My France road trip - with vintage show pics & great roads.
Discussion
So went to France two weeks ago in my A6 2.7T Quattro, did 1950miles Friday to the following Sunday. Completely un-planned except Tunnel over and Ferry back from Cherbourg to Poole, a couple of "must" roads, one hotel and a southerly point aimed for, (Millau Viaduct).
Friday night left work in Oxford and a slow boring drive to Sandwich, M40, M25 all thats worst in the British network. Evening stop at relatives and on to the Tunnel at 08:30. Turned up a bit early and the complete lack of any checking of anything getting on the the train meant the car never actually came to a halt until turning the engine off on the train. The train turned out to be one earlier than I'd booked, quite a bonus. Very quick 33 minutes later driving off on to French soil.
I decided I wanted to get as far south as possible without making it too long a drive. On to the autoroute and the realisation that progress would be good during the trip. Almost all 2 lane but everyone and I mean EVERYONE (except of course a UK register 11 plate Kia) as soon as they had passed the car in front pulled back in. I was able to basically set the cruise control at 81mph and then simply steer, indicate and occasionally prod the throttle to make sure my overtakes were not to slow.
I made it down to slightly north of Lyon by about 3pm and decided that was far enough so got the Mrs to choose a hotel from the brochures we'd taken with us, found one just off the Autoroute on the outskirts of a village called Fleurie. Next morning woke and decide we'd stay another night and go for a walk in the area. Asking the Madame of the hotel I was informed that it happened to be a Fete where local vineyards would be giving tastings - winner
Walking into the village it became apparent it was much more than just a village Fete. It was a Festival of the 7 main Bourgolais villages and their vineyards. 5 Euros bought a wine glass and then all the villages had their own bars and areas where you could sample as much wine as you liked. There was also a theme to the festival, the 1930's. This is where the pistonhead interest came in, it was supported by the local vintage car club so dotted about the vilage were some really nice pieces of machinery :-
A proper Bugatti!
As iconic as the grill those wheels are great.
What a great day that was
From Fleurie I wanted to head to the Gorges Du Tarn and my road the D907, needed somewhere to stay and in the brochure found a Chateau in the Gorge just south of St Enimie which is suppost to be the most pictursque village in France - perfect destination. This was a really good day driving N88 mostly and then on to the D986 which was great an finally the D907.
I had these road in my memories from childhood when my father took me on a French road trip over 20 years ago. They didn't disappoint, something about overhanging cliff face on one side and near vertical drop on the other Best time of year to go early May as good weather and empty roads. We are told in the summer upto 2000 cars a day travel this road 
It'd be crap then.
We spent 2 days driving round the gorge a bit an canoed down the river. On from this mid point of the gorge next destination was where the gorge opens out into a big valley where the Millau Viaduct spans it. Had to go under and over it
From the Millau we decided to head west to Bordeux, so off the A75 and onto the D911, D30 (great road) and on the to D44 (another great rd) I almost took the D993 purely as we'd just been on the D911 (geek mode)
view from the D44.
We had an issue arriving around Bordeaux as we wanted to stay in the countryside and could not find a cheap hotel or campsite after spending loads at the last hotel. We pushed on towards the coast along the roads through the pine forests on the Lac Sanguinet (the whole time getting stressed at because fuel was reading 0 miles left . Eventually camped up on a free site next to the lake, it was great. Nice bar and met a few British chaps who were working on an oil rig in the forest (One i'm sure is a pistonheader as a pic of his dads motorbike he showed me I sware I have seen posted on here, so hello Lee ) Few beers good fun 
We were advised to take in the massive dune on the way north. So next day we headed on to the Dune de Plya, it was indeed massive.
Forest on one side, sea on the other to give an idea quite how high it is. So after a bit of gawping at the massive dune, back in the car and on to Ile-de-Re, the Island off La Rochelle for lunch, so over another cool bridge.
