30th Wedding anniversary next March and looking at a bit of a trip with my wife.
Present plans are rent a car in Ireland, ferry to England, tunnel to France.
A week in each place.
After a bit of advice on the easiest/best order.
Dates probably starting from March 10-15 ish.
I was thinking start in France and end in Ireland to give a few more weeks for the sun to shine through and warm things up
Pretty sure the trip won't include any bike riding, but would never rule it out.

rosskkko

gotta go and catch THIS little gem before someone else nabs it

Wow thirty years of marriage, good on you mate that's a real milestone in this day and age. I hope you and your wife have a great holiday.
Yes mate that is a little gem, I've owned the 1100 Katana and the 650gs shaft drive Katana in the eighties and they were great machines, they did suffer a little clutch rattle but otherwise near bullet proof.

Congrats for next year Rosskko!

I've got 30 years of marriage up as well but it's taken me two wives to get there.

Cheers

Excellent news.

Seems we will be having our meet up around then with another guest. We enjoyed the last outing with Bill [Indian036] and who knows he might even be back over then too!! Comberjohn's weather stone worked real fine for that visit.

Keep us updated on your plans.........

I am sure we will be able to squeeze a little bike riding in somewhere, would be such a shame to miss the opportunity. Bill was my pillion for what turned out to be a great day. If your wife likes a little shopping then we could point her in a suitable direction.........

Not sure how a car hire company will take renting a car in one country and leaving it in another, that may be an issue so it should be investigated. A better option is if you do travel abroad would be to bring the car back to base. Try www.holidayautos.com but also try www.alamo.com www.hertz.com www.budget.com www.avis.com for cars. That way you could consider a start at Ireland, ferry to UK, tunnel to France then across northern France heading west or do reverse. Some extremely cheap car hire deals around.

Weather can be funny. Bill got sunshine in March and a great day out, poor TacKler was frozen and wet here at the end of May.

There is an overnight ferry service from north west France direct to Ireland www.irishferries.com to Rosslare [every second day Cherbourg/Roscoff] and www.brittanyferries.ie [leave France Roscoff Friday night, arrive Cork Sat 11am], motorway to Dublin or about 15 minutes to Cork airport [ORK] or 2 1/2 hour drive time to Dublin airport [DUB]. 88KE and myself used both of these for our recent trip and can recommend either. Bear in mind in Ireland and UK we drive on the left but in France they drive on the right......

I suspect a car rental in Ireland and then a short flight to UK and a rental over there is the more likely scenario. But if London is your base then you don't really need a car there, public transport is so much better. There is a lot worth seeing there. Fly into Heathrow [LHR] and you are on the London Underground under the terminal with no need for a car. Parking is expensive there and driving, well, I have done a lot from the days before satnav and manage it reasonably easily but its hair raising if you have no idea where you are headed. All airlines in Europe have significant baggage charges and if you travel long haul with 30kg each these will cost you at each short haul flight so some careful planning is needed. Maybe leave some stuff at base for you to fly back to and collect it. I am sure we could manage that somewhere.

No shortage of flights from Ireland to UK, routes being generally www.aerlingus.com and www.ryanair.com for airlines. we have airports scattered around Ireland, Belfast, Derry/Londonderry, Donegal, Knock [Mayo], Dublin, Galway, Shannon [Limerick], Kerry, Cork, Waterford all have routes to the UK. There are flights down to places like Newquay and Plymouth as well as some other scenic locations and you can use trains in UK but if you do book in advance as they are very expensive.
 
Quite a few have routes to France too.

If London and Paris are your choices there is a train service between the two on Eurostar, no need to fly or drive it.

You do have an option with Emirates www.emirates.com and Etihad www.etihad.com of flying into Dublin [DUB] via Dubai/Abu Dhabi and then sorting yourself for a return from somewhere like Paris [CDG].

I have a thought that a car trip in Ireland and a few days at London and Paris might be less stressful in terms of travel. What are your preferences, capital city or exploring? Fill us in on a few things and we might have a few surprises for you....

