Bev loves ‘crunching numbers’ and being stuck at home with a very painful hip she’s done a few statistics for the most recent road trip. There’s also the map tracing our route and overnight stopping places for future reference.
This year was a shorter trip but worth it to get away from the dull English winter and see plenty of sunshine during February! We were in Schengen countries for only 33 days leaving plenty to spare for later in the year . . . Due to the storms, we forfeited the outward crossing, Portsmouth – St Malo (£260) and booked a crossing on leShuttle (listed as Train/Bus/Taxi) at an additional cost of £229. This was definitely worth the likelihood of a very uncomfortable outward crossing though.
Diesel and distances
Total distance we travelled was 4301 miles, quite a lot given the short time we were away. Some of the days involved very long drives and, in retrospect we maybe shouldn’t have gone quite so far south. Fuel consumption at 34 mpg is better than last year. Diesel prices in Spain & France were generally less than the UK, keeping away from motorways. Diesel costs make up a bigger % of the total this year for a similar mileage but we were only away for half the time. We probably travelled too far in such a short time – maybe the cause of Bev’s hip problems on our return?
We avoided motorway tolls mostly on the journey down, spending more time in France tracing the path of ‘Cachalot’ as the weather was good. Having decided to stay south and visit la Herradura again, we spent quite a bit on toll motorways for the return trip. In part this was to help speed us over longer daily distances but maybe it has helped with fuel consumption?
Overnight parking/campsite fees & ferries
On average over the whole trip, we spent under £5 per night. There were plenty of very good free sites in great places and the van is pretty good for up to four days without any EHU. The only reason we really need a hook up is for charging the laptop and cameras as the solar panel keeps everything else going – the electric kettle and toaster are also ‘nice to have’ but not essential. We spent under £400 on camping overnight and parking (10% of total costs), this also includes extras for washing machine/showers at some sites.
‘Travel’ includes ferry costs, bike-related spend and travel insurance. Forfeiting the outward ferry crossing lost us £250 as we had a ‘non-flexible’ ticket. The 35 minute journey of le Shuttle was £200 (worth it for knowing we wouldn’t be out in the storm). Le Shuttle was fun and very quick with all customs/immigration done at Folkestone but from Calais there’s an extra couple of hours driving to get south of Paris . . . it’s certainly not good value under normal circumstances and doesn’t give the opportunity for a natural ‘break’ in the journey afforded by a ferry.
Food, drink and eating out
We’ve checked the gas/electricity bills since going away and didn’t save quite as much on gas this year. We’d left the heating thermostat a bit higher and it ‘tripped’ on most nights as it was very cold in the UK. Food, drink and eating out is all significantly cheaper still in Spain than in the UK though, a bit more in France but still cheaper.