I'm helping some family members with a trip to France/England this summer and I'm looking into ways of getting them from Normandy (France) to London (England). They'd prefer train over plane and are not comfortable renting a car. Any ideas that don't involve training it back to Paris and then Eurostar?

Would your relatives be happy with a ferry crossing? There are several ferry routes from Normandy to the South Coast of England.

That is a very interesting one! Do you happen to know how long they take and how hard it is to catch a train once in England for London?

You can find a route map and further information here:

http://www.discover-normandy.info/no...rry_routes.htm

There are no links to the operators' web sites but it lists their names so they should be easy enough to find.

Ferries go to Poole, Portsmouth and Newhaven which are all on the rail network; Newhaven and Portsmouth have stations with "Harbour" in the name which probably means that they are within walking distance of the ferry terminal. Hopefully someone from nearer the South Coast will be able to confirm this.

Hi there,
As a South coast resident I think I can answer this one:

Newhaven. (Ferry from Le Harve & Dieppe)
The station is about 100 yards from the ferry terminal. It's basically at the other end of the car park. Don't be confused by the now abandoned "Newhaven Marine" station that's part of the ferry complex! I've walked between the two as an 18 year old dragging about 250kg (OK, probably less in reality but the story always sounded good!) of duty free beer...

Portsmouth. (Ferries from all over the place)
The cross channel ferry port is at least two miles from the train stations. It's a long walk between the two without luggage. With luggage you'll need a taxi or bus. I'm not sure how easy it is to actually find one.
(The little ferry from Gosport is the one that connects with Portsmouth Harbour)


Poole.
I don't know much about this one as it's a bit far from my house. The map shows the ferry port is about a mile from the railway station.

Personally I'd go for the Le Harve or Dieppe ferry to Newhaven.
Hope this helps,
Jason