EU referendum, brexit and the aftermath

Is P&O the only mob that run Dover ferries? I presume that's why ferry crossing doesn't appear on google maps when trying to get to Belgium?

Don't DFDS still run them too?

Both dfds and P&O run ferries from Dover, no idea of the split in %. Although P&O still haven't had their ships passed on safety by the coastguard so still not running

Stena can still get you to Hook of Holland.

P&O and DFDS both have about 15 crossings each way a day in their timetables at the moment. In peak season they operate 50+ crossings a day. The boats are similar sized, P&O possibly slightly larger.

Cheers all. I'll have a look

~£150 for return trip next week on DFDS

I assume you are all soof moofers but can I just say how truly awful being on the Newcastle - Ijmuiden boat is for someone who gets sea sick....

Ive used it many many times and its always the last 3 or 4 hours in the morning that are brutal torture and then I forget and use it again. Returning on it tonight after a couple weeks on the continent and then going back out again on Thursday (on the bike)

We thought about going home via Dover this time (in the car) but seems like a shambles there and we are already booked so...into the underground misery cell it is.

Disclaimer: The boat is pretty good, restaurant is good (if you can stomach food) but not enough seating areas to just chill/wish your life away. As a boat its fine but as a way of reaching a specified point between two bits of land its awful.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-61162338

The UK government idea to require visas for border crossings into the UK is to say not ideal for cross border tourism in NI ...

...but sure, take back control.

Harm school tourism because it must be a passport now, not an ID card which many don't have & scrap permissions for the school to back in EU non UK kids on travel visas. So visitors to England plummeted.

Cynical me didn't expect the fuckers to go this far (the bullshit on automatic rights I saw coming) but it sure keeps coming.

Given the total absence of border infrastructure and any checks at the border, how on earth do they propose to enforce such a stupid rule?

That is mental! Just mental!
And, unsurprisingly, ‘no checks at the border’ - um, well where then?
Madness!

Given the total absence of border infrastructure and any checks at the border, how on earth do they propose to enforce such a stupid rule?

Flags

In the local parlance ‘flegs’ 😁

You mean flegs?

Supply chain woes, lots of bike parts available in mainline Europe, struggling to get any in the Uk and it actually hurting our shop with so many products with an ETA of 2023 but available in Germany.

Are there not trans-shipment companies in NI yet to serve the UK market in situations like this?

Not that I’ve heard of. If I can help you out, pm me.

There are some checks, air port coaches to Dublin are checked and the UK could do the same with tour buses.

Of course if you just drive down in a rental car, nobody will know. Too much hassle.

I agree with what you say, but a tour company cannot go "sorry can't risk it".

And of course the import checks for EU to GB goods got delayed... AGAIN.

Because the capacity still isn't there. Once those start it'll be an even bigger mess.

Forgot about smuggling diesel, legal goods forwarding is where it's at 😁😁😁

Though...no EU payable customs fees to NI and then routing to GB is perhaps not so legal?

Diesel is a different thing. No need to smuggle - just pop over the border. No good from where I am at the moment. If you live near it - good savings. Years ago, it was worth my time - fill the car and buy cigs - big saving.
Big haulage firms used to pay night shift drivers to go over the border to fill up - not sure of that still happens. All legal.

Gets someone’s business back on track -

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Murphy_(Irish_republican)

@soul FYI. Google said to go M20, but the whole way round the m25 and M2 there were constant signs advising the M2 not M20 for tourists.

Journey down was fine. Albeit a bit odd having to go back up the M20 for a couple of junctions at the end. On the return journey the M20 was slow both ways, so I'd probably recommend the M2. Obviously it may change and Ymmv.

Cheers for the heads up. What time did you go? We’ve got a 6.20am crossing so hoping it’ll be relatively quiet anyway

arrived into the uk on an irish ferries ferry into dover a week ago. i had booked a late one because i was worried about the long drive through france but made it at around 6/6.30pm. There was literally about 5 other cars in the ferry queue, I joined, they put me on the early boat and I was away. the ferry turned out to be relatively busy, not rammed, the drive off was easy as was the A/M2. There was a PandO boat with egg on its face sitting in the port. I'm not say the reports are inflated but certain aspects of using dover seem to be unaffected.

Train was at 1250 Thurs so we left ~09.15 and got on the one before.

TBH the train was pretty quiet. Quite busy coming back, but there were a load of fast cars so there may have been some sort of meet which might have accounted for it.