i have not travelled on shearings coaches myself but i understand that they do not have seat back tvs, but have communal screens.there are no facilities to charge mobiles on the coach.
expect the weather in lloret to be warm, rather than hot, but a fleece or light jacket for night would be a good idea.a fleece is also handy for the night on the coach.
have a look here for some tips on travelling by coach.
there are other threads on ferris/siesta which include a lot of information about how to make the best of your journey.

finally, when you get back please update us on how you got on with shearings, as i am sure there are many people on here who would appreciate any information you can provide.

Thanks. I've been searching google trying to find out about Shearings travel experiences and doing an overnighter, but can't really find anything. I thought we could probably take a tablet computer and also use our phones for entertainment, but i don't think the batteries would last that long unless the ferry has a charging point. I'll be taking your advice about the fleece though.

You could take an extra charged battery for your phone. How long are you on the ferry as if you are overnight and have a cabin I know there are sockets in P&O overnight cabins. You'd need to keep an adapter handy as they are 2 pin plugs.

Its only a short trip from Dover to Calais, but might get a quick charge if i'm lucky.

I'll do a bit of a review of how the trip went once i get back.

I've done the Dover run but not sure if there's spare sockets that you'd be able to use

Found this on Youtube.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpqFlmZHD5o[/youtube]

It sort of shows what it's like traveling on a shearings coach to spain.

well, if there were that many spare seats on the coach i would book with shearings every time

Back from Spain and had a fantastic time.

We set off from the Shearings Normanton departure point on a feeder coach and had a short toilet stop about half way down towards the Hythe main departure point (it took about 4 hours) where we got on our destination Spain coach. We were in Hythe about an hour while they transferred our cases from coach to coach. Once we set off we headed towards Dover and boarded the 2.30pm ferry. The ferry takes about one and a half hours to cross and then the journey across France starts. We headed down towards Reims then Troyes then Macon then Lyon then Nimes and on to the French / Spanish boarder stopping every 3 hours ish. We had breakfast somewhere closed to the boarder before heading on towards our hotel in Lloret.

We did a market half day trip on Monday.
Barcelona trip on Thursday.
Coastal drive and wine tasting on Friday.

The coach drivers (both of them) made coffee for us at 1Euro per cup and played us a video film (a different one) on the way out and the way back, but because most of the French crossing was at night, they let us try to get a bit of a rest. The drivers swapped round at every stop.

Coming back home was more or less the same as going but in reverse, but we didn't set off from Spain until 7pm. We had to be out of our hotel room for 10am and our all inclusive finished at 1pm, so we had a lot of time to kill before setting off home, but it wasn't that bad really.

All in all it was good going by coach to Spain, even though it takes about 27 hours per trip. Me and my wife enjoyed it.

The main issue is that there is not as much choice as Ferris/Siesta etc and it can work out more expensive. But if you want a holiday and open minded where you go Shearings could be a good option. Legroom looked a bit more limited compared to Ferris though.

I am in the process of planning next years trip and as I also want to explorer Italy as well as the usual Brit abroad Spanish thing I am thinking of another train trip followed by a Ferris cheapie in October next year.

While I didn't mind the coach to Spain the big part for me was having both seats to myself, if a stranger sat next to me the entire way I think things might have been different.

I would have possibly preferred a later pick up too from Spain. At the hotel I was at in Calella Ferris said we had to be at reception between 11:30 and 2:00pm. The hotel receptionist told me the coach usually turns up around 12:00 and it did. It just meant the last day I didn't really get to do anything. A 7:00pm pickup would have made a bit of a difference but then you get to the UK a lot later too the next day so it is all swings and round abouts.

I think the later departure time to set off back home was probably to hit the ferry in the day time the following day.

Next time we go with Shearings abroad i think we'll make a better pack up of things to eat on the way. Also i wouldn't buy the rubbish service station breakfast (very runny eggs and horrible bacon). We need to sort out food to eat on the return leg as well.

BTW we are seriously thinking about booking to do this same trip again. We enjoyed it.

I love doing pack ups for trips. We put a mixture of goodies in our bag. Usually ham & please pudding, prawn mayo, ciabatta buns (prefer them to sliced bread), those fruit selections ie melon, grape, apple etc you can get from the supermarkets. Packets of mini chedders to go with mixed individual cheeses. Crisps & boiled eggs. Plenty of drinks & a few bags of juicy sweets.

Hello, me and my partner are booked to go on this trip in September! I'm just wondering if you would know what day the optional excursion to see the Barcelona fountains is and how much it is?

Thanks

I'm not sure about the optional trip, but the included trip was on a Thursday and we were dropped off in the big square at the top of the La Rambla. BTW we might be going again at the beginning of October because we really did enjoy it.

< EDIT >

I remember now. The optional Barcelona trip to see the fountain was after the included trip on Thursday. We didn't go on it though so i don't know the cost.

Came back from our shearings holiday to lloret last week, both me and my partner had a fantastic time, journey was very much the same as already stated and the drivers were lovely!
Excursions are very much the same and very enjoyable! There was also two optional excursions to Monserrat on the Tuesday and girona on the wednesday! Which we didn't go on but heard from others they where worth paying for! The Barcelona fountains now goes on a Friday evening now and we didn't arrive back at the hotel until nearly midnight! Which means we missed our last night of all inclusive but its definitely worth going to see the fountains!

I would highly recommend shearings as a company not just for this trip but for all they do! I've never had a bad experience with them!

Have u planned to go again then?

Anna