As we had lots of helpful pointers on this forum I thought we’d record our journey to Mallorca so others can add to it or as a future reference point.
After last summer’s trauma of leaving the dog for 7 weeks with various friends and family, Mrs Jilly decided this year that the dog should come for the summer as well. Now, it appears airlines fall into a number of categories in respect of dogs
- Not interested in flying a dog – most “budget” airlines
- Happy to fly a dog – but buying your own plane would cost less
- Not happy if you try to book the dog on as a passenger – well, worth a try and she does have a passport!
So, the conversation turned to driving to Mallorca. Having had a quick look at Multimap I reckoned that if we left our house at 3am I could hammer down through France and be at Barcelona for the midnight crossing – a few comfort breaks for the kids – and dog – but not much else.
So we had a discussion and Mrs Jilly decided it was a ridiculous idea and we should make a holiday of it and take our time, which apparently I agreed with.
Having looked at ferries to Santander – very expensive and dog in a cage for 24 hours – we decided – mainly for the dog’s benefit – to spend as little time on ferries and more on the road. Le Shuttle appeared to offer the quickest route to France and after extensive research on
Baleària we decided on the 5pm Fast Ferry from Barcelona to Alcudia (which bizarrely goes via Menorca first).
Wednesday 3am – rise and shine, car loaded with suitcases, dog cage, 7 weeks supply of pasta sauce, Cheerios, new bed linen, a gallon of sun cream, 3 tired kids, 1 dog and 2 grumpy adults.
Make good time down the M4 and M25 and head towards Folkestone for Le Shuttle. Arrive at the electronic check in gate and are offered an earlier train which is ideal, pop into their service area to refresh the kids and dog, and on the train within 30 minutes. Bit freaky to start with and kids asking will they see the water coming up past the windows when we go under the Channel!
Before you know it were in cloudy and windy France which is about as interesting as Folkestone. We decide to head west towards Rouen to avoid the Paris traffic and the cloud and wind get worse. Certainly not one of the Top 10 Drives To Do Before You Die, however still easy enough. Get to Rouen then hook south towards our overnight
stay south of Orleans.
Things get a bit more torturous now as we pass through numerous towns that appear to be modelled on Milton Keynes and into roadwork’s hell where they are building new roads (took a photograph as building stuff is unheard off in the UK).
Eventually get back onto the motorways, where all the toll road machines are on the wrong side of the car – thus having to wake slumbering co-pilot every ½ hour to pay the fee – and each stop sets the dog off barking as she thinks it walkies time again.
Eventually arrive at the most beautiful French village ever Sologne, near Chaumont sur Tharonne. We have the perfect hosts, beers are soon in hand, relax in their garden, dinner in the only restaurant in the village (dogs allowed in the indoors dining area !) , kids have a play in the park – as does the dog – and we’re all crashed out by about 10pm.
Mucho relaxo as they say on France !
Thursday 8am – dog decides 8am is a good time to wake up, and we’re munching on the most perfect French toast and croissants for breakfast. We bid our hosts farewell and are on the road again for 9.30am.
Mainly motorway today so Mrs Jilly is behind the wheel as the countryside becomes more like the picture book France we expected and the sun is out. Lots of stop offs today in the Aires, bit like our service stations but without the annoying AA salesmen and Starbucks, and some stunning bridges and scenery.
Head down towards Toulouse and then onto Carcassonne which we have never heard off but apparently has a bit of a walled city. Well, we skirt south of Carcassonne to get to our
hotel on the far side and there it is, the most magnificent fairy tale walled city shooting out of the flat countryside, dominating the whole area. Much squealing and excitement, and the kids joined in too.
The excitement was soon tempered when we pulled up to our Etap hotel, which is as about as welcoming and atmospheric as a skip – but the only affordable place we could get 2 rooms and a dog into.
