# route with lakes/rivers in France?



## cinder (Jul 3, 2008)

Am off to France on Monday and still havent planned the route!  Had thought I would drive along the coast but my son now says he would like to travel a route with plenty of rivers and lakes!  Would the route from Calais-Rouen-Orleans-Tours-Poitiers then either Bordeaus or Limoge be a suitable route?  Also dont want to run into lots of hills!  Only 1.9 td engine and think I might struggle!  Any other routes or ideas gratefully accepted.  Thanks!


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## t&s (Jul 3, 2008)

if you have a sat nav choose the scenic route option


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## Belgian (Jul 3, 2008)

Just an idea:
Take the ferry to Roscoff. Drive on to Brest then Châteaulin and follow as close as possible the Aulne and the old 'Canal de Brest à Nantes'. (made under Napoleon to avoid British blockades). An unexpected part of Brittany !
Cross the Loire near Nantes. Follow the coast of the Vendée via La Rochelle up to Rochefort. Follow the Charente river upstream to Saintes and a little further you are in de Lot- Dordogne area. 
So many things to discover in France.
Have a nice trip


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## Belgian (Jul 3, 2008)

And you avoid all the places near the A's where truckers do their 'snail actions' nowadays (they have my sympathy though - but nevertheless)


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## Belgian (Jul 3, 2008)

French truckers, as protest to high diesel prices, hold 'snail' actions or filter-blockades on and around several péages and N-roads nowadays in France.
They seem to focus on the roads to Spain, Côte d'Azur and Italy.
They 'promised' more actions this week-end as the government is not giving in to lower taxes on fuel. 
See item 'Road blocks in France'.


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## t&s (Jul 3, 2008)

another idea 
keeping off the autoroutes 
from tours take the old N10 now i think called the D910 depending on what map you have as far as pointers 
then the N10 to bordeaux  quite level most of the way lots of aires
have a nice time
beware the french are changing some road numbers (again)

when trucking we used to run from cherbourge before the autoroutes via alencon and le mans then tours to bordeaux then via agen /toulouse and on to girona to barcelona ect 
we found it was the flatest/fastest way in them days 30 or so years ago my it has gone quickly


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## t&s (Jul 3, 2008)

i assume the old roads are going to get a lot more use now the fuel is more expensive and the autoroute tolls have not gone down 
iautoroute used to work out about £10 per hundred miles add at least that to €1.20 a litre and it is more expensive than driving over here


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## cinder (Jul 6, 2008)

Thanks everyone, off today, so will let you know how it all when I get back!


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## t&s (Jul 6, 2008)

do as the french do IGNORE ALL THE SIGNS and have a nice time


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## t&s (Jul 10, 2008)

*try these*

A possible location for a few days touring in france
Today’s  tour de France went through some stunning locations past lakes and up to beautiful mountain views just off the A75 near Clermont ferrand  there must have been at least 500 plus motorhomes viewing from the side of the route and they must have all been wilding there is nowhere else for that amount of motorhomes 
look at this link for today’s route
http://www.letour.fr/2008/TDF/COURSE/us/600/etape_par_etape.html


Also a nice area for visiting is the very north of Germany bordering with Denmark similar type of country side without mountains, the forests  lakes and roling countryside between busdorf and itzwhoe on the ROAD 77 through the nature park aukrug is a lovely  drive with plenty of walks and bike trails
we found the whole journey quite pleasant loads of spots to wild 
if you need official aires for  water and toilet dump ect  they are there free of Corse 
we got our info  from  camperstop book 
we stayed at wilster near itzwhoe 
more nice lakes and forests are located near keil at the nature park westensee( nature park ) is like our national parks .
I hope this is usefull to someone


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## guerdeval (Jul 10, 2008)

The Loire valley is nice, the smaller roads follow the river very closely then down to Bordeaux from Nantes, there are lots of beautiful chateaux on the route and you can often park FOC if you tell them you intend to visit the chateaux, remember there are NO toll roads in Brittany and the coast is the best there is.


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