Route to the South of France ( weekend in August !!!)

[Diamond blue]

tonys said:

Fair comment - happy to be corrected. I thought I'd read something in one of their motoring magazines when I was over there the other day about speeding and thought that it mentioned 30kph, but that might have been for on the spot licence confiscation. Of course, it might just have been the wine......

Hic!

[lowdrag]

Let's get the above out of the way first shall we. The poster above said 30mph which is 50kph, and now the police willimpound your car if your speed is more than 50kph over the prevailing limit and the fine went up last year to about 3,750€ (around that, forgotten the exact amount).

Now, the holiday route; it won't matter a tinker's cuss which route you take on the 18th because the internal part of France will be dead, so frankly I'd take the Paris route, then when you get there follow the Bordeaux signs to get you round Paris, and then the other side of Paris after the péage where the A10 and A11 split keep left and take the A10 south to Bourges, which is a lovely town, especially the old part. It's all autoroute (the télépéage beep is a blessing) with plenty of nice quiet stopping of "aires" for a break whenever you want, and you shouldn't have a problem finding a hotel off the cuff at that period, but for peace of mind I'd book in advance anyway.

[Diamond blue]

lowdrag said:

Let's get the above out of the way first shall we. The poster above said 30mph which is 50kph, and now the police willimpound your car if your speed is more than 50kph over the prevailing limit and the fine went up last year to about 3,750€ (around that, forgotten the exact amount).

Now, the holiday route; it won't matter a tinker's cuss which route you take on the 18th because the internal part of France will be dead, so frankly I'd take the Paris route, then when you get there follow the Bordeaux signs to get you round Paris, and then the other side of Paris after the péage where the A10 and A11 split keep left and take the A10 south to Bourges, which is a lovely town, especially the old part. It's all autoroute (the télépéage beep is a blessing) with plenty of nice quiet stopping of "aires" for a break whenever you want, and you shouldn't have a problem finding a hotel off the cuff at that period, but for peace of mind I'd book in advance anyway.

Lowdrag, What's the state of activity with the Gendarmes this year so far? Any new tactics we can be made aware of?
Be there several times in the next few months, so best to be prepared.Good call on Bourges, lovely place and exactly en route so to speak.
Finally got the SANEF t-peage transponder this year which as I do most of my miles alone should be a godsend!

[lowdrag]

Sshhhhh, I'll whisper it. During the summer a substantial number of gendarmes are moved from inland to the seaside because that's where the majority of the French are on holiday. That means that during July and August here at Le Mans we rarely see a contrôle or radar trap. Just the time for a hoon! Motorways are policed, but not at the level they usually are, and I thought you might like to know that I have been testing the fixed radars in a rather unscientific way, and up to 145 kph (as verified by the GPS, not the speedo) I haven't set one off yet.

[Roo]

Interesting to know as I'm off to Bergerac first week in July and will be going via LM.

[Diamond blue]

lowdrag said:

Sshhhhh, I'll whisper it. During the summer a substantial number of gendarmes are moved from inland to the seaside because that's where the majority of the French are on holiday. That means that during July and August here at Le Mans we rarely see a contrôle or radar trap. Just the time for a hoon! Motorways are policed, but not at the level they usually are, and I thought you might like to know that I have been testing the fixed radars in a rather unscientific way, and up to 145 kph (as verified by the GPS, not the speedo) I haven't set one off yet.

Good work agent Drag

Is your car (Cars) UK or French registered? Am I right in thinking there's no cross-border prosecution for the time being.

[lowdrag]

In response to the two posts above, firstly this doesn't just apply to Le Mans but anywhere that isn't next to the sea. Secondly, there is no cross border co-operation so if you set a fixed radar off it won't even matter - you'll hear nothing more. However, if the BiB are using a mobile radar, just down the road will be the bike squad just waiting to stop you. Be very careful in the few kilometers before a toll booth too; they set up a radar trap and radio your registration number ahead. That's where the myth of being timed between péages comes from. You only have to look at your ticket to see that there is no time stamp on it.

[sider]

cts1975 said:

I was after some advice on a route to the south of France.

We are on holiday in Collioure nr Perpignan in August.

The change over day for our accomodation is a Sunday so we are due to take an early morning tunnel to calais on the Saturday.

We are 2 adults and our laid back 15 year old son.



My main concern is the first days driving and avoiding Paris and its traffic.

I have been told by a couple of people that Paris will be quite in August because the locals head south?

I would appreciate any advice on passing Paris....



By the time I get to Calais and off the train we will have been travelling for approx 5 hours. So I was looking for another 5/6 hours of toll roads to get to an overnight stop. With this in mind Google maps show :



Calais - Orleans 262miles / 4.5 hours

Calais - Bourges 331miles / 5.5 hours

Calais - Clarmont Ferrand 440miles / 7 hours 10 mins



I would appreciate any advice. Thanks.

We travel to Ceret, from Calais, quite a lot.

Ceret is approx 15 miles or so from Collioure. (Collioure being perhaps my most favourite place on this big planet of ours).

You need to do:

Calais to Abbeville.
Abbeville to Rouen.
Rouen to Chartres/Evreux (can't remember which is first).
Chartres/Evreux to Orleans
Orleans to Narbonne
Narbonne to Collioure

Would suggest a stop over in or around Orleans or Bourges.

For your info - we're stopping in Bourges on the way down, and Orleans on the way back up.

Have a great trip!

What dates are you there? We leave on 3rd August so probably no chance of a beer in Collioure.

Is it your first time in the deep south? If so, would recommend trip into Roses and Empuriabrava, approx 1 hour south into Spain, nice beach resorts. Empuriabrava is a sort of mini-venice.

All up the coast near Collioure is nice - up as far as St Cyprien and with Argeles in between.

And for driving, take a blast up the mountain roads to Prats de Mollo la preste.

[Dblue]

Annual trip completed without incident again and brilliant as ever.
The highlight is always the Corniche des Cevennes between Florac and StJean Du Gard. Just a magnificent 55km of driving paradise with a great mix of twisty switchbacks and quicker (Very quick! ) plateau bits. Fabulous views of the magnificent Cevennes as you go. Empty, well surfaced, and the Bar De L'Univers fro a celebratory demi at the end.
Done this road in a series of wonderful motors over the years and the Megane was as good as anything I think, and so quick over the ground. Magic.
The Nyons-Serres road (D94) across Haute Provence also one of my favourites and little known (except for local bikers)
Liber-T tag just wonderful, especially when your alone.
Back through Germany this year. Why so many stretches of road works? In the run between Munich and Aachen there must have been 20 sets of roadworks. Still great fun doing 140 for longish stretches completely legally. Just use so much fuel at that speed. Ironic in such a "green" country , solar panels and wind farms everywhere, not to mention 1980's style "nuclear power - no thanks stickers" ,that you can travel entirely legally at 10mpg speeds!!

[Roo]

lowdrag said:

However, if the BiB are using a mobile radar, just down the road will be the bike squad just waiting to stop you. Be very careful in the few kilometers before a toll booth too; they set up a radar trap and radio your registration number ahead. That's where the myth of being timed between péages comes from. You only have to look at your ticket to see that there is no time stamp on it.

You may wish to tell that to some of the people on this thread.

http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...

We had our trip down and back and only saw a couple of local police cars in the whole two weeks away. There was very low police presence.

[cts1975]

sider said:

What dates are you there? We leave on 3rd August so probably no chance of a beer in Collioure.

Thanks sider that route seems to be the solution to any Paris traffic. I've marked it on the map ready for the other half to follow
You may possibly be away at the moment - any update on route/traffic would be great.