Given it’s on the edge of an industrial estate Mrs Jilly decided , for security reasons, we should bring ALL of the luggage in from the car. The fear was not losing the DVD players, the
Satnav, or the luggage, but the Cheerios, pasta sauce and sun cream which was worth more than the car! Once all the luggage is in we realise we now only have one room to sleep in as the other is now a luggage store.
So, to lift our spirits we head into the walled city of Carcassonne which is even more stunning once your within the walls (I’m afraid Old Town Alcudia ain’t a patch on this) . Great dinner (with dog in attendance) and then a beautiful walk around the walls and streets – the place being even more haunting than expected as there is rock band playing a concert and there are Goth type kids everywhere – so we thought we’d better get out before dark !
Back to our skip, sorry, I mean Etap, for a terrible night’s sleep.
Friday 8am -We refuse to join the Oliver Twist like queue for breakfast – although no one is asking for more – and head to a local bakery for some fresh and edible food.
Off again towards Barcelona and the countryside becomes more and more Spanish, even though we’re still in France – but don’t say that to the Basques!
We had left some time to catch the 5pm Fast Ferry so once we hit Barcelona we headed for Camp Nou for a very quick visit and look around, just to say we had been there. No time for the tour and the club shop was a mixture of Supermarket Sweep and the running of the bulls.
Mrs Jilly was left on security detail at the car with the (guard) dog incase some opportunist thief fancied 7 weeks supply of Cheerios.
So, packed up again and onto the roller coaster of Barcelona’s road system, which resembles the Cars 2 movie being watched in the back of the car. Giving way, indicating, staying in lane and roundabout routine are all alien to your local Barca driver.
So, head down, foot down, and go for it was the order of the day until we safely reached the docks after our fourth circuit of the roundabout outside.
Rules are, even though we booked in online, check in 2 hours early (good idea as the queues became very long), need to collect a ticket for the dog (who can’t book in online due to poor typing skills) and only driver can drive on, everyone else and their dog goes on as foot passengers.
So, we leave the car in the “secure” compound, which is basically a car park with non-existent security, and given the black market value of the Cheerios we decide not to venture too far and walk a whole 10 yards to a hotdog hut.
We are called to board, Mrs Jilly, kids and dog have been given the wrong tickets and are refused boarding, I am on the ship blaming the ticket guy on the “secure” car park for giving us the wrong ticket, until I realise that somehow the correct tickets have, all along, been slipped into my pocket………….
Mrs Jilly settles in near the bar in the First Class lounge, which is exactly the same as the cattle class lounge except it is upstairs and has a bigger bar, which is great except the bigger bar is closed.
The sight of 2 armed policemen in the cattle class area didn’t really reassure us however the need for sustenance meant we had to venture downstairs and mix with the ordinary folk. They weren’t as bad as feared, but we bunkered down upstairs in the posh seats (which were exactly the same as the cattle class seats) to watch a movie with subtitles in English, including some rather interesting swear words from Simon Peggs character ……
Dog is put into the kennels on outside deck which is great for ventilation except the kennels are those horrible portable ones strapped to the deck, the dog area is not cordoned off and is populated by spotty faces Spanish scouts kicking the kennel and is in the full glare of the sun. So, we end up taking turns sitting on the metal deck trying to settle the dog and trip up as many spotty faced Spanish scouts as we can. Think I bagged about 7 !
5 long, hot, poor aircon hours later we hit Menorca for our first stop.Menorca looks wonderful in the pitch black and we take an hour to unload and load then we’re off to Mallorca which looks even better than Menorca in the dark.
Saturday 12.01am- So, just gone midnight we collect up all our stuff, DVDs, drinks, food wrappers , children, dog and land in Alcudia and 15 minutes later we are in PP – 68 hours after we left Cheltenham.
All in all, a wonderful trip down, the dog is loving PP and is in the square every night, boys brought their tennis rackets and scooters to play on, we have our car on hand, and have the rest of the holiday to look forward to the journey back.
Only downside is, the boys have decided they no longer like Cheerios for breakfast !!!!!!!