 Poster: A snowHead
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Some years back I went ski-ing at half term. The queue at Calais was mental and took hours. I have tried driving through the Friday night and arriving at Calais 7am Saturday morning. Not too bad. This year I am staying Saturday to ski. Leaving at around 4pm Saturday after the rush and then stopping at Dijon and getting a 3pm crossing back Sunday. Anyone know if this is likely to be busy or will most people be already through by then.......
Much of the forum is concerned with the drive out as most people have to leave Friday night / Sat morning so any input of experiences at Calais Eurotunnel for the return would be most appreciated.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Coming back the Xmas week on the Sunday afternoon there were no queues, our car was boarded several hours earlier than the booked time at no extra cost. Half term may be different.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I'm going fri midnight sailing from Dover
Back Sunday 10am sailing from Calais 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I'm also staying in Dijon on the Saturday night and am booked on to a 6pm ferry on the Sunday. I had planned to take it easy and to do some sightseeing on the way up. I hadn't considered that there might be heavy traffic on the route to Calais, but off course loads of people will be returning home that day. I'll build in some additional time for the journey, so thanks for starting this thread borislucy!
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What dates are these?
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adam.b, UK half term weekend of 14/15/16 Feb and returning 21/22/23 Feb.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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What dates are these?
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Adam, the dates for the half term is the 14th Feb onwards for 1 or maybe 2 weeks.
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I did the half term rush 2 years ago and I am facing it next week. Previous time I managed to get my son off for the Friday and got to Eurotunnel at around 10.30am. They had extra staff on throughout the weekend expecting the mad rush and everything appeared to go quite smoothly. Obviously this is early in the day, but when I came back a week later on on the Sunday, the staff said they thought they catered quite well on the outbound and inbound half term dash.
This year, I'll be in folkestone hopefully before it all starts as heading out on a 8am train on the Friday, stopping off south of Lyon on my way to L2A. On the return, leaving early afternoon on the Saturday and stopping off St quentin before getting the Sunday midday. From my perspective, Eurotunnel appear to cope well, but it all depends on the efficeincy of the staff/trains. 1 spanner in the works, can soon have a massive knock on effect, but I try not worry at the mo, I'll just curse at the time.....but its my last year on the half term dash, he leaves 6th form this year...yeah!!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Ahhh, the joy of the first year of booking CHEAP holidays!!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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A couple of years ago was when they were having problems with the capacity of the passport controls. I think that is sorted now.
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ringingmaster, no, it's still very bad at peak periods if you get your timings wrong 
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You know it makes sense.
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We usually go over Friday evening and drive over night. The tunnel is horribly busy, but you get into resort before the queues going up the hill have started. Coming home we usually ski till early afternoon, avoiding driving down the hill with everyone else, drive to somewhere like Reims, and get an 11am ish crossing on Sunday. It can be quite hard to find a hotel if you leave it too late, but that sort of time for tunnel seems to be ok.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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We always get back to Calais between 11pm and 1am. These has never been a queue! You can catch some zzzzs on the train and the do the UK leg overnight. Sleep in on Sunday and you're back in the groove.
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Poster: A snowHead
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borislucy, have done the 3pm-ish return crossing on the Sunday for the last five years and doing it again this time. In my experience it's pretty random; if there are plenty of check-in windows open you can be through and on a train quickly, if a few of those lovable French public sector workers have pulled a sickie or a train's broken down, you might wait half an hour or longer. Either way you're definitely doing the right thing skiing the Saturday and staying overnight; we stay much further south so only a short drive on Saturday evening (just west of Geneva off the A40 this year) but the roads are so much better on Sunday, you can set off around 730am and easily make Calais by mid-afternoon.
Of course by far the worst bit is hitting the hideously busy M20 at the other end and realising that's skiing over for another year... 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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PollSki, the traffic on the autoroute is usually fine, even at the tolls (we have a 'doofer'). Don't be tempted to break the speed limit anywhere north of Reims however; there are plenty of gendarmerie lurking to relieve you of your last €90 (yes that is my pocket talking...).
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I would agree with others, try to get further North on Saturday. Somewhere like Rheims (there are a few budget hotels in Tinqueux) and get to the tunnel by midday. I find the Calais terminal particularly depressing, can't put my finger on it but it may be the fact that when i am there, my holiday is over
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thankfully we are done with half-term skiing now as our daughter started Uni last September. Based on around a dozen h-t trips over the years, mostly by Eurotunnel, I reckon the times in order of increasing hassle are:
Early hours of Sunday morning (leave Friday afternoon, drive overnight)
Mid morning Sunday
Mid morning Saturday
Early hours of Saturday
Lunchtime/early afternoon Sunday
Evening Sunday
Lunchtime/early afternoon Saturday
Evening Saturday
Obviously things can foul it up like train mechanical issues. The border controls are better now but still not sorted. I would suggest arriving exactly 2 hours before your booked crossing - any earlier you are likely to be turned away, much later than an hour before you won't make it through in time. Don't believe the 30 minutes before bit - no chance.
Peages can be busy especially the last one on the A26. Peage doofer helps a bit but if the tailback is 5km (it was last year) you will only have any benefit in the last 500m where the two lanes widen out. It is worth going St Quentin - Amiens - Abbeville - Boulogne West along the A29 then North on the A16. If you do go this way ignore signs to Calais as they will send you up the A1 to rejoin the A26 just in time to queue at the peage! It adds around 50km and 25 minutes to a clear run up the A26 but if the peage is bad you could easily save double or more than that and you are also in pole position to avoid the next potential problem below. Listen out to 107.7 for traffic reports.
If there is a backlog at the terminal (say for UKBA) it can lead to a queue on the A 16 on the way to the tunnel. Best bet then is to stay left lane, ignore all the queues on the right trying to get to the tunnel and go straight past the tunnel exit, off at next junction and approach from the Boulogne side.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Hi DJL, where is the last Peage that causes the backlog on the A26 please?
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@Robbie Loo, this is a 3 year old thread but luckily I was still "watching" it".
I'm 3 years further out of touch with actually travelling at half term so things may have changed a bit (doubt it!). The last peage is up near St Omer where the N42 branches off to Boulogne.
And welcome to the madhouse!
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Thanks DJL, I can see it Google maps. So you reckon come off at St Quentin and loop through Boulogne?
We will be leaving early Sunday AM and will probably hit Calais early evening so it could be very heavy.
Still it beats a 5 hour coach transfer and the inevitable airport delays.
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@Robbie Loo, Listen out to 107.7 for traffic reports. This is the answer. They are in French but every half an hour they do an English version with an 'Allo 'Allo accent.
Via Amiens>Boulogne adds a good half hour compared to the direct route so it needs to be horrible to be worth it (but it is often horrible).
You say leaving early Sunday am. That will be much better than if it was Saturday (but still busy)
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