Paris<->Calais by Train

[TomDW]

I'm doing Ldn - Paris via Newhaven/Dieppe soon and was quite uneasy about getting back to Calais on the train.

I've now checked the Hauts-France website and you can actually book a bike spot. I don't think this has filtered through to the main SNCF site so it was a bit random I came across it. The K16 direct trains go straight to Calais in 3hrs.

I guess this does open possiblities for more journeys past Paris with some certainty. I'll report back if this actually does work in a few weeks!

( This is in light of the Eurostar stopping taking assembled bikes obviously. Have heard good reports from the Ldn-Brussels-Amsterdam route. )

 

[TomDW]

I got the 8:30 on Saturday morning from Gare du Nord direct to Calais Ville. It was packed. I reserved a bike space but I needn't have worried as it was easy to get on. In a way this was the easiest part of the journey as bike spaces are plenty and a bit of a free for all. Had to regrettably take a P&O ferry back to Dover. Queues for DFDS appeared to be much quicker. From arrival to the port until the ferry actually leaving was 4 hrs. NB this was without the EES checks ! At Dover station there was then too many cyclists for the Javelin train so standing all the way to London. Not sure what I would have done differently as it was the end of half term holidays and a saturday evening going to London.

I think the lesson is you could get a small group on the the Paris-Calais train but leave at least an hour for someone to get the next train but they're not every hour so check the timetable. Think that's why this one was so busy.

As a side note I don't know why any car driver would take the ferry, it takes hours!