Calais to Bordeaux Sat 2nd August - how awful?

[numtumfutunch]

Hi

Id posted this in the holidays forum last month without realising you guys existed - sorry

We're overnighting an hour south of Calais next week and plan to be on the road to Bordeaux soon after breakfast on Saturday the 2nd

Im aware this may be a bad time but am not sure just how bad

I'll fill the tank on Friday night and we will have enough water and food to be self sufficient but any pointers for survival over and above our Sanef tag plus rough thoughts on the current Google nav ETA of 7h driving would be very welcome

Route is obvious:

Rouen
Le Mans
Tours
Poitiers
Bordeaux
Gite
Beer, wine, BBQ, etc etc etc

Merci!

[magooagain]

It will not be 7 hours. More like 10 or 12 on that day. You have chosen a very bad day to travel. My advice would be to forget the overnight stop and just carry on driving through the night.
B roads wont be much better through the day time either on that day.

[ClaphamGT3]

magooagain said:

It will not be 7 hours. More like 10 or 12 on that day. You have chosen a very bad day to travel. My advice would be to forget the overnight stop and just carry on driving through the night.
B roads wont be much better through the day time either on that day.

At the very least - you'll easily spend three hours queuing to get through the tolls at Poitiers on Sat 2nd

[crossy67]

Over night without a doubt. Not sure but there have been real problems at Rouen all year and I'm sure they said they won't be resolved this year. B roads are useless, we tried using them once, after 2 hours we'd moved about 1" of the 12 " journey on the map.

Looking at the map I'd say you might be better going through Paris, the holiday season won't make much difference to people in the city. I've been through a few times and apart from once in torrential rain it wasn't too bad.

Once you get past Poiters you should be fine.

Good uck

[Perik Omo]

As others have said it is just about THE worst day of the year to travel on the A10 (apart from the last Saturday in August for he return trip!). Overnight or pick a longer, more easterly trip down but even then all roads south will be a nightmare.

[emss]

Hi,

Le Mans, Angers, Les Essarts, Niort via A11, A87 & A83 could help a little but A10 from Niort to Bordeaux will be a real PITA to say the least.

Check page 7 & 8 of the document at http://www.bison-fute.gouv.fr/panorama-de-l-ete-20...

So, travel on 1st or 3rd of August, but avoid 2nd...

Éric

[smifffymoto]

The drive will be an arse but Bordeaux is quiet as they've all gone on holiday.

[silverthorn2151]

We had a real easy trip down that exact route, but continued South to near Mont de Marsan last Saturday and we are heading home that weekend. Hopefully the hoards will be heading south as we head north. Having a tag for the tolls will save you a significant amount of time, even when the roads are quire it saves time. The trick for you is to be leaving as early as you possibly can to get ahead of the whole population of Holland who will be towing caravans towards the sun that weekend.

We stopped overnight in Potiers. What a nice place and prebooked a nice hotel right in the town centre and with private reasonably secure parking.

[numtumfutunch]

Aaaaargh
Thanks for the replies

Unfortunately we are committed to that day and cant get much further south on Friday due to domestics back at home

Interestingly we've travelled to the Loire on that weekend for the last 2 years and its been absolutely fine
The mitigating factor though has been that we have hit Calais at approx 1300h local time due to the UK leg and Im guessing have missed the bulk of the traffic at that time sailing straight through to Tours

It sounds as though getting up at 6AM may not be much of an advantage so we might just have a lie in and go with the flow regardless

Im pragmatic about the delays, the kids have been primed, and we have filled up my phone with music too

Many thanks, at least I will now be prepared for moderate pain

[smifffymoto]

Don't stop between 12-2 pm as you won't find a parking space because every one else is having lunch;)

[silverthorn2151]

Actually, we found that the parking areas were very much busier this year than previously, even though our weekend should have been quieter.

[leyorkie]

Do you know about the bridge in Rouen?
Lots of info in the Le Mans section.

Edited by leyorkie on Sunday 3rd August 09:27

[old'uns]

silverthorn2151 said:

Having a tag for the tolls will save you a significant amount of time, even when the roads are quire it saves time.

