Ferry from Dover
The best thing about catching the ferry from Dover is the anticipation that builds up starting from as soon as you can see the sea from the duel carriageway up by Dover castle. The road drops down from the clifftop and arches out over the Eastern docks harbour, then back in to join the roundabout at the far eastern end of the seafront parade. That’s all you see of the little town of Dover as you head towards the ferry, and perhaps you should consider visiting the town itself one day, but not on this occasion. The purpose of the excercise is to get on the next ferry from Dover without any delay.
Dover Eastern Docks
Dover’s Eastern Docks are a huge patch og land reclaimed form the sea, inside the great harbour arms of the port of Dover. This is where the majority of people pass through to catch the ferry from Dover. There used to be a busy ferry port and hoverport at the other end of the seawall, the Western docks including a train ferry but these are little used these days.
- Seacat ferry from Dover
The hovercraft stopped ‘flying’ forever in the year 2000 and were replaces by ‘seacats’ which are faster than the big car ferries but only carry a fraction of the passengers and freight. So the Eastern Docks is where you go to catch the ferry from Dover to Calais or Dover to Zeebrugge. There’s a big petrol station between the roundabout and the entrance but you don’t want that because petrol is cheaper in France, usually. Then you need to have your ticket checked before you enter the docks, and will be told which lane to join. Passing through customs and immigration usually takes just a few minutes without even leaving your car, but coming back from Calais you might be checked a bit more thoroughly on the Dover side.
Boarding the ferry from Dover
Once the queue starts to move you know you’ll be boarding the ferry from Dover in no time. The marshalls call you forward with big pointers and you drive up the ramp and down into the bowels of the huge ship. On the car deck, the deck crew will beckon you forward further and further against your better judgment until the front number of your car is about two centimeters away from the rear of the car or lorry ahead. The Dover Calais ferry needs to pack as many vehicles onboard each trip as it possible can. The signs all tell you to make sure your handbrake is firmly applied and that’s rather good advice, really. When you get out of your car there’s hardly any room to squeeze through the gap with the next row, as you find your way to the nearest stairs up to the passenger decks. At this point t is a very good idea to memorise or even write down the deck number and stairwell so you can find your car against when it’s time to disembark! There are helpful signs which make this easier, so you’ll know to follow the signs back towards “Elephant 3″ or “Whale 2″ or whatever. The pictures are designed to work in any language for the benefit of all the different people from all over the world who sail across the channel each year on the ferry from Dover.
