Tandem across the Channel

[amg]

Thinking of doing a few days in Ypres this summer as a post-GCSE excursion with teenage daughter.  The outline plan is to drive to the Channel ports, park the car somewhere reasonably safe, cross the Channel and ride to Ypres.

Several of the cross-channel ferry websites appear to have difficulty with the concept that a bike can have more than one passenger, so it's not entirely clear which routes will accept a tandem.  Has anyone any recommendations for how to take a tandem from Kent to Calais/Dunkerque/Ostend without keeping it strapped to the car roof?

[LeFlic]

I had this problem with trying to book a tandem online with Brittany Ferries.
I had to do it over the phone in the end but they gave me the online discount. Of course on the Portsmouth crossings there is no competition so i wasn't trying to compare prices.
You may have to spend some time ringing them i am afraid.

[marcusjb]

Booking online with brittany ferries, the website couldn't cope with the concept of 2 passengers and 1 bike. Rang them up, they said just put it as 2 bikes to get through the booking procedure.

No problems at all when we turned up. Common sense seems to be present within the company.

[Tim]

Booking online with brittany ferries, the website couldn't cope with the concept of 2 passengers and 1 bike. Rang them up, they said just put it as 2 bikes to get through the booking procedure.

No problems at all when we turned up. Common sense seems to be present within the company.

I think that's how we've ended up booking (as two individual cyclists) each time. Though this is generally after a phone conversation asking how they would like us to do so.

Actually I think we've exceeded that before as we managed to claim it was merely one bicycle fare that should be charged for the pair of us. Though that was only the King Harry Ferry.

[Russell]

Of course on the Portsmouth crossings there is no competition....

LD Lines sail from Portsmouth to Le Havre and are generally cheaper than BF.

R

[LeFlic]

LD Lines sail from Portsmouth to Le Havre and are generally cheaper than BF

You are of course quite right. I regularly use the Portsmouth - Caen crossing because we have a flat just up the coast and forget about LD Lines as Le Havre is a bit too far east.

[Feline]

We are just making travel arrangements to get to the Sem Fed in August on the tandem via St Malo. Is the consensus of opinion we should just book it as 2 people with 2 bikes, or should we phone them in addition to check this is OK?
It will most likely be Portsmouth- St Malo on Brittany ferries.

[RW]

Brittany Ferries are very sensible on the phone.  We've booked one cyclist and one foot passenger four times, we've never had a problem.  I don't know if that's cheaper than booking two bikes, whatever, the price is eye watering.

[Marmitegeoff]

Brittany Ferries are very sensible on the phone.  We've booked one cyclist and one foot passenger four times, we've never had a problem.  I don't know if that's cheaper than booking two bikes, whatever, the price is eye watering.

Same goes for Stenna Line from Harwich to the Hook of Holland 1 cyclist 1 foot passanger I have just rung to check.  Thinking next spring.  I like to be organised   

Geoff

[phil d]

Brittany Ferries are very sensible on the phone.  We've booked one cyclist and one foot passenger four times, we've never had a problem.  I don't know if that's cheaper than booking two bikes, whatever, the price is eye watering.

That's how we've done it, too.  It's the only way to get one cabin!  Of course, sleeping arrangements have no impact on the short crossings in the original post.

[bobb]

Bizzarely, I had the opposite problem back in 2008 trying to book a ferry from Harwich to Hoek. ie 2 people, 2 bikes. Under vehicle type I selected Bicycle and for passengers I entered 2. I phoned them in the end to confirm they weren't expecting two people on one bike!

IME when taking bikes on ferries, a phone call will always get things sorted quickly and painlessly...

[Feline]

Good to know, thanks guys 
We now have our crossings with tandem and also cabins booked. It will be a 3 day ride to Niort including riding to Portsmouth 

[MrsMothy]

We had an interesting chat with the website bod from P & O at an exhibition in January. The upshot of the chat is that hopefully you can expect P & O to know what a tandem is and we will have a big cabin on our Hull / Zeebrugge and back crossings this summer. 

[thing1]

We've always got through OK by booking as 2 cyclists (Fishguard/Rosslare, Larne/Troon, Calais, Dieppe, Dunkirk, and some others I forget now). Some websites have a bizarre limitation of only one per bike per transaction, I think we got around that by having 1 cyclist and 1 foot passenger IIRC.
Anyway like others, it's never been a problem in practice when we cycled up to the counter.

[simonp]

IME when taking bikes on ferries, a phone call will always get things sorted quickly and painlessly...

Indeed, this is exactly the solution I adopted, because tandems are not supported by the Brittany Ferries website. The man on the phone was very helpful, though, so it’s all sorted.

[mzman153]

DFDS are sensible on the phone and bikes/ tandems are first on and first off the ship. Check in is easy. Being first off is good at Dunkirk but the traffic along the access road out of the port is no fun at all as it goes to one lane in each direction. However once you have done that it's beautiful rural roads all the way to Belgium where you can use the cycle lanes. My favourite route goes via Bergues a pretty Vauban walled town that was a big part of the WW2 defences. There is a camp site there and plenty of accommodation. It's an easy route from there to Ypres with some beautiful quiet rural lads ideal for cycling.
We left the car at Dover with a long stay parking company on an industrial estate which cost £40 for 5 days, the only problem being its up a long hill in a grimy part of Dover but it was safe enough.
I'm thinking of taking my son on the same trip post GCSEs in early July because Ypres is so interesting, Brit friendly and cycling heaven.