A bit of advice / help for France if possible please?

[alfa_scud]

Well, it looks like the weather's not going to improve & we're supposed to be on holiday from Saturday, so I'm seriously considering booking a ferry & going to watch a bit of the Tour de France. It also means it'll be our first trip abroad in t'camper since we got it 4 years ago, & haven't been over in a car for a good few years. Anyway, I digress...

It looks like if we're going to catch the Tour we're going to have "make progress" down to Dijon to see a few days there, so really i don't want to take more than a couple of days getting there.

What are the RN's like nowadays, or should I stick to A's and stump up the cash for Tolls? It's probably about 20 years since I was there in a car & the going was pretty good on the RN's. What sort of cost are the tolls to get that far down? I've heard both sides of the coin in vans, people being charged a kidney & others saying "camping car" paying a cheaper rate. Our van is an Ace Capri, so a sub 6m single rear axle on a Fiat Ducato.

I'm guessing the Aires that people speak of (the real ones not motorway ones) are generally easy to come across, but is water readily available & indeed, how is it for wilding?

Any info much appreciated.

Many Thanks

 

[Deleted member 21686]

Well, it looks like the weather's not going to improve & we're supposed to be on holiday from Saturday, so I'm seriously considering booking a ferry & going to watch a bit of the Tour de France. It also means it'll be our first trip abroad in t'camper since we got it 4 years ago, & haven't been over in a car for a good few years. Anyway, I digress...

It looks like if we're going to catch the Tour we're going to have "make progress" down to Dijon to see a few days there, so really i don't want to take more than a couple of days getting there.

What are the RN's like nowadays, or should I stick to A's and stump up the cash for Tolls? It's probably about 20 years since I was there in a car & the going was pretty good on the RN's. What sort of cost are the tolls to get that far down? I've heard both sides of the coin in vans, people being charged a kidney & others saying "camping car" paying a cheaper rate. Our van is an Ace Capri, so a sub 6m single rear axle on a Fiat Ducato.

I'm guessing the Aires that people speak of (the real ones not motorway ones) are generally easy to come across, but is water readily available & indeed, how is it for wilding?

Any info much appreciated.

Many Thanks

The tolls can work out quite expensive.
If you are not in a hurry stay off them.

 

[Kath]

We've heard of people driving across France to Spain in two days (on motorways) but must agree with Morganthemoon, keep off them, they are expensive and you miss the real France. Two days down to Dijon on non toll roads wont be a problem.
Aires are great, they will of course be getting busier now as we get into the school holidays, water is usually available from them, may cost you a few Euros.
Wild camping along the Tour de France route will be easy, as everyone will be doing it.
Have a great time

 

[Byronic]

The RNs are much as they've always been, ie a viable and usually more picturesque alternative to the Autoroutes, especially the tolled ones. The only thing is the French have over the years gone mad in introducing roundabouts in place of X roads, and in a heavily loaded van they can be a pain. Sometimes worthwhile, to byepass a city or large town using a toll route eg Tours or Bayonne/Biarritz. All depends of course on how much time you have.

 

[alfa_scud]

Thanks for that, the tolls were quite expensive last time we were there, but are they a fair bit more in a van? I've been looking for cost calcliators but none seem to come up.

We'll only be over there for about 12 days total so don't want to spend all our time thrashing about without seeing owt!

 

[Byronic]

I have a largish 6.6 tonne twinwheel and I pay lorry rates but I think vans under 3500kg pay a lesser rate but certainly more than a car. Having travelled through France dozens of times I've never fully understood the toll pricing policy. I use them infrequently so it hardly matters. But I know from threads on other Fora that some 'vanners" have disputed the category for which they've been asked to pay, it seems to depend on the road operating co. or be purely arbitary.

 

[basa99]

faster way to france

Well, it looks like the weather's not going to improve & we're supposed to be on holiday from Saturday, so I'm seriously considering booking a ferry & going to watch a bit of the Tour de France. It also means it'll be our first trip abroad in t'camper since we got it 4 years ago, & haven't been over in a car for a good few years. Anyway, I digress...

It looks like if we're going to catch the Tour we're going to have "make progress" down to Dijon to see a few days there, so really i don't want to take more than a couple of days getting there.

What are the RN's like nowadays, or should I stick to A's and stump up the cash for Tolls? It's probably about 20 years since I was there in a car & the going was pretty good on the RN's. What sort of cost are the tolls to get that far down? I've heard both sides of the coin in vans, people being charged a kidney & others saying "camping car" paying a cheaper rate. Our van is an Ace Capri, so a sub 6m single rear axle on a Fiat Ducato.

I'm guessing the Aires that people speak of (the real ones not motorway ones) are generally easy to come across, but is water readily available & indeed, how is it for wilding?

Any info much appreciated.

Many Thanks

tray this site About-France .com- gives you the best routes and tolls v non tolls and prices-

 

[fishy & Nina]

I have a largish 6.6 tonne twinwheel and I pay lorry rates but I think vans under 3500kg pay a lesser rate but certainly more than a car. Having travelled through France dozens of times I've never fully understood the toll pricing policy. I use them infrequently so it hardly matters. But I know from threads on other Fora that some 'vanners" have disputed the category for which they've been asked to pay, it seems to depend on the road operating co. or be purely arbitary.

Zis ees ze French way n'est pas? C'est la vie!:wave:

 

[silverweed]

We went down to the south coast of France last year and used NO toll roads. We did it easily in two days with no problems. The roads were mainly new or newly surfaced dual carriage ways and they were all neat empty. Decided on a route to take, made a list of the towns and programmed them into sat nav one at a time, a few miles before reaching the town we put in the next one and the sat nav then tool the bypass so we always missed going into towns. It was quick and easy and our first time driving in France

 

[DRoader]

I've travelled a lot through France and I've never paid to use a road. As said you could make Dijon easily within two days no problem. I'm assuming you're arriving at Calais?

 

[alfa_scud]

Thanks yet again, some more good info there, yes we're going to arrive in Calais, then head down from there. I'm actually awaiting delivery of an up to date map (my other one is from 1996 so possibly a touch out of date!), so will hopefully get an idea of a decent route to take then. Good to hear that the RN type roads are in good'ish nick though.

Cheers

 

[Canalsman]

Good to hear that the RN type roads are in good'ish nick though.

Better than that - they're way way better than the A roads here. Smooth surface, lots of places to stop, highly recommended.

The only thing that slows you down are the towns and villages at frequent intervals with their 50kph limits.

But you're on holiday, so does it really matter? I think not

 

[Skar]

Thanks yet again, some more good info there, yes we're going to arrive in Calais, then head down from there. I'm actually awaiting delivery of an up to date map (my other one is from 1996 so possibly a touch out of date!), so will hopefully get an idea of a decent route to take then. Good to hear that the RN type roads are in good'ish nick though.

Cheers

Keep your old map too if it clearly shows the old RN's, newer maps don't and the numbers change as the department changes, I still use an old one from the 80's.