busestrains
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It has been reported online that P&O Ferries are going to be permanently banning foot passengers from the Dover to Calais ferries from the beginning of next year. There does not seem to be an official statement published for this yet but i have spoken to someone from P&O who has confirmed this is the case. So there is only about a month left of allowing foot passengers on this route.
This means that you will need to use the Newhaven to Dieppe ferry from now on if you are a foot passenger. This is really your only option now. It is a great ferry and quite cheap too but it adds a lot of time to your journey for a lot of destinations.
Alternatively you can continue to use the ferries from Dover to Calais or from Dover to Dunkirk run by any of the three operators (DFDS Ferries or P&O Ferries or Irish Ferries) simply by using your bicycle. They all still accept bicycle passengers and you just go to the same place that the cars go. So that is a simple option to get around it if you still want to use this route.
I do recommend the Newhaven to Dieppe ferry as this is quite a nice pleasant route and an enjoyable ferry ride. I normally use this route. Newhaven itself is a complete and utter dump but Dieppe is actually quite nice. The train ride from Dieppe to Rouen and onwards from Rouen to Paris or wherever is quite a nice scenic ride too.
On the Newhaven to Dieppe route they have always accepted foot passengers at all times even on the night sailings. In fact during the corona virus when all of the other cross channel ferries at various ports suspended foot passengers onboard the Newhaven to Dieppe ferry continued to accept foot passengers. It was the only foot passenger ferry for a while. So i think it is unlikely that the Newhaven to Dieppe route will stop accepting foot passengers.
Also on the Newhaven to Dieppe route foot passengers are charged a flat rate regardless of whether you book in advance online or just turn up at the ferry port before your ferry and purchase right there:
£31.00 - Single
£46.00 - Return (within 0-5 days)
£56.00 - Return (within 5-10 days)
£62.00 - Return (within 10+ days)
These tickets can just be purchased on the day at the ferry port so it is very convenient ticketing. Also the fares are quite cheap compared to other routes. So the Newhaven to Dieppe route is certainly a good option to consider.
The state of our ferries is such a shame these days. So many that no longer take foot passengers. It was so much better a couple decades ago.
There is no other decent option. There is no local cross channel train service. Eurostar is utterly extortionate. I am normally charged around £200 for a Single or £400 for a Return just to go to Paris or Brussels which is only about two hours. I always purchase my Eurostar ticket on the day at the station just before my train so i do understand there are cheaper tickets in advance and online. However even in the UK our domestic trains do not cost that much to purchase a ticket on the day at the station. So there needs to be more options for foot passengers. The remaining Newhaven to Dieppe ferry is great but it adds a lot of time to your journey depending on where you are going.
Also over the last fifteen years or so we have lost all of our direct ferry routes from the UK to, Belgium, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Germany, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the remaining ones left to, France, Netherlands, Spain, have been reduced a lot or many no longer take foot passengers. So many of our old routes are gone. I have memories of taking the ferry from Scrabster (near Thurso and Wick in the far north) to Seythisfjorthur in Iceland a few times in the late 2000s but that route is gone now. I wonder how many will be left in another ten or twenty years.
This means that you will need to use the Newhaven to Dieppe ferry from now on if you are a foot passenger. This is really your only option now. It is a great ferry and quite cheap too but it adds a lot of time to your journey for a lot of destinations.
Alternatively you can continue to use the ferries from Dover to Calais or from Dover to Dunkirk run by any of the three operators (DFDS Ferries or P&O Ferries or Irish Ferries) simply by using your bicycle. They all still accept bicycle passengers and you just go to the same place that the cars go. So that is a simple option to get around it if you still want to use this route.
I do recommend the Newhaven to Dieppe ferry as this is quite a nice pleasant route and an enjoyable ferry ride. I normally use this route. Newhaven itself is a complete and utter dump but Dieppe is actually quite nice. The train ride from Dieppe to Rouen and onwards from Rouen to Paris or wherever is quite a nice scenic ride too.
On the Newhaven to Dieppe route they have always accepted foot passengers at all times even on the night sailings. In fact during the corona virus when all of the other cross channel ferries at various ports suspended foot passengers onboard the Newhaven to Dieppe ferry continued to accept foot passengers. It was the only foot passenger ferry for a while. So i think it is unlikely that the Newhaven to Dieppe route will stop accepting foot passengers.
Also on the Newhaven to Dieppe route foot passengers are charged a flat rate regardless of whether you book in advance online or just turn up at the ferry port before your ferry and purchase right there:
£31.00 - Single
£46.00 - Return (within 0-5 days)
£56.00 - Return (within 5-10 days)
£62.00 - Return (within 10+ days)
These tickets can just be purchased on the day at the ferry port so it is very convenient ticketing. Also the fares are quite cheap compared to other routes. So the Newhaven to Dieppe route is certainly a good option to consider.
The state of our ferries is such a shame these days. So many that no longer take foot passengers. It was so much better a couple decades ago.
There is no other decent option. There is no local cross channel train service. Eurostar is utterly extortionate. I am normally charged around £200 for a Single or £400 for a Return just to go to Paris or Brussels which is only about two hours. I always purchase my Eurostar ticket on the day at the station just before my train so i do understand there are cheaper tickets in advance and online. However even in the UK our domestic trains do not cost that much to purchase a ticket on the day at the station. So there needs to be more options for foot passengers. The remaining Newhaven to Dieppe ferry is great but it adds a lot of time to your journey depending on where you are going.
Also over the last fifteen years or so we have lost all of our direct ferry routes from the UK to, Belgium, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Germany, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the remaining ones left to, France, Netherlands, Spain, have been reduced a lot or many no longer take foot passengers. So many of our old routes are gone. I have memories of taking the ferry from Scrabster (near Thurso and Wick in the far north) to Seythisfjorthur in Iceland a few times in the late 2000s but that route is gone now. I wonder how many will be left in another ten or twenty years.