The trick for you is to be leaving as early as you possibly can to get ahead of the whole population of Holland who will be towing caravans towards the sun that weekend.

Tag CAN save time assuming you can just roll up to said side but if all lanes are busy.....and you just know that someone somewhere will be in wrong lane/no cash/no card etc etc

I wouldn't worry about Dutch caravans...faster than Rental cars usually

[silverthorn2151]

old'uns said:

silverthorn2151 said:

Having a tag for the tolls will save you a significant amount of time, even when the roads are quire it saves time.

The trick for you is to be leaving as early as you possibly can to get ahead of the whole population of Holland who will be towing caravans towards the sun that weekend.

Tag CAN save time assuming you can just roll up to said side but if all lanes are busy.....and you just know that someone somewhere will be in wrong lane/no cash/no card etc etc

I wouldn't worry about Dutch caravans...faster than Rental cars usually

Funnily enough I did a 200 miles round trip to Biarittz today and ended up behind 2 different cars having to reverse out of the TAG only lanes.

What a nuisance that was! I tutted in a most English fashion.

[mikey77]

French TV news this lunchtime reported a record 900km of traffic jams on main routes this morning. Hope OP got on ok...

[silverthorn2151]

I was coming up the A10 from south of Bordeaux to our overnight stop here in Orleans.

Heading south it will have been a nightmare! It was very busy heading north until most traffic turned off heading for the coast around La Rochelle. Bouts of monsoon like rain didn't help either.

[ClaphamGT3]

Drove back yesterday. It was near enough solid from Bordeaux to Tours and, as others have said, the appalling weather just made it worse. Saw the aftermath of an horrific accident north of Rouen where a Pug 408 aquaplaned and left the road at high speed before climbing a bank, flipping on its roof and sliding down the carriageway for about 400 yards. Passed it before the emergency services had arrived to close the road. Paramedics on hand but, depressingly, not busy; No one could possibly have survived.

It reminded me of the massive spike in French road fatalities on the first w/ in Aug - very sobering....

[leyorkie]

Last nights tv news reported record traffic jams but today is forcast as normal.
All down to one day.
Expect the same for the return.

[silverthorn2151]

We left Orleans at 10 ish and headed up the A10 to Paris. Looked pretty much solid heading south again today. The periferique (?) was ok our way but barely moving the other.

not to far from Calais now and pretty clear.

[numtumfutunch]

Well Im back and sipping a glass of red to unwind

The short of it is that the journey was much, much better than expected
Google predicted 7h from my B&B to our digs on a regular day and our total moving time worked out at 7h 45min which Im ecstatic about TBH

The long of it is as follows:

Ive been an evangelist of Waze for approx 12 months in the UK and saw no reason why it shouldnt work in France so decided to run data on my phone on each day of travelling and blindly let it be the boss

We left Le Touquet at 9AM and headed into Rouen thinking it would be OK at his time
Waze ignored the suggested diversion and took me a junction or so on the A29 but onto the A151 instead of the preferred PH Yvetot route
The A151 was dual carriageway to the city centre and took a pretty effective path over one of the bridges back out and onto the A13
Interestingly an Audi on a distinctive personalised UK plate passed me at speed just before I hit the A29 leading me to think he was on a mission from God and then passed me again miles after Rouen, I know he could have stopped for fuel or even a 5 course lunch but Im pretty sure my route was the more efficient

After that it was plain sailing until just outside of Tours when Waze shunted me off the A28 for a modest cross country jaunt before joining a rather lovely and deserted dual carriageway sigh posted "Saumur" leading to the A10 which was utterly gridlocked but beginning to move
Looking at the live traffic screen on my phone this diversion appeared to have saved me a huge amount of pain and misery

The A10 then moved in fits and starts with very heavy traffic to Poitiers where Waze again binned the conventional at Junction 30 for the N10 - an old school dual carriageway which ran beautifully at 110kph all the way to just outside of Bordeaux

I met some people who were on the road at the same time as us who spent over 5h on the A10 going from Poitiers to Bordeaux and almost felt embarrassed confessing how the journey was for us on the alternative route

So all in all a pretty good trip
I can relate to the stories of misery but happily missed most of it