Driving with baby in France

[RichS]

Afternoon all,

We drove up through France from Provence to Calais (and on to London) in April with our 5 month old (as she was then). Having set off early in the morning, we hit Dijon at about lunchtime, and, rather than stopping for the night as planned, we looked at each other and said "let's just push on for home". Big mistake; baby started shouting at about Troyes and didn't stop until past Folkestone... Limped home at 11pm.

We are therefore planning to be sensible this time round and split the trip- honest- but the wife thinks it's a good idea to leave at stupid o'clock in the morning so that "we get a good bit of the trip done while the baby's still sleeping" (the baby usually not wakening until about 7am). My view is, she'll only be a year old, so will probably sleep in the car whatever the time.

Does anyone else share my eminently sensible view, being one which will not necessitate needing to leave home some time between 2 and 3am?! Mind you, there is something to be said for hitting the autoroute early in the morning and avoiding a lot of traffic (though we'll be travelling outside school holidays so won't be that mad).

Cheers,

Rich

[oldcynic]

RichS said:

Does anyone else share my eminently sensible view, being one which will not necessitate needing to leave home some time between 2 and 3am?! Mind you, there is something to be said for hitting the autoroute early in the morning and avoiding a lot of traffic (though we'll be travelling outside school holidays so won't be that mad).

Cheers,

Rich

WTF?

Baby will probably sleep longer in the car anyway - it's boring. Maybe set out at 6 after nappy change then stop for a feed after a couple of hours but no point arriving early but wasted! Just accept that baby will get restless after too many hours in the car at any time of day and plan some decent breaks every 2-3 hours.

[RichS]

Good sensible advice. Let me pass you over to my wife... She has some bee in her bonnet about doing as much as we can before May wakes up. I say she'll sleep all the more in the car, as she usually does. I am inclined to agree with you- early-ish start, say 6 or 7am, drive with decent breaks, job's a good'un.

[oldcynic]

Only if you can explain to my wife that when income<expenditure even after budgeting and it's about to fall, then maybe just maybe she could look at getting a job...

[RichS]

Yes but don't you see it's your fault for not earning enough in the first place?

[smifffymoto]

Well we always travel through the night as it's less hassle,alot cooler and the key point,Paris is asleep.

Auto route,cruise control at 120 km/h,home to Calais in 10.5 hours.

[yorkshirephil]

We do this quite often leave York at 10pm get to ferry about 2am toddler sleeps all the way has a run about on ferry for an hour then start driving in France early in the morning so she goes back to sleep, stop a couple of times for fuel and strech legs and get to La Rochelle at lunchtime, works great everytime.

[Busa mav]

+1 for the overnight.

[audidoody]

I am full of admiration of those who do SoF - Calais in one hit. By the time I get to Beaune nothing can keep me away from the hotel pool, shower, dinner and kip.

ETA: Used my Sanef Telepeage dongle for the first time last month. Fantastic. No queues, no stopping, straight through every Peage in seconds.

Edited by audidoody on Saturday 6th August 15:35

[Stedman]

Gone are the days of cruise at 120mph for long stretches over-night with driver changes! I wish I had been able to experience this as a driver and not a passenger

(Best of luck OP, my next trip through France will be overnight)

[audidoody]

https://www.saneftolling.co.uk/liber-t/about

[Stedman]

bus pass said:

audidoody said:

ETA: Used my Sanef Telepeage dongle for the first time last month. Fantastic. No queues, no stopping, straight through every Peage in seconds.

Whats that then?

They're really really good! (My parents have them as they now live in France). I've used them for the past 2000miles i've driven in France and although they don't seem quite as mentally quick as the Japanese system it still works well. Cheaper too, and you're only charged 2€ a month for the months you use it. (I.E- the two skiing trips you do a year should mean you only pay 4€ for it)

I'm pretty sure that's all correct!

