Sussex Downs 12 day tour of Spain and Portugal September 2020 NOW FULLY BOOKED

Proposed Sussex Downs Area Tour to Northern Spain & Portugal Explorer 2020.

SAILING TO SPAIN WITH BRITTANY FERRIES FROM PORTSMOUTH via 24hour CROSSING BOTH WAYS.

NB: This information has been prepared in August 2019, before Brittany ferries have published their 2020 sailings times, which will be available during October 2019. We are seeking feedback from members who would like to go on the Tour, along with your expressions of interest to get onto our list. Please let us know which version of the Tour you are interested in. We can run both versions of the Tour as the last Friday night overlaps at the final Parador with the 9 night cars leaving for the Saturday return sailing to Portsmouth & the 11 night cars leaving on the Monday to sail to Plymouth.

Outline description:

 

Below is what we propose as the dates for the Tour for a 12 nights in Spain/ Portugal + 2 nights on board Brittany Ferries luxury ships.  Pont Aven sails from Plymouth to Santander on a Sunday afternoon & takes 20hrs to cross the Channel. Cap Finistere sails from Santander on a Saturday evening and to Portsmouth with a 24 hour crossing :-

 

 Sunday 6th to Sunday 20th September 2020

12 nights Tour + 2 nights on Board Brittany Ferries Luxury Ships (Pont Aven out & Cap Finistere in)

SAILING FROM PLYMOUTH & RETURN TO PORTSMOUTH.

 

Sept 2020                                DAY                                                     NIGHT

Sun      6th        PLYMOUTH TO SANTANDER on 1630hrs sailing.                 1 x night - Sun 30th (Cabin)   

           

Mon     7th        SANTANDER arrival @ 1500hrs

 

Drive 140km to Parador Cervera de Pisuerga                        1 x night - Mon 31st               

           

Tue      8th        Drive 300km to Parador Salamanca                           2 x night - Tue 8th & Wed 9th Sept

           

Thur     10th      Drive 220km to Pousada Palacete Alijó, Douro                      3 x night - Thur 10th, Fri 11th, Sat 12th 

 

Sun      13th      Drive 140km to Pousada Viana do Castelo                 3 x night - Sun 13TH, Mon 14TH  & Tue  15TH.

 

Wed     16th      Drive 380km to Parador Ribadeo                               3 x night - Wed 16th, Thur 17th & Fri 18th           

 

Sat                  19th      Drive 320km to Santander dock

 

                                   

 

 

SANTANDER to PORTSMOUTH on 2030hrs sailing  1 x night - Sat 19th (Cabin)     

           

Sun      20th     PORTSMOUTH arrival at 1945hrs

 

           

TIMETABLE FOR SETTLING THE FINAL TOUR DATES & MAKING YOUR INDIVIDUAL BOOKING WITH BRITTANY FERRIES (BF)         

The initial “Expression of Interest” list is just to enable me to keep a short list of people who are seriously considering going on the Tour. The final decision about whether you will be book the Tour will rest with BF when you make your individual bookings in November. Apart from the cost the main factor will be availability of accommodation for the hotels we have picked.  The ships will have capacity, but it is possible that some of the Parador/Pousada Hotels may not. (e.g. Pousada Palacete Alijo only has 20 rooms). 

We hope this will not be a problem  as we are making our booking at the earliest possible dates.

 

The timetable to settle the final Tour dates and then make individual bookings to BF is as follows :-

 

Mid October -             Brittany Ferries publish their 2020 Summer Sailing schedule

Paul will then work up the final dates for the Tour (based on Option 3 above) and will email BF to get them to double check dates and enquire about earliest booking dates.

The final dates and any further information will be circulated as soon as possible during October by email to all people on the “Expression of Interest list”

 

November -                 BF normally set up their Car Tours onto their booking system during November.

Paul will try to monitor their website regularly during November and as soon as BF go live with their  2020 Car Tours the first booking can be made. Hopefully with 20% discount available for early bookers.

 

Paul & Richard will then make the first booking with BF and get a Booking reference number. We will then circulate the confirmed booking details with Paul/Richards  Booking Reference number to everyone on the “Expressions of Interest list”.

You can then go ahead and make your own booking direct to BF quoting the reference number, so that BF can link all the bookings together on their system.

The Agents are normally very helpful on the phone, from past experience.

Please feedback to me on the Club email address when you have a confirmed booking so we can finalise the list of who is actually going on the Tour.

 

ROADBOOK

Paul has confirmed he will work up the initial details into a more comprehensive road book for the Tour. 

His Winter 2020 indoor project!!

For those of you who came to Spain in 2019 you will know the format with a basic map for each day of the Tour with GPS Co Ordinates for the hotels & POI’s/ comfort stops en-route + Options for Day drives for local days out from the various Hotels we are staying at en route.

This will be geared to your having a Sat Nav on board and using the Co Ordinates to input locations, which is far more accurate then post codes and even addresses.

 

I hope this sets out where we are with the planning for our 2020 Spain & Portugal Explorer Tour.

Please let me or Paul know (paulclea@gmail.com)  if you have any queries at this stage.

 

Paul Cleaver (paulclea@gmail.com) has again offered to lead  on Planning for this Tour, He will, in due course, make the first booking with Brittany Ferries and then share the details with other members  coming on the Tour, so you can then quote the original booking reference to the Brittany ferries Agent when you make your individual booking. They will then align your booking with all others on the Tour. Further details will follow when this Tour has been finalised, following feedback and settling dates with Brittany Ferries Booking Service during November.

Approximate Costs

Brittany Ferries will  not be able to accept a booking until the 2020 Ferry Schedules are settled and the Parador Car Tours are released into their booking system. This normally happens during November. The cost of the tour for 2 people with hotel accommodation on a half board basis was approx. £2,100.00  (about £1,050.00 per person). This is only a budget cost at present based on previous tours and current known costs.

NB These figures include the presumed 20% discount which will hopefully BF will offer again.  Once you have made a decision that you  might like to come on the Tour (subject to the final details/ cost etc. from Brittany Ferries ) please email us with your name /contact details/ feedback as requested above, so we can register your interest for our proposed Northern Spain & Portugal Explorer 2020 Tour.

Due to the amount of interest already shown for this tour 17 cars as at September 2019 there is a possibility that there will be two tours the second leading off around a week after the first as logistically anyhting above 12 cars is difficult for hotel parking, parking in towns etc.  Further details to be issued  

Hi,

We are interested in the Spain Portugal trip 2020. Can you add our names please Nerina and Mark. We may be taking two cars depending on cost.
Many thanks
Nerina and Mark.