"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 6 Apr 2009 19:49:47 +0100, Mike Lane wrote:

On Mon, 6 Apr 2009 17:51:11 +0100, Martin wrote
(in article ):

On Mon, 6 Apr 2009 16:35:32 +0200, "Terry Richards"

wrote:


"Mike Lane" wrote in message

The best place for ferry information and booking that I've found is
he
http://www.viamare.com/
This shows only one route from France to mainland Italy which is
Toulon -
Civitavecchia

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire


Thanks Mike but the operator's site (Grimaldi ferries) doesn't list
that
route - I guess they've stopped it. Also, the viamare site shows the
journey
time as 15 hours which is slower than I can do it on the bike. It's
starting
to look like this plan is a non-starter...

other than the fare being less than the tolls and less than a night in
hotel
too.


Yes, I've come to the same conclusion i.e. that taking a ferry is often
worth
it to save a long journey by car. When taking the car abroad I have the
choice of going from Hull which costs around £180, or driving to Dover
where
the fare can be had for £30. However when you add the cost of an overnight
stay plus fuel and everything else, the trip from Hull seems quite
attractive.

We do the same calculations. )

Do you know there is a high speed catamaran ferry starting from Ramsgate
to
Boulogne and Europe's oldest ferries running from Ramsgate to Ostend.

unless it has changed recently the Ramsgate-Oostend ferry has been freight
only for at least 5 years

tim