The Long Haul

Ingrid Truelsen Beck

17 June 2019 at 15:18

Like everybody else i miss the old ferry terribly. I live in Northern Ireland so the trip to Dk is both expensive and time consuming, but I’ve found the best route to be from Newcastle to Amsterdam with DFDS, where we sleep on the boat at night time. Get to Amsterdam in the morning and then drive through Holland and northern parts of Germany up to DK. My husband is older than me, so we stay in Germany one night, but if I was on my own I think I’d drive straight up. Hope this may be helpful.

June Ramsey This is fine if you don't mind driving a long distance and it helps if there are two people to share the driving. I've done this route too with my husband up to Northern Germany where I live but now, I'm alone and not young. It's too far and with all the hold ups in Germany, too long. I go to southern England so Newcastle is too far north. We did the Hull Rotterdam one too but again, too far north. So, then there's the train, down to Amsterdam or Rotterdam is not too bad but it's a nightmare by train to the Hook of Holland for the ferry to Harwich. Ideal for me would be Hamburg Harwich but I'd be very happy with Esbjerg Harwich.

Mark Swingler We got public transport from the Hook to Amsterdam early this year without too much trouble. Hook to Rotterdam was by bus because of major works on the railway, probably complete by now. The NS app tells you how to do it.

June Ramsey  The trains down to Amsterdam and Rotterdam from Northern Germany are easier but the ferries don't go to Harwich though.

Andrea Pedersen When they did the Cuxhafen to Harwich the trip took less time and cut out Hamburg.

Andy Karamallakis Miss it terribly too. We are driving down to Calais this Summer to cross over, its going be a long and exhausting day.

Petronella Clark We miss that ferry sadly too! Now we often take the Harwich-Hook ferry, preferably overnight, but if we go by day from Harwich we stay a night in a nice site near the dunes in H of H and then often do the drive to DK (to near Aarhus) in a day. Our return journey is often more leisurely, e.g. sightseeing in Germany and France, sometimes taking the Brittany Ferry from Cherbourg to Poole (we live in Somerset).

June Ramsey I notice everyone is writing 'we'. If you are a couple you can make something of the journey down to the ferries, leisurely drive, stay in a nice hotel/ site, a bit of sightseeing etc. But not much fun on your own when all you want to do is get to the UK to see the family and do some shopping.

Andy Karamallakis