Rally Chat Gathering at the Caravan Salon, Düsseldorf. 29 August 2025

[Ditcha]

Interested in this but need to work out options for travelling from NE Scotland and which ferry options are best, any suggestions welcome

Newcastle is a good one not used it for a few years though.

 

[ceejayt]

Definitely interested

 

[ceejayt]

One of my favourite restaurants in the Dusseldorf Old Town - The Fischhaus.

 

[cliffanger]

One of my favourite restaurants in the Dusseldorf Old Town - The Fischhaus.

We could take it over for a group meal!

 

[L' Hobo]

We could take it over for a group meal!

What, and have Fish & Chips?

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[Howard H]

Definitely interested , just depends on the 90/180 day thing .

 

[Jane And Rog]

We’d certainly be interested, although planning things way in advance always seems to go wrong for us!

To go with @cliffanger’s uke, I can offer a variety of musical deterrents including three recorders and a kazoo.

 

[Lenny HB]

One of my favourite restaurants in the Dusseldorf Old Town - The Fischhaus.

Last time we went there it was awful, food wasn't very good and service abismal, had been good previously.

 

[cliffanger]

We’d certainly be interested, although planning things way in advance always seems to go wrong for us!

To go with @cliffanger’s uke, I can offer a variety of musical deterrents including three recorders and a kazoo.

We could end up with a field all to ourselves with that lot!

 

[CutThroatJake]

We would definitely be interested.

Planned to go this year but pesky thing called work got in the way

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[Bleau’s]

A bit of an old chestnut as far as I'm concerned.

If you left your home in SE England at the end of the working day:
Via Harwich you can easily be in Dusseldorf in time for lunch the next day.
Via Calais the bars should still be open in Dusseldorf by the time you arrive in the evening.

We live in SE London. We can be in Kent in under 10 minutes, Dover/Folkestone are just over an hour away.
We NEVER use Dover-Folkestone/Calais for any trip except Paris, north west France and maybe southern Belgium.

For Germany (And all points east, Italy, etc) we always use Harwich/Hoek of Holland.
We always try to take the night boat, which means a pootle in the evening to Harwich, load up at 9pm in bed for departure at 10.30, sleep your way across and get off the ship at 8am for a late breakfast in Germany.

It's cheaper, if the cost of fuel, overnight camping etc are all included.
It's faster, if you count door to door time
You have to sleep somewhere;
Which do you prefer? An Site or Aire in Kent or Calais area or a nice ships cabin with ensuite etc. (And bar and restaurant)
It's a considerably shorter road distance.
It's a LOT less hassle, as only one ship departs at a time, so they can check all the passports etc without the need to mess you around like Dover.
And of course the quality of the ship is a lot better than a cross channel ferry!

Stena of course know all the above, and therefore price their fares accordingly!
It may 'appear' to be the more expensive option, but not when you add it all up

Still less than half of p and o hull to Rotterdam and a better boat.

 

[Winger]

The Pied Piper springs to mind

 

[BILL 875]

Wont use P & O any more due to the mass sackings of local workers.

 

[Brains]

Wont use P & O any more due to the mass sackings of local workers.

I agree with you re P&O:
Utterly atrocious treatment of their own staff.

Anyone considering a Fire & rehire at a lower rate for the same job should automatically be included in the Fire & Rehire at a lower rate policy.
I'd also like to see an automated prison sentence for any company that does, unless it includes all staff top to bottom.
(With the same percentage reduction in wages)

You best solution for ferries to Germany, Italy and eastern France is to:

Use DFDS from Hull
or
Stena from Harwich

The Stena Harwich/Hoek van Holland route is very nice as cabin included n the night boats.

 

[Bleau’s]

Do dfds still go from hull? I thought it was only p and o .

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