We decided plenty of the day left so pushed on to La Baule for a night. Last days driving was from La Baule on to Barneville Carteret, really nice little port town. Had a night there and next morning on to the Ferry to Poole. Back on British soil an crap drivers and crowded roads Had to head to Wales to collect the dogs. On to the Usk valley, rest stop and then back to Oxfordshire. 1950mile tipped over as I pulled on the drive and the computer told me we'd managed 24.5mpg. Not to bad I thought
Who needs Gumball chaps to organise for you
Friday night left work in Oxford and a slow boring drive to Sandwich, M40, M25 all thats worst in the British network. Evening stop at relatives and on to the Tunnel at 08:30. Turned up a bit early and the complete lack of any checking of anything getting on the the train meant the car never actually came to a halt until turning the engine off on the train. The train turned out to be one earlier than I'd booked, quite a bonus. Very quick 33 minutes later driving off on to French soil.
I decided I wanted to get as far south as possible without making it too long a drive. On to the autoroute and the realisation that progress would be good during the trip. Almost all 2 lane but everyone and I mean EVERYONE (except of course a UK register 11 plate Kia) as soon as they had passed the car in front pulled back in. I was able to basically set the cruise control at 81mph and then simply steer, indicate and occasionally prod the throttle to make sure my overtakes were not to slow.
I made it down to slightly north of Lyon by about 3pm and decided that was far enough so got the Mrs to choose a hotel from the brochures we'd taken with us, found one just off the Autoroute on the outskirts of a village called Fleurie. Next morning woke and decide we'd stay another night and go for a walk in the area. Asking the Madame of the hotel I was informed that it happened to be a Fete where local vineyards would be giving tastings - winner
Walking into the village it became apparent it was much more than just a village Fete. It was a Festival of the 7 main Bourgolais villages and their vineyards. 5 Euros bought a wine glass and then all the villages had their own bars and areas where you could sample as much wine as you liked. There was also a theme to the festival, the 1930's. This is where the pistonhead interest came in, it was supported by the local vintage car club so dotted about the vilage were some really nice pieces of machinery :-A proper Bugatti!
As iconic as the grill those wheels are great.
What a great day that was
From Fleurie I wanted to head to the Gorges Du Tarn and my road the D907, needed somewhere to stay and in the brochure found a Chateau in the Gorge just south of St Enimie which is suppost to be the most pictursque village in France - perfect destination. This was a really good day driving N88 mostly and then on to the D986 which was great an finally the D907.
I had these road in my memories from childhood when my father took me on a French road trip over 20 years ago. They didn't disappoint, something about overhanging cliff face on one side and near vertical drop on the other
Best time of year to go early May as good weather and empty roads. We are told in the summer upto 2000 cars a day travel this road It'd be crap then.We spent 2 days driving round the gorge a bit an canoed down the river. On from this mid point of the gorge next destination was where the gorge opens out into a big valley where the Millau Viaduct spans it. Had to go under and over it
From the Millau we decided to head west to Bordeux, so off the A75 and onto the D911, D30 (great road) and on the to D44 (another great rd) I almost took the D993 purely as we'd just been on the D911 (geek mode)
view from the D44.
We had an issue arriving around Bordeaux as we wanted to stay in the countryside and could not find a cheap hotel or campsite after spending loads at the last hotel. We pushed on towards the coast along the roads through the pine forests on the Lac Sanguinet (the whole time getting stressed at because fuel was reading 0 miles left
. Eventually camped up on a free site next to the lake, it was great. Nice bar and met a few British chaps who were working on an oil rig in the forest (One i'm sure is a pistonheader as a pic of his dads motorbike he showed me I sware I have seen posted on here, so hello Lee ) Few beers good fun We were advised to take in the massive dune on the way north. So next day we headed on to the Dune de Plya, it was indeed massive.Forest on one side, sea on the other to give an idea quite how high it is. So after a bit of gawping at the massive dune, back in the car and on to Ile-de-Re, the Island off La Rochelle for lunch, so over another cool bridge.
We decided plenty of the day left so pushed on to La Baule for a night. Last days driving was from La Baule on to Barneville Carteret, really nice little port town. Had a night there and next morning on to the Ferry to Poole. Back on British soil an crap drivers and crowded roads
Had to head to Wales to collect the dogs. On to the Usk valley, rest stop and then back to Oxfordshire. 1950mile tipped over as I pulled on the drive and the computer told me we'd managed 24.5mpg. Not to bad I thought Who needs Gumball chaps to organise for you
Edited by Herman Toothrot on Saturday 28th May 13:03
Ill check back when the pictures load!Nice write up, thanks for sharing. I'm off to Armillac in the Bordeaux region next week, about 850 miles door to door. There's 13 of us going, (plus 6 kids.) That Dune de Pyla looks amazing, might be worth a trip across one day.
