Be very carefull.I know plenty of people do it without problems but a relative of my brothers girlfriend was taking a car over for my brother who lives in Albia.He was followed and when he stopped they took the car and all the contents .
I am not trying to scare you but advising you of one of the pitfalls.
BPSPMC

According to AA road routes :-

http://www.theaa.com/travelwatch/planner_main.jsp

It is 1815.4 Kms (1128miles) and takes 18hrs 36mins.

By avoiding road tolls and congestion charging it is 1767.8Km. (1098.5miles) and takes 23hrs 9mins.

baz.

PS. Distances & times from Calais.

We did it about two years ago. We did the channel tunnel to get to France. I'll see if I can find my notes regarding toll costs.

We got the latest train through the tunnel, so were passing Paris at around 3am. It was still quite busy then, but manageable.

To be honest, the toll roads were easier as we did the trip without a stop (apart from eating and bathroom breaks) and although there are standard roads alongside in many places, they don't avoid towns, so you can get stuck in traffic. I do remember we arrived at our apartment at 22:15 after setting off through the tunnel at 23:45 the day before. Our van was well loaded up so we didn't do the speed limit in a lot of places. It would have been quicker in a car, and the AA times quoted by Barclay look about right to me.

I'll post again if I find the toll costs.

I've done the journey four times by car from Calais or Boulougne.
Dover - Boulougne on Norfolk Line is much cheaper than Calais using P&O or Sea France

If you drive near legal speed limits you can do this with two full days of driving and one night in a hotel
We stop at Clermont Ferrand which is sort of the middle of France and where the North South and East West motorways cross. My son has done it a number of times and he does it without an overnight stop and with short breaks he generally takes 24 hours to Aylesbury.

I always use the http://www.viamichelin.com web site to plan the journey.
If you enter your mpg for your car it will give you an accurate and up to date costing including the tolls
You can then balance, fastest, shortest, avoiding tolls etc etc routes quickly and easily. You can then print out a route guide for the journey.

The motorways are generally easy driving and interesting - much better condition than our roads, the only tricky part is getting round Paris, so if you have or can borrow a SatNav this really makes this part much easier, we usually try and do this before 7am or on a weekend morning. Many of the newer SatNavs have the speed cameras listed and sound an alarm when one is coming up. The ViaMichelin routes mark the position of these speed traps.

I wouldnt dream of taking one of the longer ferry crossings its just too expensive and time consuming and even when you get to Spain its still a fair drive down from the North.

I have a spreadsheet somewhere with all my costs, but to be hionest ViaMichelin calculates it all for you using upto date prices

Don't Norfolk line go to Dunkirk? It's Speed Ferries that go to Boulogne, they are much faster than the conventional ferries and they do allow dogs on board.

I toyed with the idea of camping around the Biarritz area for a few weeks this year for a change until I found out it would cost me nearly £900 for the ferry to Santander

sorry, slip of the keyboard, yes I meant ferry to Dunkerque

Thank you all so much for your help and advice, it has given us a lot to think about. It may still happen or we may decide to wait till March for Plymouth/Santander route. Regards - Sue

I last did this journey oct 2004 but I've travelled this way for 12 years.I have been by coach from London.Then travelled with my own car since 1997 travelling on the Eurotunnel.My husband did all the driving whilst I supervised the 4 children!We would always book the Campanile Hotels just off the Autoroutes and always travelled Calais to Beaune where the Autoroute meets the Paris one and then continued down into Spain. We stopped using the Lyon bypass as it added 30 mins on the journey and there are lots of traffic coming onto it.We used the autoroute straight through the city and it always was great and quick. It can be a long journey but ensure that you have enough pit stops.The Motorway services are good in France infact the're a joy to visit.There isn't as many great Motorway services in Spain the ones in Catalunya are better but as you come down to the valencia coast there can be some iffy people hanging around them.At all times stay with your car whether in France/Spain.We would stop but my husband stayed with the car then when he was going into the services I stayed with the car.We never left it at a service station .Sometimes we would have a stop in Llloret De Mar to breakup the journey so we'd arrive in Benidorm early afternoon.Make sure you get some carparking facilities in Benidorm.One year we had to leave our car on the Avda Europa as the apartment had no parking and it cost us £450.00.for a new door someone had knocked into the side of it overnight.Also there are parking restrictions and blue zones etc. If there are 2 drivers it can take alot qiucker but remember some of the Motorway in France and Spain is long and boring.Don't chase it and you'll enjoy it even more.Now I've been using lowcost carriers I've not travelled this way for a bit,but I do miss it.Now everything as gone up it would cost an awful lot more.