Route
Channel Tunnel to Calais
From here we headed north to Dunkerque on the E40 (A10)
Keeping on the E40 we headed across to Brussels, the road takes you North of the city, then to Louvain still on the E40(A2) then Aachen. Now in Germany we take the A4 for Cologne, still the E40, then pick up the A3. This takes you from NW Germany to SE Germany through Frankfurt, Wurzburg, Nuremburg and Regensberg (our first overnight stop).
From here you continue on the A3 crossing into Austria near Passau. The road now becomes the A8. Follow signs for Wels and Vienna(A1). At Vienna start to look for signs for Gyor in Hungary, this is the A4 until it crosses into Hungary when it becomes the M1. Pass Gyor and head for Budapest, pick up the M0 ring road around the city and pick up the M5 (E75) for Szeged. We had our second overnight stop on the M5 just after Budapest.
From Szeged you lose the motorway and take the E68 through Mako to Romanian border and Arad. We went from Arad to Deva, Sibiu, picked up the E81 to Ramnicu Valcea and Pitesti. You can now take the motorway again E70 (A1) for Bucharest. Our third overnight stop was at the 3rd services on the motorway.
Near Bucharest you need to get onto the ring road to head south for Giurgiu and the bridge. The turn off is easy to miss so look for Carrefour supermarket as this is also the ring road turning. Plain sailing now down to the bridge and over the Danube to Bulgaria.
Where you go from Ruse depends on your final destination, we were heading to Yambol so took the E70 to Shumen then dropped down to the Karnabat road and finally Yambol. Word of warning DO NOT take the 7 from Shumen through Berenovo - it is nothing more than gravel, see pictures on the diary.
From Calais to Yambol we clocked 1721 miles.
Channel crossing
Our ticket for the tunnel was £145. It can be bought for as little as £49 if booked in advance but because of our delays we only booked a couple of weeks ahead. Also note that if you miss your train or need to change the day, providing you ring no later than 24hours after you should have travelled they move your travel arrangements free of charge.
Fuel
Our car is a Freelander with a 1.8 petrol engine. Not the most economical but certainly earned it's spurs on the trip.
We had 6 petrol stops including the initial UK fill-up. This cost £249.47
Hotels
Note :- European hotels do not seem to do tea and coffee making facilities so we would suggest taking a small travel kettle, cups and tea/coffee.
Germany - Regensberg - Villa Toska - B & B €69 plus €10 for Jake around £43
Hungary - Ocsa - Motorway motel €35 No breakfast around £23
Romanian - Bucharest - Motorway motel 170 Lei No breakfast around £40
Food
We stopped 2 or 3 times a day for coffee and a sandwich, the dearest stop being in Austria when we had a meal. The weather was almost too hot to want much to eat so we mainly snacked. In all we spent £70 on food and drinks.
Vignettes photo to follow.
There are 4 countries in which you will need to buy a vignettes.
Austria €7
Hungary €7.60
Romania €8
Bulgaria €5 for a week. - Be careful when buying at the bridge as they have these ready to hand out and they are only the 7 day ones, we handed over €13 for a month only to realise after that they had only given us a week. We later bought the annual one which is €34.
If you find you cannot stop at the border for any of these they are always available over the border at filling stations etc. Austrian ones can be bought in Germany before crossing the border.
Therefore in total with the tunnel our trip cost £603.