[RichS]

Thanks all,

Had a result, for various reasons my OH is now flying down, so I get to cruise down on my own in my own good time, stopping off for some culture and R&R in Dijon en route... Then we'll all drive back, probably start as you say reasonably early in the morning and break the trip near Beaune- shouldn't be too horrific!

Just applied for my telepeage doofer as well! (virtually obligatory if I'm on the autoroute on my own in a RHD!)

[GreatGranny]

bus pass said:

We're off later this month to a little place between Bordeaux & Toulouse.

Planning on leaving home, (Sheffield) at around 8pm(ish) which is pretty much bedtime for our one year old daughter anyway.

The plan is that she will sleep all the way to Dover, then let her have a play and a bottle on the boat to Calais, which should then mean that she should (fingers crossed) sleep most of the way to our stop-over at Le Mans.

RAC route planner shows it to be 525 miles / 9 hours, but I'm not sure if this takes into account waiting around to board the ferry, (cant use Chunnel as car is LPG)?

We are planning to do Le Mans to Villeneuve-sur-Lot the next day in one hit. RAC shows this to be 350 miles / 5 hr 45 min.

Are you sharing the driving?

Hope so or the driver will be knackered.

And 525 miles in 9 hrs is VERY optimistic! Thats an average of 58 mph. Do-able on route overnight in UK but not in France the next day.

[H100S]

Go for the over night stop.

My experience was Leaving Doncaster at about 7.30 am drive to Dover, ferry split up the journey and gave child opportunity to have a break from the car. Continued to Abberville where we stopped in a hotel overnight. The following morning we drove to Southern Brittany. Child was nine months old at the time. She slept well in the car too.

[fulham911club]

GreatGranny said:

Are you sharing the driving?

Hope so or the driver will be knackered.

And 525 miles in 9 hrs is VERY optimistic! Thats an average of 58 mph. Do-able on route overnight in UK but not in France the next day.

Its v do-able on the French auto-routes - I drove down to the south in one go in July and averaged 70 something

[H100S]

bus pass said:

GreatGranny said:

Are you sharing the driving?

Hope so or the driver will be knackered.

And 525 miles in 9 hrs is VERY optimistic! Thats an average of 58 mph. Do-able on route overnight in UK but not in France the next day.

In theory yes. My wife learnt to drive on the wrong side of the road, but does have reservations about driving on the right again after all these years. I really cant see it being an issue for her once we are on the autoroutes.

the 525 miles in 9 hours is to be a through the night job. Like I said, setting off from Sheffield at 8pm, landing at Calais at 6am local time, then on towards Le Mans, or maybe Tours for an overnight stop.

Personally if it was just the wife and I then I'd want to do the whole journey in one stint. With a 1 yr old, I doubt that that would be a peacefull option!

I did Doncaster to le mans with a overnight stop in Rouen. On the way back i did Lemans to Doncaster in one go (and one tank of fuel) except for the ferry bit without sharing the journey so yes it is possible.

[Beardy10]

Not driven to the SoF but have done Switzerland a few times so similar distance. My favoured option is to leave London late afternoon (avoid rush hour) and catch something like a 6pm Eurotunnel train....with the messing around that gets you into France at say 7.30 8pm. Drive down to somewhere like Reims which is a couple of hours from Calais grab a cheap hotel (or a 5star chateau!) and then do the rest the next day at an easyish pace. Reims is just about far enough south that it gets you past Paris traffic assuming you start earlish. Job done.

[Amateurish]

I've done this trip a few times with babies - my approach is overnight travel so the kids sleep and the autoroutes are clear. Just stock up on Red Bull, set the cruise at 160kmph and watch the miles tick by. In fact. I'm doing the same trip next week with my 2yo.

[thegman]

I have a 6 month old and after a 5 hour drive up north I decided we would fly out to Toulouse at the end of Aug vs drive. I love the driving but not with a screaming baby in the back. I will see how easy the flying is....