Great news RossKKo.My suggestion would be to fly to Ireland...hire car...eventually drive to just south of Dublin..catch ferry to Holyhead in Wales...drive through Wales other parts of Uk. Get rid of car prior to getting to London. Fly to Paris and train it in France.
That way you get feel of  thd Uk and Ireland and do not have to stress on the wrong side of the road in France.

wow ...dream travels rossko

enjoy you two

ainsjac wrote:Great news RossKKo.My suggestion would be to fly to Ireland...hire car...eventually drive to just south of Dublin..catch ferry to Holyhead in Wales...drive through Wales other parts of Uk. Get rid of car prior to getting to London. Fly to Paris and train it in France.
That way you get feel of  thd Uk and Ireland and do not have to stress on the wrong side of the road in France.

This one makes a lot of sense. I would see a car in London as a hindrance. I drove there quite a lot but had a free central parking space that made it possible. Its an easy city to get around on the underground and all you need is an all day ticket that's very reasonable, just buy it at a machine.

Wales is truly lovely and maybe you should consider that as part of the trip to Ireland, its only a 3 hour ferry crossing and plenty of them at that. www.stenaline.ie www.irishferries.com You could do a loop through Wales by taking in Wicklow down to Rosslare, ferry to Wales, 2 nights in Wales, come back from Holyhead to Dublin. So many options. Any interest in steam trains? North West Wales has some real gems. A 40 mile radius of Holyhead gives you a lot. Bodnant House and Garden at Conwy on the north coast of Wales is worth a stop if you like gardens, this one is amazing.

If you do fly to London, London Stanstead [STN] is as they say in the arsehole of nowhere for London. You have to factor in some expensive train tickets to get to London. Using London Heathrow [LHR] you buy the underground day pass at the airport and you have unlimited travel on the underground for that day including from the airport to central London. However from STN if you hire a car for 2 days and go north there is a fabulous Imperial War Museum at Duxford [Concorde, Vulcan, a whole airfield full of stuff. You go into a large hanger and end up in awe, so much stuff, but then you come out the other side and find heck there's more of them. Flight in an old biplane Sopwith Camel like.....you can have one. A good day trip. Also not far is Cambridge if you like some history.

A few days in London, Hyde Park, London Eye, National Gallery, a Royal Albert Hall concert, Natural History Museum, Docklands, Isle of Dogs, Oxford St/Regent St shopping..........just walk it and use the transport. Docklands Light Railway is driverless and worth just travelling the route to see the place.

Hotel deals off the internet are very good. Chains like Holiday Inn have some good locations, one is in the centre at County Hall [the old council offices] beside the London Eye. Or you could hunt out a self catering apartment for a few days or a week there, not a bad move and more independent. London has a lot of small corner shops where you can buy provisions at all hours.

Congratulation Rosskko. Your marriage is as old as your bike

for renting a car in Europe, I suggest that you look at leasing a brand new car with Renault Eurodrive
I am using their service for the last 20 years, and considering everything (brand new car with full warranty, FULL insurance with NO deductible, tax free, unlimited mileage), you will NOT find a better deal.
I believe that the only requirement to benefit from this duty free deal is to be a non EU resident.
I wish that BMW had a similar deal with motorcycles

CF

There we go. That is what I am looking for.
Now we can start to plan this out.
Good ideas all of them.
All I really want is my photo in front of the gate.

And only one mention of the Katana. Always wanted one Smithy. Seems a decent option, ok price if it doesnt get to 3900 and a long term keeper. Something for the grandson to play with in 19 years.

Kollektive wisdom at last.

CF has an excellent one there and well worth checking out. Even better is check if there is an option to pick up in Ireland and drop off in the UK. We are hoping CF will make it to our shores at some time too. I suspect that if its planned out in advance BAE will be over for it too......

Given time of year accommodation will not be a problem most of the time.

