follows, Audi RS6 Avant, Corvette C5 (+ Nitrous, the driver is mad   ), Cobra (just been rebuilt following a near terminal encounter with a concrete barrier on the way to LM 2 years ago   , I was the passenger then, and will be in it again this year, so I am hoping it will make it this time   ), Nissan 200 ZX (no comment about this driver, except he has not been able to get a passenger to go with him for the last 5 years   , still it means we can get a fridge on his passenger seat   ), Audi S6 Avant and finally there is a chance of a Merc Sprinter Van, which will leave us at Calais if it comes, but does mean less luggage in the other cars.

Anyway, that is what you need to look out for if you fancy saying hello.

[Neal]

Steve

Is there a bar in the travel lodge? looking forward to seeing the car and trailer. If you have read other threads on the website, I asked for opinions on BMW Z3's and got a fairly mixed bag of views mainly not very good. I decided in the end to buy one and run for a year, so it will be making its first and possibly last trip

Cheers

Whitey

[Steve TTTD]

maybe not....
But there will be one nearby....
If not there's always the Frankie and Benny's