We had another group holiday 2 years ago, over 20 of us, stayed in a castle overlooking the Millau viaduct. It's a pretty amazing sight, isn't it!?
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/VacationRentalReview-...
We had another group holiday 2 years ago, over 20 of us, stayed in a castle overlooking the Millau viaduct. It's a pretty amazing sight, isn't it!?
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/VacationRentalReview-...
g3org3y said:
Great post, thanks for sharing.
Thought it may inspire Lots of people saying in the Gumball threads that pop up every year about how they'd love to do a Euro road trip, no reason with a week off work you can't do similar with a group of mates. The sum of my planning was just I'd ideally like to get to 3 destinations and I booked the tunnel and ferry You could do it cheap with a diesel BMW say (I spent about £500 on petrol) and camping for under £800 for a week, in 4/5 star hotels with meals for about £3K.snorkel sucker said:
Great stuff!
Sounds such a pleasant change to the traffic infested, rain lashed roads of the UK at this time of year!
The fete sounded like great fun - love that black citroen
Thanks for sharing. A nicely paced write up with appropriate pic. Sounds such a pleasant change to the traffic infested, rain lashed roads of the UK at this time of year!
The fete sounded like great fun - love that black citroen
I like the point the car and go mentality - doing likewise this summer.
Cheers all 
I'll also mention for those of you with other halves who would be very sceptical of such a trip, so was mine. Very stressed the week before that we'd be driving round at night looking for places to sleep, running out of fuel, spending all the time driving and none relaxing.
As it turned out, she love it and before we'd finished the trip was already saying how she'd like to do two weeks next year maybe taking in some of Germany or Spain. Key I think is that you can cover so much more ground on much less stressful roads than in the UK. European sat nav, a handful of brochures with hotels we had a VFB brocure, a Logis one and the main one we used the orange book called Chateau and Hotel Collection. Satnav had campsites etc.
I'll also mention for those of you with other halves who would be very sceptical of such a trip, so was mine. Very stressed the week before that we'd be driving round at night looking for places to sleep, running out of fuel, spending all the time driving and none relaxing.
As it turned out, she love it and before we'd finished the trip was already saying how she'd like to do two weeks next year maybe taking in some of Germany or Spain. Key I think is that you can cover so much more ground on much less stressful roads than in the UK. European sat nav, a handful of brochures with hotels we had a VFB brocure, a Logis one and the main one we used the orange book called Chateau and Hotel Collection. Satnav had campsites etc.
best places to stay if you book in advance are the Formule1 places
25 euro = 3euro for breakfast, shared bathroom/toilet facilities
an experience to be had seeing the french chaps walking for a shower in just underpants and a towel over one arm saying bonsoir as tho it was the norm
or the Etap, these have own bathrooms and just a tad more in price
all decent rooms
25 euro = 3euro for breakfast, shared bathroom/toilet facilities
an experience to be had seeing the french chaps walking for a shower in just underpants and a towel over one arm saying bonsoir as tho it was the norm
or the Etap, these have own bathrooms and just a tad more in price
all decent rooms
Cracking road trip, we used to go La Baule twice a year, lovely part of France. If your in the area again I recommend the car museum at Lohéac, google Musée automobile de lohéac. I don't know of any UK car musuem's that have their own Rallycross & race track attached. The collection is very impressive, couple of videos I've just found on the net, Ferrari Hall http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3cvd0_ferrari-lo... Le Mans & F1 halls http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdaw6x_musee-auto...
Edited by DHE on Sunday 29th May 19:23
DHE said:
Cracking road trip, we used to go La Baule twice a year, lovely part of France. If your in the area again I recommend the car museum at Lohéac, google Musée automobile de lohéac. I don't know of any UK car musuem's that have their own Rallycross & race track attached. The collection is very impressive, couple of videos I've just found on the net, Ferrari Hall http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3cvd0_ferrari-lo... Le Mans & F1 halls http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdaw6x_musee-auto...
That does look worth a visit Edited by DHE on Sunday 29th May 19:23
http://www.manoir-automobile.fr/wrapper/index.php?...
Cheers!
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