But.... Easter Sunday is 27 March 2016. Getting any flights out of Ireland to the UK during the week after needs planning. Same with flights from UK into Ireland 24/25/26 March. If you are trying a connection via UK be careful on this. The Monday and Tuesday 28/29/30 in particular to the UK will be very heavily booked/full and some years looking for a flight at short notice earliest I could get was the Thursday after Easter. I had same problem last year trying to get to London and the only option was a 7am on the Easter Monday or else wait till Wednesday evening. No great problem if you are in the country and travelling but its a home coming time for many.

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:Kollektive wisdom at last.

CF has an excellent one there and well worth checking out. Even better is check if there is an option to pick up in Ireland and drop off in the UK.

I believe this is an option.

Hey Rossko, out here ya only get 10 years for murder So you should be up for parole.

BTW Me and the Misses celebrate 40 years this year. Only because I'm too lazy to break in a new one.

larrikin wrote:Hey Rossko, out here ya only get 10 years for murder So you should be up for parole.

BTW Me and the Misses celebrate 40 years this year. Only because I'm too lazy to break in a new one.

Today is my 28th anniversary. Does it means that I am on parole now.

Crazy Frog wrote:

larrikin wrote:Hey Rossko, out here ya only get 10 years for murder So you should be up for parole.

BTW Me and the Misses celebrate 40 years this year. Only because I'm too lazy to break in a new one.

I hear ya Larrikin.

Today is my 28th anniversary. Does it means that I am on parole now.

I am sure you have earned it CF, as have the rest of us. And Congratulations.

I've heard it's a life sentence without the hope of parole.

Congrats CF

I've done the lease of a new car in Europe too, and you can at least pick one up in London, never looked at Dublin. 

Only problem is that even if you pick up in UK, it's still a left hand drive car. No problem for me as I've driven about 35000km in Europe, but the first couple of days were interesting, mainly the gear lever on the wrong side. Biggest problem for LHD in UK is any toll booths but if you have a passenger who can feed the machine, all is ok. 

Driving in London or Paris isn't too much of a problem (except maybe the arc de triomphe roundabout). Good luck finding a place to park, though. Best to arrange not to do it unless, like Olaf, you have a parking place all lined up.

Enjoy!

Bill

After some informative chat at the Krew Krissy party on Saturday night and in view of recent overseas event, this trip has been scaled back.

Probably now four weeks driving around Ireland and the UK and one week to that out in Malta.

So with that in mind and given a fairly open ended time frame (need to be back mid June), while perusing a map of Ireland I noticed the Isle of Man sitting out there all lonely and thought it might be good to pay it a visit.
A quick look at the calendar suggests the first week of June is the best time.
Any one care to chime in with some experiences for a novice TTer? given we could be in Ireland or the UK and would have to make travel plans accordingly.

Still need to give the ear of Gaz and Bill and Tackler a bit of a chew to get all the inside info.

Rossko

I hate to disappoint but your biggest issue with Isle of Man will be getting there. Ferry space and to a lesser extent air seats like hens' teeth and ferry company is known as the Isle of Man Steam Racket Company. They operate routes from Belfast, Dublin and Liverpool or Heysham to Isle of Man. https://www.steam-packet.com/ Spaces book up in advance as in you may find a few available but there is a waiting list. Do some browsing and see what you come up with. Going as a foot passenger might be an option as transport on the Island is good.
 
Last year coming back on the ferry from France to Rosslare there must have been close to 1000 bikes on the ferry, many heading to Isle of Man for TT.

Accommodation is scarce there and you would have to do some chasing. Rip off culture exists there as in most places at times like this so be careful.

I have a brother over there but don't venture over for TT although it is an amazing experience. Its a lovely place to visit too.

Fly Dublin to Isle of Man with www.aerlingus.com but check out https://www.manxflights.com/airlines/ from UK airports.

Check out www.etihad.com and www.emirates.com as well as the usual suspects for flights from Australia to Dublin via Abu Dhabi or Dubai. They also offer to London and most capital cities in Europe.

