The drive to hamm

[Agkistrodon]

Just wondering if anyone's done the drive to hamm before, and how long did it take them? What route did you take? I'm thinking of going on the 30th but I don't know which would be the best (by which I mean quickest :P) way - the tunnel, or the ferry. Can anyone advise me on this?

[forgottenEntity]

Did the March run with my other half...

We're based in the West Mids so, down to London, head for the Tunnel... Onto the train, 30 or so minutes later, get off... And then starts the big drive. Up towards Brugge in Belgium (about an hour or so)... Then head in land towards Antwerp & Eindhoven (the E34 "motorway")... Then carry on towards Dulsburg and Essen, onwards still past Dortmund... Hamm is on your left not that many miles later

We stayed at a hotel in Kamen over night (arrived the evening before the show), which is just near the E34 / E37 junction, not far from Dortmund and Hamm.

All in, about 8-9 hours each way for us I think (but that's with about 3 hours of UK driving to get to the Tunnel in the first place)

If you pop onto the AA's web site and ask it to plot you a route, it will give you the one I've briefly described.

Hope that helps

[ExoticExpress]

Sat Nav with euro maps if you have a map reading partner like my other half its essential

[forgottenEntity]

Originally Posted by ExoticExpress

Sat Nav with euro maps if you have a map reading partner like my other half its essential

We got there fine... I navigated, she drove...

Strangely, on the trip home, when I was driving and she was navigating, we took a 50+ mile de-tour when she decided we hadnt got to our exit on one of the autobahn sections and headed us off into the middle of Germany

[ukgeckos]

Its 4 hours on the otherside without stops give or take some for traffic or roadworks.
We live in west wales and its 4 hours to tunnel so 8 hours each way driving

[Agkistrodon]

I'm about 30 minutes from dover so it sounds like it's gonna work out about 6 hours there for me. Still a decent slog, but not so bad.

[mattfarmer80]

sorry this post was a mistake -- consider it edited! doh!!!

[Agkistrodon]

Hmm, that could be problematic. I don't quite fancy taping my snakes inside the wheel arches to be honest.

I'm pretty sure people have brought back stuff through the tunnel, it's a recommended form of transport from a lot of the websites about hamm.

[mattfarmer80]

dont worry ive just been a twit!!! eurostar and eurotunnel are different. i knew that when i booked why did i just make that mistake!!! doh! ignore me !!!

[Agkistrodon]

Ahh brilliant. Well that's good news, my plan of spending 100s and 100s of euros on things I'd never thought of keeping in the past is unchanged.

This year'll be my first time, I'm really looking forward to it - especially to having a glance around the hot room, not that I'm looking at buying one but I'm really interested in seeing a monocled cobra up close. What's everyone planning on picking up?