driving to south of France
04-26-2010, 12:50 AM
#11
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Is the drive part of the holiday or just dead time?
French motorwary are great, long straight smooth with very little bad traffic, but very boring – just a very smooth trip from A to B.
Lane discipline is pretty good, limits are normally about 80mph and we never hit any bad traffic even at rush hours.
If the drive is supposed to be fun you might want to be off the motorways and taking back routes and dropping through villages so your average speed will be much lower.
I drove from Paignton to La Plagne in one day.
That’s about 900 miles.
We left at 6am and got there about midnight, I drove the whole thing on the motorways and we stopped for fuel and food occasionally.
We probably could have saved time by taking the tunnel and stopping less.
The point is you can do a lot of miles in a day, it just depends on how much you want to enjoy the drive or how much you need to get to your destination by a certain time.
04-26-2010, 01:44 AM
#12
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It's well worth buying an Autoroute guide at the first services you stop at. These are little yellow books which tell you all the tolls; which services have which fuel, and which ones have restuarants; which have only a coffee bar. It helps you work out where you want to stop during your journey. I think it is Michelin who publish them.
Alternatively, have a look at this website http://www.autoroutes.fr/en/homepage.html
and you can make some plans in advance.
Alternatively, have a look at this website http://www.autoroutes.fr/en/homepage.html
and you can make some plans in advance.
04-26-2010, 04:35 AM
#15
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There's nothing much between Paris and Millau that I'm bothered about seeing.
So a 5hr motorway blat split up over a day should be relatively comfortable.
So a 5hr motorway blat split up over a day should be relatively comfortable.
04-27-2010, 09:10 AM
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Your posting brings back happy memories of childhood holidays with Mum & Dad driving to Switzerland, Austria and the South of France. This was back in the late 1950's early 60's in a 1953 then a 1958 Hillman Minx.
The Bernese Oberland was the most favoured destination and it was always a 2 day journey, Interlaken to Bournemouth ( now twinned ). Accomodation was either a tent parked up in a lay-by or if feeling flushed a bed & breakfast. The latter was avoided, as was only coffee and a roll, and an early often re-dawn start was always the drill.
In the mid-seventies I re-traced many of Dads routes in a 1.3 Ford Escort, my first company car, for he had carefully documented the directions and kept the old AA route guides.
I remember a 6am departure from Interlaken to some unremembered northern France town about an hour from Calais by early evening, having got lost in a very dodgy area of Paris, my wife getting a bit scared, and then failing to find accomodation until almost at the Channel coast.
But today with autoroutes, and more comfortable faster cars, I'm sure UK/South of France for a solo driver is possible in a day. My concern would be that unless the driving is shared and even with frequent stops fatigue will be an issue, a dangerous element that creeps up on you unawares however superfit you think you are.
So for us blokes beware the macho element. Is it really important not to look a a big girls blouse by taking 2 days?
The Bernese Oberland was the most favoured destination and it was always a 2 day journey, Interlaken to Bournemouth ( now twinned ). Accomodation was either a tent parked up in a lay-by or if feeling flushed a bed & breakfast. The latter was avoided, as was only coffee and a roll, and an early often re-dawn start was always the drill.
In the mid-seventies I re-traced many of Dads routes in a 1.3 Ford Escort, my first company car, for he had carefully documented the directions and kept the old AA route guides.
I remember a 6am departure from Interlaken to some unremembered northern France town about an hour from Calais by early evening, having got lost in a very dodgy area of Paris, my wife getting a bit scared, and then failing to find accomodation until almost at the Channel coast.
But today with autoroutes, and more comfortable faster cars, I'm sure UK/South of France for a solo driver is possible in a day. My concern would be that unless the driving is shared and even with frequent stops fatigue will be an issue, a dangerous element that creeps up on you unawares however superfit you think you are.
So for us blokes beware the macho element. Is it really important not to look a a big girls blouse by taking 2 days?
04-27-2010, 01:20 PM
#19
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Originally Posted by B B,Apr 27 2010, 09:10 AM
Your posting brings back happy memories of childhood holidays with Mum & Dad driving to Switzerland, Austria and the South of France. This was back in the late 1950's early 60's in a 1953 then a 1958 Hillman Minx.
The Bernese Oberland was the most favoured destination and it was always a 2 day journey, Interlaken to Bournemouth ( now twinned ). Accomodation was either a tent parked up in a lay-by or if feeling flushed a bed & breakfast. The latter was avoided, as was only coffee and a roll, and an early often re-dawn start was always the drill.
In the mid-seventies I re-traced many of Dads routes in a 1.3 Ford Escort, my first company car, for he had carefully documented the directions and kept the old AA route guides.
I remember a 6am departure from Interlaken to some unremembered northern France town about an hour from Calais by early evening, having got lost in a very dodgy area of Paris, my wife getting a bit scared, and then failing to find accomodation until almost at the Channel coast.
But today with autoroutes, and more comfortable faster cars, I'm sure UK/South of France for a solo driver is possible in a day. My concern would be that unless the driving is shared and even with frequent stops fatigue will be an issue, a dangerous element that creeps up on you unawares however superfit you think you are.
So for us blokes beware the macho element. Is it really important not to look a a big girls blouse by taking 2 days?
The Bernese Oberland was the most favoured destination and it was always a 2 day journey, Interlaken to Bournemouth ( now twinned ). Accomodation was either a tent parked up in a lay-by or if feeling flushed a bed & breakfast. The latter was avoided, as was only coffee and a roll, and an early often re-dawn start was always the drill.
In the mid-seventies I re-traced many of Dads routes in a 1.3 Ford Escort, my first company car, for he had carefully documented the directions and kept the old AA route guides.
I remember a 6am departure from Interlaken to some unremembered northern France town about an hour from Calais by early evening, having got lost in a very dodgy area of Paris, my wife getting a bit scared, and then failing to find accomodation until almost at the Channel coast.
But today with autoroutes, and more comfortable faster cars, I'm sure UK/South of France for a solo driver is possible in a day. My concern would be that unless the driving is shared and even with frequent stops fatigue will be an issue, a dangerous element that creeps up on you unawares however superfit you think you are.
So for us blokes beware the macho element. Is it really important not to look a a big girls blouse by taking 2 days?
I spent my pre-teen years doing europe in a series of camper vans with my parents and sister.
I also had the good fortune to fall asleep at the wheel when I was about 17 at about 4am on the M69. Spun my A series Manta and ended up on the hard shoulder facing the wrong way but not another soul to be seen. I've never been foolish enough to miss the signs of tiredness since.
