I thought it the boring bit you wanted to avoid, Cork to Santander would do that, if cost or time, nothing will beat just plodding on down.Oop North John wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 11:33 pm Yes, but unfortunately I don't think it saves much time / money. If I was not so time constrained, then wandering down through Ireland would be a great start to the trip. The other problem with Ireland is that it tends to be wetter than even England / Scotland, and ideally I'd jump straight to the sun kissed shores of Spain without sampling the variables of northern Europe's weather.
I tend to go via Ireland to France (from Ayrshire) and get the overnight Dublin to Cherbourg boat on the way out and back via Hull to miss out the "Sarf" of England.