Four weeks in Ireland and UK by car sounds good. There is a good ferry service between here to UK and France.
www.stenaline.com www.irishferries.com www.brittanyferries.ie [France only] are your options. France is about 14 hours and all are overnight services with decent cabins. Irish Ferries offer midweek services to France and they are good value in June. Brittany Ferries do Cork Roscoff and little to choose in terms of price between their PontAven ship and the Irish Ferries' Oscar Wilde- both are excellent. Irish Ferries and Stena Line also have an economy service to France if you fancy going in a punt. Ferries and flights between Ireland and UK are many in number so no issues anywhere in getting bookings. Ireland/UK ferries are excellent too. Don't forget Belfast across to Scotland and take in some of Scotland. No real need to book these far in advance. There are some early booking offers but you are better to stay flexible for now.

Malta sounds rather nice too...fly from Dublin? www.ryanair.com fly 5 days a week, not on Tuesday or Friday. Horrible airline but reliable. I didn't check from UK but they fly 11 UK airports to Malta.

If you have a month tootling around Ireland and UK you could have a nice trip. Camping or hotels? Hotels are a good option at that time and there are some good chains too.

When things are more defined an Eccentrics meet up might be on the cards. I have already floated the idea of some Kamping Eccentrics at the beginning of June and signed up for a bike camping weekend in Northern Ireland for 29th April.

As Bill said you can pick up a car over here but both UK and ourselves use right hand drive so if only driving in UK and Ireland maybe you can get that option. If you fancy some K or bike trips the insurance is an issue but 88KE has details for sorting that out. I drive lots in Europe where they drive on the other side and always take my own car with me. Easier for me when the car is at least familiar as in steering wheel on the right.

Going around Ireland check out http://www.wildatlanticway.com/home/ it takes you round the coast of Ireland. It doesn't take in Northern Ireland but you should not miss the North Antrim Coast and down to Belfast and Strangford Lough. Amazing stuff. Dai and Comberjohn and Markzz and GCMcQ are in that area and Ringfad is from there too, extremely hospitable so you would have a nice meet up.

In UK south west is really nice, especially down into Cornwall. Minack Theatre, Eden Project, St Michael's Mount...to name but a few.


Check out Irish Ferries for deals from Rosslare to France, you could do Ireland Rosslare to Cherbourg, take in the WW2 landing beaches and war memorials, go west to Mont St Michel which is really worth a trip, then take Roscoff ferry back to Ireland or take a ferry from Roscoff to UK south coast. Or do it in reverse.

So a thought.....start in UK, head to south west, dip down to France for a few days...back up to south coast of Ireland, take in coastal route, back round to Belfast, round to Scotland......back down to arrival point. Park somewhere and head to Malta.....

I am sure lots of communications between now and next summer..........have a good chat with Gaz80 because they moved around quite nicely.

That might get you going......

Time to resurrect this thread....we had discussed it but decided to leave until the March outing had passed.

For the March outing last year we had Indian036 with us for what was a great day.

A mention was made that Rossko may travel over by car and we have had some talk of having a meet up somewhere more south east at some point. We know Comberjohn like to complete the Photo Rally and this may suit. South east is Trapper country and there are lots of nice places to choose from.

So, fishing for thoughts and dates.....what suits, any more plans in place...?

Well, as a wise man once said "the best laid plans of mice".

I have been reluctant to post any more in this thread as fingers have been crossed for a little while now, but unfortunately life has got in the way of a good time once again.
12 months ago the plan was to be in Dublin on the 15th March drinking a dark local beer, however it was spent quietly in a local restaurant.
Unfortunately any plans of overseas travel are pretty well off the table permanently so a local trip to places that only the tourists ever see is now being planned.

Sorry to put a damper on this thread as it was something Sandra and I were truly looking forward to.

I guess this has raised a few more questions which I will address in another post in the next few days.

Once again, to the Eccentrics and all those that have had input, I am sorry.

rosskko

What a bummer mate. It's a real dissapointment when you plan well ahead and then cant go.

Rossko

Really sorry to hear that. I know you were looking forward to it as much as we were but as you know the welcome will be there for another time. Do make sure you meet with BAE when he is over.

A happy anniversary from us all up here.

Olaf.